I could still see her, though, when I closed my eyes. Watched the red highlights in her hair under the midday sun as she twirled in mocking reverence of my godly name. The brightness of her smile able to eclipse that same sun. Her laugh still mingled in my memory, caressing every part.
“Dae?” Kaval’s voice barely broke through my solitary state.
I dragged my burning eyes to meet his.
“Did you hear me?”
I shook my head.
“She left with the convoy—alive.”
I blinked. “What?”
“My informants told me a woman with flaming hair was bound and gagged and forced to leave with the convoy. That’s her, isn’t it?”
I exhaled so forcefully my lungs could have flattened to the size of paper. “Yes, that’s her. She’s alive.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Jai rose from beside me, standing with all the excitement I’d expect to see if we’d told him we were going to play his favorite sport in the field. He clapped his hands together. “No time to lose.”
“Y-You’re coming with me?” I had seconds left with my brothers otherwise, because I had to go. I had to get to her.
“One, I would die of curiosity to never get a chance to meet the woman who caused my brother to run around like a lovesick puppy. Two, she sounds fucking badass. Facing the king and two-timing The Order? She’s a legend. Your reputation pales to hers.” He smiled with that familiar boyish charm.
I stood, clasping his shoulder. “Thank you.” When I looked at Kaval, I wasn’t met with the same reticence. “I don’t blame you for staying. I understand. You have people here who need you.”
Jai piped up before Kaval could. “No they don’t, Kav. Come on, aren’t you tired of hiding in the shadows? This is our chance todosomething. Remember, it’s these bastards that have been stealing our people and draining them of magic. Let’s show them we can beat them, and get ‘em when they least suspect it.”
Kasia remained silent, eyes darting between the three of us.
Kaval took a steadying breath. “Alright. Let’s do it.”
“Badass,” Jai replied, storming out of the room.
“You’re coming,” I ordered Kasia. “And you’re in charge ofthat.” Caring for that horn felt like betrayal. It was not worth whatever Ro risked to get it, and I refused to even look at the thing.
It didn’t take long for Kaval and his men to arrange for supplies and dictate orders to those remaining.
Then the four of us were off, and I silently commanded the gods to care for her until I got there.
69
Ro
Icouldn’t decide if the leisurely pace back to The Order’s camp was the better or worse outcome. More time alive and breathing, sure, but also more time to mourn, to worry, to cry at night when no one could see the tears dampening the wooden frame of the wagon I was bound in.
I’d forgotten how suffocating the air in this forest becomes. A warning to the world, one that somehow I didn’t, or couldn’t, heed twice now. It made distracting myself with fond memories of those I loved impossible to focus on.
We passed the quarry, now wandering down the section of road where I first met Dae. Gods, I must have looked like a madwoman standing over him with that poised arrow. Yet, he’d been so calm, despite the agonizing pain racking his body. A man built from the muscles of carrying secrets and sacrifice. Maybe he was more god-like than I had given him credit for, an angel that was sent for me at the very least.
I smiled against the salty, musty rag in my mouth. No, I still wouldn’t admit the name of a god suited him, even if he werehere. Someone that good looking didn’t need to hear it. It’d go straight to his head. I was doing him a service, really.
With my ankles bound in iron, I couldn’t walk. It would have been a silver lining, saving my muscles from the endless journey north, if it weren’t for the battering bruises that decorated my body from laying against the flat, solid wood planks for days on end.
This trip would always be painful, another sign from the gods that nothing good comes from this place. I rested my head and closed my eyes, giving myself over to the uneven rhythmic sway of the cart, hoping I’d dream of the god from the forest one last time.
Entering camp was a vastly different experience from the first. I wasn’t in the arms of someone I trusted with tricks up my sleeve. No, this time, I walked in with the face of a traitor. Luck wouldn’t strike twice, revealing another secret rebel to aid my escape.
These steps were final. The culmination of a life I’d barely lived. I was angry at the world for being so cruel, sorrowful for all the love I could no longer give, yet proud of paying the cost. Dae was free, so were Tio, Melody, Brax, and the prisoners.
