She took a deep breath—the first one she’d taken in over a month, it felt like. The cold air filled her lungs so deep it almost burned, and she relished every second of it.
As if unleashing something within her, her Knowing suddenly came alive again. After weeks underground, her world was filled once more with signs of life, and she was almost overwhelmed by all the things she Knew at once.
The wind blew sharp across the landscape, rustling the scrubby plants that dotted the rocky ground. She Knew the soil here was lacking in certain nutrients, making the plants brittle and dwarfed.
She heard a coyote yip in the distance and Knew that it was out hunting the jackrabbits whose scat she could see on the ground by her feet.
She Knew the jackrabbits must be nearby, too, because the scat was fresh and filled with half-digested remnants of the sage plants she could smell surrounding them.
She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it all, how suppressed that side of her had been these last few weeks. She wanted to just stand there and take everything in, but Ty pulled her attention from it all as he guided her to her horse.
Time was still of the essence.
She turned to look at Turner, giving him a nod in silent greeting as Ty began quickly attaching their saddlebags to the horses. It was dark, and she didn’t think they’d alerted anyone to their exit, but there was no way to know for sure. She found herself glancing behind them every few seconds, watching and waiting for signs of pursuit.
When Ty was finished, he turned to her expectantly, extending his hand to assist her in mounting up. Their eyes locked, and her instinct was to smile at him, but then she remembered—how he’d hidden things from her again, how they couldn’t be together, because he had responsibilities that came before her, and how their relationship wasn’tsafefor either of them, and her smile faltered.
Vaguely, she wondered how many times, how many tiny realizations like this, it would take before it stopped hurting so deeply each time.
Ty sensed her hesitation and clearly thought better of touching her, so he backed away. The sad look on his face almost broke her heart all over again.
“Turner, can you…?” he asked quietly, gesturing at Ena.
Turner’s eyebrows flew up in shock at the interaction that passed between them. Had Ty not said anything to him yet?
Turner didn’t ask any questions, though, he just moved swiftly to her side and picked her up gently by the waist, placing hersidesaddle on the horse, then held her steady while she swung her leg over and grabbed the reins one-handed.
She was pleasantly surprised to find herself atop Mahnin—the beautiful black mare that was a favorite of hers. She hadn’t gotten to ride her solo yet, and her heart warmed a tiny bit at the thought. Had Ty given her the mare on purpose?
“You feel alright?” Turner asked in a hushed tone, drawing her attention from the horse. “You feel steady enough with one hand?”
“Yes,” Ena replied. Truthfully, even if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have admitted it. She needed to be on her own horse right now. She needed to be in control, and she needed to leave this place, and all the painful memories it now held.
Turner nodded and mounted up, taking her at her word, and the three of them rode single file out of the pass through the mountains, away from the Underworld.
***
They rode in silence, retracing the path they’d taken to get here all those weeks ago. Every step away from the Underworld let Ena breathe a little easier, and as the sun came up, despite starting to feel tired and pained, she found herself profoundly relieved to be away and no longer under Cole’s thumb.
It was midmorning by the time they reached the waterfall cave they’d rendezvoused with Turner and Steig at. They didn’t go inside, instead just making a quick stop to water the horses and eat some breakfast, and Ena was glad for that.
If she went inside, she’d have to relive the memories of her and Ty together that night by the fire. She’d have to remember how they’d touched each other secretly, and the way his beautiful confession had made her feel so incredibly hopeful.
That hope was gone now. Her only focus was breaking the bond and getting back to her Coven—to her sister and Heran, where she could be safe.
Ena was leaning back against a tree, trying to ignore the throbbing, aching pain of her still-healing arm and eating some jerky, when Ty approached her cautiously. He gestured at Turner, who was eating an apple a few feet away, to join them, and addressed them both.
“It’s time we make a plan for what comes next,” he said, assuming the role of leader, as he naturally did. “I’ve been using myvenatorto listen for any signs of pursuit, but haven’t heard anything, so either Cole hasn’t realized we’re gone yet, or has decided not to come after us right now. Either way, we need to make moves to reverse the binding spell as quickly as possible, and that starts with recruiting witches from Aquilo and Occidens. Now, if you two are okay with it, I think we should head to Aquilo first, since we’re closest to it. But after that…well, I think you’ll be our best shot at making friends there, Ena, so I want to know what you think.” He looked at her, a pain in his beautiful eyes that she hated to see, but knew was necessary. Still, she had to look away to hide the answering yearning in her own eyes before she responded.
“I’ve been thinking about that, and yes, I have a friend in Aquilo who will be a good place to start. Maybe…I can try to get a message to him, to see if he can meet with us.”
She didn’t miss the way Ty’s eyes turned hard as ice at the use of the male pronouns.
“And who exactly is this…friend?” he asked, trying for nonchalance, but Ena saw right through him, and if her face still didn’t hurt so bad, she would’ve rolled her eyes.
“He’s just a friend,” she said, trying to sound reassuring. “His name’s Cris. We’ve known each other since childhood, and sincewe can’t afford to be choosy about our allies, I’d say he’s our best option.”
Did she neglect to tell him that she and Cris had hooked up on and off for a few years and almost had sex at the Samhain celebration last year? Yes, of course. He didn’t need to know that—it would only complicate things. She and Cris had never officially been in a relationship anyway; it was always casual, at least from Ena’s point of view.
