I didn’t like the way he’d saidend.
I swallowed hard. “If you’re on my side, then tell me how to fix all of this. Tell me there is hope.”
He offered a sad smile. “There is always hope.”
My hands shook. I stepped to my chair, gripping its backing, trying to steady myself. “Tell me I can save everything I love.”
His smile faded.
Before he could answer, a crash echoed from somewhere outside, followed by shouting.
“What was that?”
He jumped up, suddenly moving with the speed and purpose of a much younger man. “Go get your sword, Nova.”
He was already pulling knives from hidden sheaths in his coat.
“Orin?”
“There’s no time to explain anything else.” His eyes met mine one last time, and I saw something in them I’d rarely seen before—fear. “They’ve found us.”
TWENTY
Aleksander
The forest seemed darker than it should have been, even accounting for the storm clouds that had been gathering all night.
I moved through the trees with determined, silent steps, though I wasn’t entirely sure what I was running from. Or running toward.
I just knew I felt restless.
I’d lost track of how much time had passed since I’d left Nova sleeping peacefully at the house.
You wouldn’t keep secrets from me, would you?
Iwaskeeping secrets. But not because I wanted to. Only because my own mind seemed to be keeping secrets fromme.
My thoughts tumbled and twisted. That strange itching beneath my skin was getting worse—like something stretching to an uncomfortable point and getting ready to snap. My magic…I trusted it less and less. Trustedmyselfless and less.
And gods help me, it all seemed to be at its worst whenever I was near Nova’s shadows. And whenever I was close to thatshard of Lorien’s soul, the itching, the restlessness…it turned into something that bordered on violence. A violence that somehow felt both foreign and terrifyingly natural. Something a sick part of me wanted to unleash, just to see what it would do.
But I was terrified of doing something I couldn’t take back.
So I was running away. Like a fucking coward. Putting space between myself and all the apparent triggers I now had.
I could only run so far, though. Only so fast. Not to mention, I had the unnerving feeling that something was chasing me down, following me no matter which way I turned. I kept hearing footsteps. Whispers. Cracking branches and shuffling leaves.
“Just paranoid,” I muttered under my breath.
Just a paranoid fucking coward.
Then lightning split the sky, illuminating the path ahead for a brief, brilliant moment, and in that flash, I saw them: three figures blocking the narrow trail. Four more materializing from the shadows between the trees.
They all wore black clothing with no flourishes, no telling insignia; just layers of leather and cloth that blended with the night, making their true shape—and number—difficult to pick out against the dark forest background.
“It’s been a long time, Aleksander.” The smooth, sharp voice came from the center figure on the path. His face was shadowed by his hood, but I sensed, with unnerving certainty, that he was smiling. “We were hoping we’d run into you during this little excursion.”
“…Who are you?” I demanded.
