“We should still move quickly,” I say. I can’t shake the feeling that Conri might be coming for us both. I realize I might carry that feeling forever. Even when Aurora is reunited with her power, he will always hunt me, as the woman who took her from him—who took his power. If he breathes, I’ll probably never be truly safe. “The faster we get out of lykin territory, the better.”
“Should we go into the mountains?” Aurora looks toward their frosty peaks, ghostly in the last dregs of moonlight against a lightening sky. “Conri wouldn’t dare follow there. He wouldn’t even think to look.”
“He wouldn’t think to look because he would, rightly, assume that we wouldn’t dare go there.” Evander shakes his head and frowns up at the mountains. I wonder if he’s remembering the stories his father told him of the monstrous vampir they hunted. “The passes through the mountains are long lost, and who knows what vampir might still be lurking. It’s safer to stay in the forest.”
“Then let’s keep going.” I step away, beginning to walk.
“It’ll be faster if you both ride,” Evander says.
I pause. “Both of us?”
“Wouldn’t we be too much of a burden for you?” Aurora is as skeptical as I am.
Evander chuckles and puts his hands on his hips, flexing the broad muscles of his shoulders and back. “You don’t think all this is just for show, do you?”
Before we can object again, he transforms, trotting over and sinking to the ground. Aurora and I exchange a look and a shrug. I mount in front, Aurora behind me. It is tight with both of us astride. But there is enough room.
Evander stands. With two of us, he can’t run at full pace. But he is right about moving faster than we would on foot.
I grip his fur and cast one more worried look over my shoulder, past Aurora. There’s no sign of Conri or any other lykin. Which means I need to focus on what’s ahead.
The sooner we see the great walls of the elves, the better.
Evander keepshis pace past the hours of dawn bleeding across the sky. I am blinking away fire from my eyes. My lids have never felt heavier.
Finally, he sags to the ground by another ruin of his former kin and Aurora and I dismount quite ungracefully. We three drag our feet into the structure. I think it’s the last one before we’ll be relying on my own huts. If we move too quickly to need them, then all the better.
The collapsed house has created a sort of lean-to against the tree, supported as much by the moss and tangling vines as the trunk itself. Evander hovers in the opening as Aurora and I collapse.
“Evander?”
“I’m going to keep watch.” His eyes scan the woods for any signs of trouble.
“I’m sure it’s all right. We haven’t seen anyone all night.” My exhaustion must be wearing down my better sense because I can’t believe those words came out of my mouth after the fear that has gripped me for hours.
“I’ll keep watch.” He kneels next to me and presses his lips into my forehead. “Sleep, love.”
“We should keep moving again soon.” Aurora yawns, resting her shoulder and temple against the tree trunk. Even as she says that, her lids are going heavy.
“I’ll sleep two hours, and then wake me. You can get two hours after,” I say. Evander doesn’t argue and simply nods.
The two hours pass in an instant. But the moment Evander shakes my shoulder, I am alert. After whispering that all is well, we trade places and I keep a vigilant watch over the woods.
In the daylight, they’re as idyllic as I remember. Sunlight filters through the canopy, playing on ferns and dancing with butterflies. It’s hard to imagine these woods as a place for violence or danger. But I know all too well how deceiving looks can be. How easily something sinister can hide beneath the veil of beauty.
After another two hours, Aurora and I are on Evander’s back again. We keep moving.
I can feel the invisible thread that guides me through the woods. Through the trees, I can vaguely sense its origin. We’re not that far from the last town of the lykin. Another day, another night of brief sleep and tired eyes watching out.
“We’re almost to the forest’s edge,” I say optimistically.
It’s late in the afternoon and I’ve otherwise lost track of the days and hours. All that I can focus on is getting out. Pushing through and escaping this nightmare.
“Truly?” Aurora shifts behind me, as if to get a better look.
“The final town of the lykin—the one shared with the vampir—will come into view soon,” I tell her. “From there, we’re out of the woods.”
“And less protected.”
