The next gate began to descend in an attempt to stop us, but I kept on. I ignored Leya’s screams. They were muffled, distant now, her voice fraying at the edges,“Odessa, what are you doing? We won’t make it! You’re going to get us…”
Sigrid cleared the gate by a sliver of her hide.
One heartbeat slower and it would’ve been over, but we made it. The rush sent a wild laugh tearing from my throat again. I felt an exhilaration unlike anything I’d ever known.
It was intoxicating. Electrifying.
I’d done it again. We were past the outer gates of Falhurst.
Nothing lay ahead but open plains. Sigrid showed no sign of slowing, her hooves pounding forward as the gentle rays of sun broke over the horizon, washing the sky in beautiful shades of gray.
It was then, I didn’t hear a thing anymore, not even myself.
That old darkness stirred again, rising to the surface. It felt familiar. Safe. Like I belonged to it. It crept up my spine and spread through me, blooming like starlight, painting the world in silver.
Just as it was always meant to be.
With reckless abandon, I threw my head back and laughed, releasing one hand from the reins to feel the wind rush through my fingers. I never wanted to feel anything else again.
In that moment, everything was perfect.
But it was at the height of this euphoria when the sky fell inward.
The calm, silver world I’d claimed fractured into violent streaks of color. A blinding pain shot through my shoulder, and I was ripped from Sigrid’s back. A scream tore from my throat as I was thrown to the ground.
“Odessa!” A scream called.
My name rang out, once, twice, then again, desperate and breaking.
“Odessa!” Leya cried. “Oh gods, Odessa!”
Pain radiated through me as I rolled onto my back, bursts of it blooming across my body. My vision blurred, but I caught sight of Leya clinging wildly to Sigrid, arms and legs wrapped tight around the horse’s torso, barely holding on.
But the pain in my shoulder snapped me back to focus. My breaths came in ragged gasps as I looked down. There was an arrow lodged clean through my shoulder.
Shock hit first. Then a fresh wave of agony surged as blood soaked through my tunic and cloak. I tried to sit up, but another sharp jolt ripped through my arm, and I dropped down.
My eyes shot to the city. Above the gates of Falhurst, I saw the archers. They were lined up, bows drawn, arrows nocked and ready.
So that was Gadriel’s order.
If they were willing to shoot, they were willing to kill me.
I shut my eyes, letting the weight of reality sink in. A volley of arrows could be loosed at any second, lancing me where I lay. This was really it, then. I opened my eyes once more, and they found Leya. I could see in her face that she’d spotted the archers too. Somehow, Leya had been able to remount herself on Sigrid, reins taut and ready to flee. But the resignation in her eyes told me she knew it was hopeless
Only one arrow had flown, and it hit my shoulder cleanly.
It wasn’t a mistake, it was a message. A threat.
And we both knew, if the archers wanted to, they wouldn’t miss next time.
The outer city gate groaned open, and with it came thunder. In a flash of hooves and steel, a half-dozen riders stormed toward us. Pain clung to me thickly, like a fog. My shoulder screamed and my stomach turned, but I rose anyway with my teeth clenched against the agony.
If they were going to kill me, I’d meet their eyes when they did.
A sudden, new wave of pain bent me in half, a gasp slipping out. I forced myself upright. The ground under me rocked and my legs faltered, but still, I didn’t fall.
“Odessa…” Leya’s voice came soft behind me.
