She met his eyes, and where she expected fury to be on his face …
There was only an emptiness that matched her own.
‘I understand that to mourn, Minder, is to feel half dead yourself. I understand that there are people we love, people we think we will never lose. We plan things with them, we envision them in our future, and then one day, before we can eventhinkof uttering a goodbye … they’re already gone.’
His chest rose and fell swiftly, like he was short of breath.
Perhaps there was more to the story behind his scar.
‘I could have been kinder to you,’ Arawn said. ‘When I delivered the news about your uncle and your assignment. For that … I am sorry.’
She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had told her they weresorry,let alone a prince.She’d nearly forgotten the word, and itseemed he had, too, for he looked horribly uncomfortable saying it. The word came out with a wince.
And then, to add to her surprise … he held out a calloused hand. One that pointed towards the distant woods, instead of the road below.
Her eyes widened.
‘You want to run? Then go ahead,’ Arawn said. His voice was not gentle, but it lacked the usual gruffness it carried. ‘I suppose I owe you a life debt now, anyhow. You saved me from a beheading on the road, and there’s not an invocation in existence that can bring a person back from that.’
‘Keep your debt,’ Ezer said, surprising even herself.
She turned around and stared at the woods.
She would go south, far enough away from the cold that the wolves would not be a bother. She would pick up another job as a Ravenminder there, make enough of a living to scrape by for a time, until the war ended.
She’d start a new life. Earn enough coin to find answers about her family, perhaps pay a visit to the census archives in Touvre. After that … she had no plans. It was open-ended, and in some ways that felt like more freedom than she’d ever had.
Ezer took a step towards the woods, opposite from the path where the wolves had melted away. She’d only made it ten paces when she paused.
South, she thought, staring ahead.Yes, that must be south,just between two bare aspens. Back towards the nearest settlement, which had to be less than a day’s journey … if anyone was still left there.
But …
No.
That wasn’t quite right.
Ezer turned in a circle, unable to get her bearings in the snowy wood, for suddenly it all looked the same.
Perhapsthatwas south, where the evergreens were thicker.
Where are you now, Whisper?she thought.
The wind said nothing to guide her path.
‘Confusion,’ Arawn said.
She turned back to him, where he stood like a chiseled sculpture, his tattered cape waving in the breeze. He ticked off his next words on his gloved fingertips. ‘Shivering. A feeling of exhaustion so strong, you just want to lie down and close your eyes, if only for a moment. All symptoms of slowly dying from the cold. Freezing from the outside in.’
He smirked and looked to the sky as snow continued to pour down over them.
‘Storms are worse by night. The cold settles in quickly, regardless of your size. Starvation, too, for you won’t know how to find a good enough meal in winter if you’re not from these woods. The northern villages are decimated, the Acolyte’s wolves have picked off nearly every animal that used to thrive here. And we’re not even at Realmbreak yet.Truewinter hits then, in just two months … and since you don’t have a horse or carriage, you’ll be taking at least half that amount to escape the snows with how lost you’d get out here.’
She realized shewasshivering.
So badly her teeth were chattering, and she couldn’t feel her hands anymore, nor any of her toes.
She hadn’t even noticed. Her body had gone numb hours ago.
