Chapter Five
Daric paced hischamber like a caged beast, angry, miserable, and restless. If the palace hadn’t been stripped bare of anything nonessential, he’d have picked up some useless object and thrown it against the wall for the sheer satisfaction of smashing something. He’d needed to fight more violent urges in the last day than he had in his entire lifetime. The desire to rip into somethingwas overwhelming.
First, it had been his father. Then Rain. Then anything and everything, especially himself.
They’d been the best of friends forever, and Daric had been madly in love with her since they’d danced at the Cauldron, but he’d never imagined that Rain thought of him as anything other than a brother. It had been different when they were children and easy playmates with mostly innocentthoughts, but for years now, Daric had been careful to keep his distance—physically, at least. Whenever he touched her, even by accident, the longing just grew worse.
Tonight, he’d wanted to rattle some sense into her. Shake her. Hold her.Consumeher.
He was tormented by thoughts of the kiss he didn’t take, aroused to the point of pain. His heart ached, but so did another part of him, hardand heavy with want.
Rain’s quick breaths fluttering across his jaw. Her lush mouth. Her eyes drifting closed…
Like a damnable curse, she’d offered up the lips he’d dreamed about kissing every day and night of his life.
Daric scrubbed a hand down his face and paced.
What had he imagined for the future? That Rain would remain his companion, his joy, while he did his duty and sired childrenwith the vicious Astraea for the good of Raanaleath?
That Rain would comfort him? That she wouldn’t marry and have children of her own?
That maybe they’d have a secret affair one day, sharing the intimate things he now knew they both wanted?
Heat swelled in his chest, but it warred for space with a large block of ice. Daric let out a vile curse. How could he be so selfish? Hadn’t he alreadyruined Rain’s life once?
He hadn’t realized it before, or so clearly put it into thought, but he’d had it all planned out, to make the future bearable.Hisfuture.
Rain had a better option now.
Daric left his chamber in the pre-dawn dark without even a candle, sick at heart but determined to make things better. Rain was used to him waking her up. She wouldn’t be frightened, and he had to tellher he was sorry for being so hard on Aldo, a man who was certainly better for her than a failed, soon-to-be-married prince without a name or a house.
Daric stood outside Rain’s door for a moment, gathering the will to say what he must before lifting his hand and knocking. There was no answer. He nudged the door open, expecting to see her sleeping. Instead, he found a candle burning and an openbook upon her neatly made bed.
A mix of fear and anguish hit him in a sickening rush. She’d left. He’d rejected her, and she’d struck out on her own. She’d gone on their last adventure without him.
Daric stalked into the room and shut the door behind him. He didn’t believe for a firesnap that she’d gone to Upper Ash in search of kisses—and certainly not to Lower Ash, which sometimes borderedon dangerous. She’d gone looking for the Barrow Witch.
Had she taken Soren with her? Daric’s chest clenched again hard, and jealousy cut through him, as biting as the winter wind. Soren had been in love with Rain for nearly as long as he had.
Still, with Soren was better than unaccompanied. His father’s personal guard would protect her with his life. Envy aside, Daric hoped that Rain wasn’talone in the creaking wilderness that surrounded Ash in every direction. She knew how to ride and wield a blade or bow, but her caring nature made her an easy target for anyone trying to take advantage, and as always on cold nights with little moon, the hallerhounds would be out in hungry packs of hunters.
Desperate for any hint as to the direction she might have taken, Daric brought the candlecloser to the book and read. The passage she’d left open was about the mighty waterfalls that had once poured down the Cliffs of Alder. The now-dry cascades were said to have protected a nearly inaccessible cavern far up the cliffside that contained a supply of rare bloodstones, a mineral used in breaking curses.
Daric held his breath and continued reading.
The deep-red gemstone takes its namefrom an arcane legend that whispers of Braylian cutting her finger on the jagged Heights of Alder while placing the gemstone on the continent.
He snapped the book shut. Rain had found the Blood of Braylian.
Daric tucked the old volume under his arm. It could contain other useful information. His mind spun a dozen different scenarios about what Rain had done in the hours since he’d left her.The Heights of Alder were four days northeast on horseback. It was a daunting journey on foot, and she’d never waste time walking when she could ride Arjun.
He checked Rain’s wardrobe. Her heavy cloak and warm boots were gone.
He muttered a curse. Knowing Rain, she’d set a vigorous pace from the start.
Daric hurried to gather provisions. She could be leagues from Ash already, but he had thefaster horse. He’d find her, and when he did, he’d give her the tongue-lashing she deserved for leaving without him. He only wished that once she was safe, he could make that tongue-lashing literal.
Rain had neverconsidered herself a coward, but she had to admit, if only to herself, that she was terrified. Hallerhounds howled in thedistance, yipping and growling around what was surely their ripped-apart dinner. It was closer to breakfast, but she didn’t think hallerhounds cared when or what they ate—only that the meat was fresh and bloody.
