“Are you okay?” I asked after a while. Neither of us had spoken since getting on horseback.
“We accomplished nothing,” she said with a sigh. Her shoulders even seemed to droop.
“I got you back,” I offered. To me, that was a victory.
“At the cost of how many lives?” Her voice seemed distant.
“We will learn from our mistakes, and next time will dobetter.” I thought we were better prepared, but we were not. Conjurors we wished to free stood against us. For some reason, we had not planned for that. All of us assumed that in the chaos they would simply fall back, and then run once they saw the barrier opened to them.
She was silent a moment before saying, “Your sister.” Something sharp stabbed me in the gut at the mention of her. Last thing I ever expected was for Iona to choose the Sidhe over the Lysians.
“She made her choice,” I finally said. There was nothing more to do. I wouldn’t drag Iona from the place she claimed to want to remain.
Ariana and I fell into silence again until she asked, “Why did you retreat?”
I tensed at the memory that had snapped me out of my fury-filled rage. When I did not reply right away, she twisted to view me, green eyes appraising.
“I nearly killed a child who stood up to me. Protecting his home, and his family. Nothing but fear and determination in his eyes.” I shook my head as if that could shake some of the guilt that seemed to cling to me like a thick oil. My hands were stained with a lot of blood already, not that I particularly minded that. But not the blood ofchildren. That was a line I would never be comfortable crossing.
“The citizens will need warning if we are to try to take the city again,” she murmured, turning back around. “We should have thought of that. Considered that they would be afraid, not everyone will run from the danger. I was so certain they would want to be freed that we would be seen as liberators from a monster’s rule. But some of them prefer to remain under his command.”
“We will do things differently next time.”
“What we need is to force Clause to give up his control, or kill him by involving as few people as possible.” I could nearly hear her frown, as if troubled by not knowing how to accomplish this.
“I won’t give up until we find a way,” I promised.
We started further slowing. “Are we making camp here?” Ariana asked.
“No. We are going to rest for a few hours, but then keep moving. Best to put as much distance as possible between us and the Sidhe.”
She turned, so that I saw the profile of her face. “I need to talk to you. Alone.”
“There is nowhere we can go right now that won’t be overheard.” We couldn’t have privacy while out in the open and surrounded by Lysians.
She nodded. “When we get back home, then.”
We dismounted. Ariana left me to find Willis, the two speaking for some time before she returned. Most were already dozing, trying to regain whatever energy they could before continuing on in a few hours. Ariana lay down beside me on the ground, and I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. The touch made her shudder, and I couldn’t help but tighten my hold on her. As if there were a chance she could somehow slip away if I did not anchor her to myself.
After several heartbeats, she ran her hand along my arm, then intertwined her fingers with mine. Her hand seemed so small compared to mine.
Despite all we had done and been through, she still smelled of wildflowers. That perfume was one of the first things I ever noticed about her. Nuzzling her neck, I breathed in the scent of her. Her pulse spiked, and she shifted gently against me. I hadno idea how, after everything we had just gone through, she could maintain such a pull on me. It was as if thoughts of her demanded so much space in my mind that little room was left for anything else.
“I missed the feel of you,” she whispered into the darkness.
Ashes. Her voice was the most seductive of songs. If we weren’t surrounded by others, lying outside on cold, hard ground. I would have ensured that the memories of the events we just escaped tormented neither of us. Both of our minds would have been thoroughly preoccupied. I would have shown her precisely how thrilled I was to have her back.
She shifted in my arms again. The movement exposed her neck to me. I couldn’t resist the temptation of the soft skin there. I ran my teeth along the edge of her throat. Her breath hitched.
“Ay.” Iver’s voice sliced through the otherwise stillness of the night. “If you wish for an audience, I am sure there won’t be a shortage of volunteers once we get back. Some around here need some beauty rest.”
“If they want to screw to release tension, then who are you to stand in your King’s way,” Kiora answered. Interesting choice of words.
“Mhh, you sound tense, little Sparrow. Perhaps you need some tension released?” The smile in Iver’s voice was clear in his tone.
The only thing that kept me from telling my brother to shut his mouth was the small chuckle that came from Ariana.
“In your dreams,” Kiora shot back.
