“Trust me, he needs timeanda miracle.” Ryland’s eyes met mine, and he opened his mouth, then clamped his lips back together.
“What are you not telling me, Ryland?” He had that guilty look to him, and I punched his shoulder, hard enough to knock him back a step. “What are you hiding?”
“Nothing. Only that Rooke needs a godsdamned miracle right now.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “Keep your secrets, then.”
We all needed a miracle, I thought, the ice making that awful crackling sound beneath my boots as we moved slowly forward, watching the distant line of Lord Gravelock's army close the gap between us. Behind us, pale walls rose high against the still-starry sky, gates were firmly bolted, but those walls wouldn’t keep Gravelock out, not with his silvered magic marking every opening and edge.
"Remember when we used to talk about what came after Blackcastle, after our thieving days were over?" Ryland's voice was soft beside me, his gloved hand finding mine, wrapping around my fingers. "How we’d build a cottage by some little river, far away from the war and the city and the slums?"
I smiled, despite the weight crushing my chest. "With the garden I don’t know how to grow? And the flowers I don’t know the names of? Yes, I remember."
"We’ll get there, Lyrae." He squeezed my fingers. "We’ll have it all, if we're lucky."
“Luck isn’t a word I use often, Ryland.”
I turned to face him, memorizing the fine lines around his eyes, every new scar, the way green flecks glowed like emeralds in his amber eyes, the strands of gold in his hair, and a few strands of silver, too, now. So little time we’d had together, and yet…
“I’m glad Torin called you,” I admitted, the pressure in my chest unbearable, “and I’m glad you came.”
“I’m glad you didn’t kill me and Var, the second you saw us.”
I chuffed out a frozen laugh. “I’m glad I didn’t kill you, too. I had it all planned out, but Zephryn told me to wait. I’m glad I took your murders under advisement.”
He reared back, some of the color draining from his face. “Well, fuck, I guess I’ll be thanking Zephryn when we get back to the Citadelle.”
I chewed my bottom lip, and his gaze honed in on the movement, the storm whipping long, dark hair around his beautiful face.
“I was sent here to retrieve the Triune, Ryland. To kill the Dark Prince, retrieve the Triune and bring them back to the queen. Since I’ve failed on all counts…even if we survive this, I’m not sure what sort of welcome awaits me back home. You and Varian…maybe we should go our separate ways, once this is over.”
My fingers tightened on his. “Providing Gravelock doesn’t slaughter us all, which is looking rather likely.”
He was already shaking his head. “The queen is fair. She’ll understand your reasons.”
Something dark and forbidding kindled in his eyes. “As far as the three of us going our separate ways, you couldn’t pry me away with a fucking crowbar, so banish that thought, commander, because it’s not happening. If the queendecides to take issue with how you handled the Triune, Varian and I will stand beside you and accept the same godsdamned punishment.”
Our next few steps were spent in silence, a glowing ember burning beneath my heart.
“Still,” I slid him a sideways glance. “I am allowing a known enemy—the Dark Prince of the Shadowlands—to take and use the greatest weapon our kind has ever known. If this goes awry…even if it doesn’t, I defied a direct order, an oath I swore. She will never trust me again. And who is to know if we’re making the right decision, Ry? I mean, what if Rooke turns out to be just as bad as Gravelock?”
“You already know he’s not, Lyrae.” He moved closer, our hair tangling together before he pressed his palm over my chest, the pressure warm and solid and steadying. “You know Rooke is a good male, because you feel that here. I see the truth in your eyes, when you look at him, I see the respect and the…” He pulled his eyes away, staring over my head at the approaching force.
“You are falling in love with him, and I know for a fact, you are anexcellentjudge of character. You are making the right decision, Lyrae, helping him. All of us are making the right decision here.”
“I’m not falling for Rooke.” I bit my lip again, suddenly unsure about what to say next, my heart racing against his palm, my eyes burning.
“And I don’t know about the good judge of character part, given I’ve fallen back in with you two miscreants.” I should keep moving, but all I wanted was to drink in Ryland’s closeness, his delicious scent, this old-new familiarity simmering between us.
“But I do feel like we’re making the right decision. I mean, he’s an arrogant, pompous ass…”
“But you like that type,” Ryland’s grin turned crooked as he looked down at me, snowflakes sticking to his eyelashes. “Don’t start lying to me now, and tell me you don’t.”
“Fine, I’ll admit the truth. I do like the dark, boorish, asshole-ish type.”
“Okay,” he breathed out the word like it was a promise. “Then once this is over, we’ll figure everything out. Now all we have to do is stay alive for the next hour.”
“Two hours,” I corrected him.
