My nails dig into the wood tabletop, splintering the tender flesh under them.
“No Enchantress may use her magick, unless specifically requested by me. If anyone, Seer or Healer or Plague decides to go against this new law, the punishment will be the most extreme.” Roman’s voice wavers as he speaks his last words. His green eyes meet mine. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, Your Highness.” I nod, sliding my fingers into my lap.
Roman dismisses me and it’s not a moment too soon. The air in my lungs has seemingly run out, my head beginning to spin.
Almost to the door, I gather my skirts in my hands, when the blonde man steps into my way. He can’t be more than a few years older than Roman, but his narrowed eyes look not at me, but through me.
“One more thing, Enchantress,” he says, dropping his voice so it’s a whisper between us. “I’ll need you to bring me the Awakening Stones.”
The hair on the back of my neck stands, but I nod anyway, making him believe I will do just that. His lips curl into a smile that has Corbin, my crow, screaming in my head.
Get out!
Get out, Elwyn!
No man has ever touched the Awakening Stones. Has ever dared taken them from a Dyrsjel as only we have the power to control them. They are the tether between this world and the next. Between Enchantresses and Mother Gaia.
What could they possibly need them for?
“You’re dismissed,” the man says, as if he has some kind of authority over me.
I breeze past him and don’t stop until I’m bursting through the ballroom doors. Elora and Cade are in a corner talking to Alice. My shoulders relax but the fear in my heart does not.
I watch Elora and Cade again, their hands wrapped around each other.
I think of her fate. Of who she was born to be.
I think of my own fate. Who I was born to be. What I was born to do.
There is no other option but the one that keeps Elora the most safe. We have to leave as soon as possible.
We have to flee.
Twenty-Seven
Roman
The pungent scentof smoke circles around us as we walk the horses down the road of the small village. Stone framed cottages line the street, their roofs destroyed and burnt to ash. Deep, black scars mark the trees on either side of us. The semblance of a town lies etched into the forest, its buildings crumpled and scorched. I cover my mouth as we move past remnants of people, buried in the rubble.
Dozens of hunters and guards filter through the town behind us, caravans squeaking and horses chomping on their bits, interrupting the chirping birds and swaying branches.
“What are we doing here, Galen?”
He glances quickly over his shoulder but doesn’t stop his horse until we get to the end of the street. I catch a small glimpse of his amulet under his shirt, the purple hue radiant in the pale light of morning.
“The men will get restless if we don’t break soon.” It’s been a nonstop trek since Valebridge and I’m getting tired with this continuous pursuit.
Burnt bones of a wood cabin sit in a smoldering pile just at the end of what once was a road. I grimace at the smell. Sourand rotted. Galen gets off his horse, his fingers going to the chain around his neck.
“Galen?” I slide off my horse and don’t bother tying her off as I join Galen’s side.
I wave the rest of the men off, none of them argue with being told to take a break. Galen’s always been a difficult person to read, but after the prisoners escaped, he’s become so cold I wonder how his blood still runs through him.
My spine straightens. I’m the cause of this mess yet again. I gave her the knife. Silently daring her to use it. It’s been days of near silence between us and my patience is beginning to wear. “Are you going to tell me what we’re doing here?”
“We’re making sure the message was sent.” Galen turns to me, his hands in his pockets. The hood of his cloak, drawn over his head far enough that only his lips and chin peek from under it. “It seems as though I can’t trust anyone anymore, so I needed to see for myself the job was done. The Stones were not here and Sorin was not here, either. Which means he knows exactly where they are.” He nods to the crumbled building before us. “He could have stopped this.Shecould have stopped this, but they didn’t. I am not to blame for their lack of cooperation.”
