This warmth felt wrong. Skalgard had trained my body for summers that never quite lost their chill. Here, the air was heavy with the scent of growing things.
Kairos sloshed through a creek.
The vine stretched taut, dragging me. My boot stuck, and I pitched forward, down into the mud. I threw my hands out, sludge oozing between my fingers. My hem tore wider as I struggled to my knees, filth caking me from palm to thigh.
The sob clawing up my throat turned into a broken laugh. Two days ago, I was serving dinner in a lord’s house. Now I was tied like an animal, at the whim of a ruthless male. And Rheya…gods, where was she?
Water splashed.
Kairos knelt beside me. “You’re bleeding.”
I forced myself upright. “I’m fine.”
His hand caught my jaw. Heat bled through his fingertips, dulling the sting until it vanished. Even my pain belonged to him.
“Can you keep going?”
I pulled away from him. “Yes.”
His gaze lingered on the dirt smeared across my legs. Kairos sighed, then guided me off the path, leading us into a hollow. A tangle of roots formed a natural wall, and the earth dipped into a shallow bowl of moss.
He reworked the vine around a tree and secured it above me, looping it through a branch.
“We’re stopping here for the night.”
“What? Why?”
He tugged the knot. “You’re slowing down.”
The idea of sleeping out here made my skin prickle.
“I just need a moment,” I said quickly. “I’ve worked without food before.”
“Starvation isn’t strength.”
“Don’t waste your pity on me. I’ll be home before long.”
He looked at me coldly. “Yes. I’m sure your prince is riding hard through the woods right now.”
My teeth clenched. “Stop.”
I hated him. I hated his gravelly voice, the way he moved through this cursed forest. I hated that I needed him, that I couldn’t outrun him, outfight him, out-anything him.
“I should’ve let you rot in chains,” I said bitterly.
“Hate me if you want, human. I’m used to it.”
Kairos released the vine and turned, vanishing in a white cloud.
I tested the tension in my bindings. No give. They cut deep if I strained too much. Still, I pulled.
I hissed at the sharp pain.
Even if Icouldrun, how would I survive this realm without him? Which one was it? Definitely not Skaldir. The Dream Realm to the east—Lunir? Caelir? Or had we gone south to Sanguir?
Sanguir. A land of endless war. Their cities were sprawling encampments in mist-shrouded forests.
A twig snapped.
