“Can’t follow.”
He must’ve lost consciousness for a minute, because he couldn’t recall any questions or arguments before feeling her extracting one of the sedative syringes from his pocket. That was very unlike her. His queen always argued with him. It was one of his favorite things about her.
Time moved strangely as his body went into shock. It felt like little more than a moment but also a very long time before shecame back to him, speaking quickly to assure him that she’d done it. There were tears in her voice. He absolutely loathed that.
“Shh, no crying,” he murmured. “You can’t drive if you’re crying.”
“Oh gods, you’re right. I need to get you to the ranger’s station or— or a…”
“No.” Taevas found her wrist and held it fast. “You need to… we need to go to the ’Riik. Don’t trust anyone. No one but clan or Wing.”
“That’s hours and hours away!” A note of raw hysteria had entered her voice. “Taevas, you coulddie!”
“Won’t.” At least, he was pretty sure. It wasn’t like it was the first time he’d been shot, so he was fairly certain he would be able to tell if he was about to die. Probably.
Soft hands clutched his cheeks, holding tight. “How do you know? Tell me how youknow!”
“Because,” he breathed, “I just found you.”
Chapter Forty-Two
She’d runout of tears two hundred and ten miles into the drive.
Her eyes burned with strain as the sun rose, casting an ugly, watered-down sort of light over the forested landscape. Every muscle in her body was tight. She had to keep her teeth clenched hard to stop them from rattling. Everytime the modern navigation system in the SUV chimed to let her know they’d be turning soon, or merging onto a road, or that she’d strayed slightly over the line, she had to swallow a scream.
She was aterribledriver.
It didn’t seem to matter much, though. The stolen SUV came equipped with a semi-autonomous driving feature she’d accidentally activated when she clumsily tapped‘Dragon Roost, Drummond Island’into the glossy screen. A pleasant voice had calmly instructed her to keep her hands on the wheel at all times in case of emergencies but that she could otherwise relax.
Like that was possible.
Alashiya couldn’t stop herself from glancing over her shoulder and into the backseat every minute or so. She had to see for herself that Taevas’s chest still rose and fell. That his eyelids still flickered. That his clawed fingers twitched.
She wanted to believe him when he said he wouldn’t die but she couldn’t. Not when she’d seen the ragged, cauterized hole in his shoulder — dangerously close to his chest and all the vital things it contained.
He’d already been weak from illness and whatever drugs he’d been pumped with. It was difficult to imagine his body, dragon-tough as it was, would be able to keep up with yet another horrible injury. Not to mention the swelling and cuts on his face and the bruises that banded his powerful rib cage.
She’d been tempted over and over and over to stop, to ask the SUV’s computer to take them to a hospital. Alashiya had stared out into the bright cone of light projected by the vehicle’s headlights and thought,He’ll die because of me.
But everytime she made the choice, she couldn’t follow through with it.
This is my fault. I didn’t listen to him before. I was selfish and scared. If I’d listened, we could’ve left days ago.
It didn’t matter to her that disregarding his instructions hadalsosaved him. If she’d listened that night, she wouldn’t have snuck back toward the house, stolen the SUV, and used its shiny grille to stop Monty from storming into the barn, his gun raised. But that didn’t mean much when the whole awful thing could’ve been completely avoided in the first place.
Alashiya hadn’t stopped shaking since she managed to load Taevas into the backseat. The tremors had died down some, but they continued to run down her arms and torso in little rivers of terror. If she wasn’t glancing over her shoulder to make sure Taevas hadn’t died then she looked up through the tinted sun roof, her stomach curdled with the anticipation of seeing a winged shape against the stars.
Time didn’t pass in minutes but in road signs, navigation alerts, and the little sounds of pain Taevas made whenever they hit a bump.
Alashiya had lived nights of horror and grief. She’d listened to the screams of her family as they were slaughtered until the foresttook pity on her and dragged her into the darkness, where roots pierced her skin and breath was a memory. She’d discovered her grandmother slumped over the kitchen table, her paring knife clutched in the tight grip of rigor mortis. She’d watched the slow decline of her grandfather as he lost himself to grief and ill health, helpless to do little more than witness the creep of Grim’s shadow.
She was no stranger to loss or pain, butthis…Alashiya didn’t think she’d survive it.
Taevas deserved better than a pitiful death in the back of a stolen car. He was kind and smart and wonderful. So wonderful, even when he was a huge pain in the ass. To live in a world where he didn’t exist was utterly unthinkable.
Every leaf would lose its color. Every drop of water would sour. Every sunrise would turn pale and sickly.
Whatever happened between them didn’t matter. Even if he opened his eyes and had no memory of her, she would be okay. He’d bealive.
