Someone was gently shaking me. I looked up into Lorian’s eyes. “What?”
“You can mourn later. For now, we need to get past the guards at the town gates.”
Mourn. Because if Asinia was in the king’s dungeon, she was as good as dead.
Fury burned in my belly. But I nodded, and a hint of what might’ve been relief flickered over Lorian’s face.
“Listen to me. You need to use your power. Remember what you learned,” he said, and the breath froze in my lungs.
I was the one who was supposed to save us?
He gave me a warning look as I shook my head. “I can’t.” I’d only ever managed to hold it for a few seconds of time. We would need much longer than that if we were all to get past the guards on the road out of this town.
Lorian’s eyes narrowed, and the warning turned to disgust. “Every time I think you’re about to stop being a scared little mouse and actually reveal the woman I believe you are, you prove me wrong. Well, sweetheart, we don’t have time for your insecurity and self-doubt.”
“I hate you.”
He just shook his head. “Either you freeze those guards long enough for us to get past them, or we all die here. Rythos goes first, and his death is the hardest. The king has been looking for him for some time.”
My face was numb, but I turned my head until I could see Rythos. His gaze was on the guards standing at the town gates. He watched them the way I might watch a poisonous snake slithering through the grass toward me.
I looked at the king’s guards, and all I could see were flames. All I could smell was the scent of burning hair. All I could see was my skin, slowly turning to ash.
“Prisca.”
I would have been better off dying in the river. It would have been an easier death.
Strong fingers dug into my arms, squeezing until I came back to myself. I stared at Lorian. His eyes blazed into mine, and a muscle jumped in his cheek.
Beneath the terror, my fury burned bright. So bright, I didn’t have to reach for my power. No, instead, the threads seemed to reach for me, my skin heating.
“There it is,” Lorian breathed. “Now, use it.”
The guards were standing at the gates, paying careful attention to each person who walked toward them. As we watched, one of the guards snagged a woman’s cloak, throwing the hood off her head. Her hair was a fiery red, and the guard nodded at her to continue walking.
“You need to freeze time before the guards see us,” Lorian said. “Or it will appear that we have disappeared in front of their eyes, and they will come after us with everything they have.”
It was difficult, freezing time for everyone except our group. Staring at the guard in the middle, I watched as he began to strut toward another woman who went still. Her shoulders hunched, and I could practically feel her terror from here.
I took a slow, deep breath. Then I reached for the tangled thread of time and pulled. It took every drop of my will. But time froze.
“Hold it,” Lorian instructed. “Don’t let go.”
It was already slipping. Immediately. Panic roared through me. Something wet dripped from my nose. Blood.
“Hold it!” Lorian roared at me, dragging me toward the guards. My vision began to dim at the edges.
“Focus, Prisca,” he snarled. “Dig deep.”
I pushed everything I had into it, stretching time, molding it.
This was my only hope if I was going to save Asinia.
My head felt as if a giant had trapped it between his hands and was squeezing. I let out a whimper that would mortify me later.
Asinia.
“Don’t let go,” Lorian growled, hauling me into his arms and running for the horses.
My vision had gone dark.
I couldn’t fail. If I let go, we were all dead.
But it was so difficult. The thread was slipping like sand through my fingers, the seconds of time fighting to resume.
Lorian handed me to someone else briefly. Then I was lifted up, into his arms, and held tight to his chest once more.
“Almost there,” he ground out.
I could feel the horse galloping beneath me. Its movements shook me, distracting me further.
“Can’t. Hold. It.”
Speaking split my concentration, and I lost my grip on the thread. I caught it an instant later, but I was holding on to the very end.
“Let go,” Lorian said.
I slumped against him. My vision hadn’t returned. A dull panic spread through my chest, and I buried my hands in Lorian’s shirt, almost desperate for something to hold on to.
“Good girl,” Lorian purred in my ear.