But Tessa didn’t respond. She looked at me with a blank face. Her big, beautiful eyes were empty, gone somewhere I could never follow.
“Tessa!” I yelled, shaking her hands. “Tessa!”
But it was too late. Tears ran down my face as I screamed her name again and again. I had to get her home. If I could just get her home, someone could help us.
I picked her up and began walking, but the field of flowers had been replaced by an endless body of water, growing deeper and deeper with every second.
“No!” I yelled. “NO!” I used all of my energy to keep us above the water, but it was rising too quickly. The ground under my feet disappeared completely, leaving my sister and I in the water.
Leaving us both to die.
My limbs were burning. My lungs were on fire. I held on as long as I could for Tessa’s sake.
But it would never be long enough.
“Jade, wake up,” Malachi whispered. He shook my shoulders lightly, and I was no longer on a horse. I was lying on a blanket on the forest floor. “Jade,” he repeated.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Where are we?”
I sat up and took in as much as I could. I wasn’t in water. Tessa wasn’t here. All three horses were with us, but Adeline and Serefin were gone. Malachi and I were alone and the sun was rising.
“You’ve been sleeping for a few hours. We took a break so you could rest.”
I nodded, not sure I could trust myself to say anything else. Malachi eyed me carefully. “What were you dreaming about?” he asked.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to forget. Tessa was fine. She was home, safe with my father. Nothing was going to happen to her. But when I opened my eyes, Malachi’s eyes were still locked into mine.
“Nothing,” I answered. “It was nothing.”
“It was Tessa, wasn’t it?”
I pulled my knees to my chest and ran my hands over my face. I couldn’t afford to think about her right now. Not when so much was already at risk.
My lips cracked as I spoke, “Where are the others?”
“They went to scout the path ahead, but they haven’t come back yet.”
He sounded confident but concern was darkening his features as he glanced between me and the forest path. “I think I’m going to go check it out and make sure everything’s okay.”
I sat up, ready to stand and follow him.
“No, no, no,” he insisted, stopping me with a hand on my shoulder. “You should stay here. You’re too weak to move, and it’s safer for you here. You have your knife, right?”
I nodded and reached for the knife that was still strapped to my body.
“Good. Use it if you need to. And Saints, Jade,” he said in a voice that put a knot in my stomach, “please do not leave.”
My voice was breathless as I responded, “I won’t. I promise.”
Malachi squinted, like he was deciding whether going after the others was going to be worth it.
“Go,” I insisted. “I’ll be right here when you get back.”
Without another word, he stood and stormed off, leaving me alone in the forest.
The brutal stinging sensation in my back had faded to a dull throbbing, but it was a pain that radiated through my entire body.
I sat up and reached for a loaf of bread that had been left out. I ripped off a piece and chewed it slowly, thinking about all the times I had shared a loaf like this with Tessa.
Tessa. My stomach dropped at the memory, and I nearly gagged on my bread.
She would come around. I would see her again. I had to see her again. As soon as she figured out that she would always be safe with Malachi, she would understand.
Tears threatened my eyes. I was absolutely exhausted. And now here I was, in the middle of the forest, all alone, heading to rule over human lands with the dark fae prince.
Things were just going to get worse from here. We were nowhere near the finish line.
I couldn’t help but smile at the way Malachi had defended me. All this time I had assumed he wanted me alive to prove a point to his father or to use me as a way of drawing out his enemies from the castle, but I was starting to believe it was more than that. Malachi was more than the Prince of Shadows I had been forced to marry. Over the past few weeks, he had turned into something more. Somewhere in the dark nights and the lonely glances, I had seen a version of Malachi I never expected.
And I didn’t hate it.
I shook my head. I couldn’t think about that stuff right now. I couldn’t think about Malachi in any other way than as the Prince of Shadows.