I snap my head up to Jarek who waivers on his feet but remains standing. His face is bloodied, his right eye beginning to swell. Deep purple starting to set across his pale skin. A line across his lip where my ring cut into is thick and swollen as blood runs down into his beard.
“Fuck,” I whisper, pulling myself to my feet. “Jarek I’m so sorry.” My breathing is heavy, the exhaustion from the day settling upon my shoulders.
Jarek laughs, that deep bellowed laugh, as he grabs my shoulders, shaking me slightly. “You needed this,” he says. “Theanger and rage would have been a distraction, we need our bastard leader back and this was the only way.”
Nodding, I scan his face again. No hint of anger lies there, but perhaps there’s a bit of pride shining through his blackened eyes.
“Let’s get you cleaned up.” I wrap my arm around his shoulder, ushering him out of the room. Though, we hardly make it out of the door before Elora appears.
“What—” Her face twists before her eyes narrow. She passes a glance between myself and Jarek, pausing on my bloodied knuckles. She lets out a long sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes.
“Why are men suchidiots,” she mumbles. “Come on, let's get you to Tallulah.”
Thirty
Samaria
“You couldn’t help yourself,could you?” I apply a bit more of the salve that Tallulah made onto Jarek’s cheekbone and across his nose. He has a split down his lip, but with the yarrow paste, it’s already beginning to heal.
“He needed an outlet.” Jarek shrugs, but there’s a million more questions dancing in his eyes. “You need one too.” He attempts to wink, but with his swollen eye, it looks more like a bug has flown into it.
Laughing, I place the cream onto the small bedside table. “Now? Really?”
Jarek laughs then groans as he coddles his bruised stomach.
“Nothing stops you does it?”
“Nothing,” he says through another chuckle. He readjusts, moving onto his side and gestures for me to join him. “Since we can’t dothat, keep me company instead? Talk to me.”
“About which thing?” I hesitate. We haven’t talked about him leaving or what that means for us, and every time I look at him it’s a reminder. A reminder that he’ll be gone and I’ll be here.
“Sorin, Galen,” Jarek says. “Us.” He reaches for my hand, but I move it to my lap. “Take your pick.”
“No, I don’t want to discuss any of that.” For so long I’ve been the bright and cheery Samaria. Keeping her anxious thoughts and worries locked tightly in a box so as to not burden others with it. I’ve always been better at delving out advice than I have been taking it and so, no. I don’t want to talk to Jarek about any of it. “I need to meet with Elora soon. She thinks she’s ready for the Ceremony.”
Jarek’s non-swollen eye goes wide, but when he goes to sit up, he winces.
“Rest, you silly man.” I lean over and kiss him lightly on the forehead. “The next time I see you, perhaps I’ll be a changed woman.”
“I hope that’s not true.” Jarek says behind me. “I love you just the way you are, Sam.”
My throat constricts and as much as I want to, I say nothing as I leave the room.
Elora,Agnes, and Tallulah are all waiting for me in the greenhouse. My stomach flips and hands refuse to steady as I sit down at the small, wooden table.
“Are you sure the hunters won’t sense us?” Tallulah looks nervous but she busies herself with a few rose bushes needing pruning.
“No.” Elora shrugs, as if the thought of hunters no longer terrifies her. “There’s a good chance they will. But the first wave of people have already left, and seeing as how we’re the next group to go, it’s now or never.” She glances at me, and I nod my approval.
“We have men stationed around the Guild,” Agnes says, her hands clasping the tops of my shoulders. “The wolves are with them and they’re in constant communication with Elora.” She squeezes my shoulders and bends so her lips are closer to my ear. “It’s time, Samaria.”
I take a steadying breath. “Let’s do it then.”
Agnes hands Elora the small pack that contains the Stones. As Elora opens the bag, a glimmer of gold light spirals out, cascading up her arms and what appears to be through her body. She gasps but the line between her brows softens as she picks up the first stone.
The dark red stone glows as she places it before me.
“Fire,” she says.
