“No.” I buried my face back in his neck, trying to catch my breath. To breathe in his scent, to feel he was alive. To revel in the knowledge that somehow, again, we’d survived. “You?” I asked, squeezing him.
“Just my nose,” he said roughly, his fingers squeezing the back of my neck.
Dario took several deep breaths as he shifted himself to sit on the floor.
“You got to breathe, Dario,” Rhyan said. “You hear me? You’re okay. You survived. Take a breath.” Rhyan reached for him, but the soturion ignored his gesture, standing on his own, some unspoken conversation happening between them.
Dario’s eyebrows narrowed, but he nodded.
“We need to patrol the perimeter,” Rhyan said. “See if more are coming. You’re all right?”
His face was contorted in pain, but Dario gave a firm shake of his head.
Aiden and Meera emerged from the darkness of the passage, their faces pale.
The moment she saw me, Meera ran from Aiden into my arms. “Lyr,” she cried. “You’re okay?”
I nodded. “We all are.”
She looked with disgust at the dead akadim, her eyes lingering on their collars. “Aemon sent them.” Her voice was quiet, too low for the others to hear.
I nodded, the backs of my eyes burning. Not just Aemon. Morgana. But I couldn’t bring myself to say it yet. To hurt Meera even more than she already had been.
Maraaka Ereshya.
“Let’s go,” Dario said. “Rhyan and I will secure the perimeter. Lyriana, I need you to protect Aiden and Meera.”
I nodded. “I will.”
Heart thundering, I watched Rhyan and Dario grip their swords and head outside, their bodies vanishing into the falling snow.
I stood before Aiden and Meera, my body tensed, and my ears alert. A minute passed before Rhyan and Dario burst inside the mouth of the cave, their chests heaving, eyes wild.
“The fuck!” Dario roared, bending over, his hands slamming into his knees as he caught his breath.
Rhyan pushed his hair back, grimacing, his face red. “There’s a dozen out there. And more are coming. We’re surrounded on all fronts.”
Meera shook beside me. “They’re trying to bring us back.”
“Or kill us.” I reached for Meera’s hand, watching as Aiden turned to Dario and Rhyan, his face ashen in color.
“Maybe,” Meera said quietly, “Maybe we let them take us. They … they didn’t hurt us before. Morgana wouldn’t—”
“NO!” I shouted.
“We’re trapped then.” Aiden looked ready to panic.
Rhyan stared outside, and straightened the strap across his chest. “No. We’re not. We have a gryphon, big enough for all of us.” His accent was rough, the posh noble lilt he’d practiced completely gone. He looked between Dario and Aiden. “Give me thirty seconds. I can find him. I’ll get us out.”
Dario scoffed. “Right. Like we’re just going to let you walk out of here.”
“Are you fucking serious?” Rhyan spat. “You know I’ll come back!”
Dario’s face reddened, his eyebrows narrowed.
“I swear on my Godsdamned life!” Rhyan shook his head. “Me sha, me ka.We’ll fight about this on the gryphon. If you want to break my arm next, be my guest. But by the Gods, I won’t let anyone here die tonight.”
A roar called from outside the cave. Another answered. The akadim were getting closer.
