“I’m concerned about whether we’re going to have to carry you out of here,” I said flatly, though I was already extending my hand to help him up. “So answer the question.”
Cindrissian studied my outstretched hand for a moment. Then he gripped my wrist and let me haul him to his feet, though I could feel the way his body shook with the effort of staying upright.
“I’ll manage,” he said, but his voice was thinner than usual, lacking its customary edge of amusement.
Fenric was there in an instant, sliding under Cindrissian’s other arm with movements that were careful, protective, and utterly unconscious. The way Cindrissian leaned into him suggested it wasn’t the first time they’d carried each other out of trouble.
“Southwest passage,” Varyth said, pushing himself away from the wall with determination that didn’t quite hide the way his legs trembled. “We need to get out of here before reinforcements arrive.”
Mist coiled around him as he spoke, silver and defensive, but I could see the way it flickered, unsteady, like his magic was fighting against the lingering effects of Merrick’s lightning.
I slipped under his other arm despite his weak protest, feeling the tremor that ran through his frame. “You’re in no shape to lead us anywhere.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding from your ears and can’t stand,” I cut him off, sharp enough to make him flinch. “So shut up and let me help.”
For a moment I thought he might argue. Then another tremor ran through him, and he sagged against me with a sound that was either relief or surrender.
“Fine. Let’s move.”
27
Leaves rustled above me, carrying the crisp scent of coming autumn. The scent mingled with the waft of freshly baked bread from the nearby kitchen. Mireth’s laughter rang out, bright and unrestrained, as she chased Eryx in uneven circles around the garden path, his delighted shrieks echoing through the air.
Four days.
Four days since Merrick had electrocuted a cave full of people and then told me Varyth was lying to me.
Four days since healers had whisked Varyth away before I could demand answers, their faces grim as they catalogued the blood still trickling from his ears, the way his legs had given out when he tried to stand.
I’d wanted to follow. Wanted to grab him by those perfect fucking shoulders and shake the truth loose until it spilled out like the blood he kept shedding to keep me alive.
But he’d looked so?—
Broken wasn’t the right word. Varyth didn’t break. He fractured, splintered, went to pieces while somehow holding himself together through sheer force of will and spite.
So I’d let him go. Let the healers take him somewhere I couldn’t follow, and I’d swallowed down every question burning acid-hot in my throat.
Soon, I’d told myself. Soon I’d track him down and we’d have words. Specific ones.
But not yet.
Right now, I just needed to watch my children be children. Needed to pretend for five fucking minutes that the world wasn’t coming apart at the seams and I wasn’t somehow the thread holding it together.
Mireth’s laugh pierced the air—bright, uncomplicated joy—and the tightness in my chest loosened just slightly.
Then she paused mid-run, her dark eyes squinting at something ahead. She tugged on Eryx’s arm with the kind of insistence that suggested she’d found something interesting.
I followed her gaze.
There, tucked beneath the shade of a large golden elm at the far edge of the garden, stood Varyth.
My lungs stilled, suspended somewhere between caution and craving.
I wanted to stride over there right now. Demand answers. Make him explain why a male who’d just massacred his own soldiers had looked at me like I was walking into a trap I didn’t understand.
But the look on Varyth’s face stopped me cold.
