The tree, it seemed, was waking up.
“Itburnedme,” I spat, shaking out my hand. I tried to ignore the angry yellow welts forming on my fingers.
“And now there’s more of it,” Gareth muttered. “Look.”
As the tree stirred, its rumbling groans growing louder by the second, the yellow moss began to spread. Its tendrils snaked everywhere—around the roots, across the floor. As the moss moved, so did the roots, as if it was the thing awakening them. One root lashed across the ground; Gareth jumped out of the way with a curse just as a crash from above made us look up.
The hole was closing—our only way out.
I grabbed my sword and passed it to Gareth. “Cover me. Chop the roots, whack the moss, I don’t care. Just strike anything that comes for us and climb as fast as you can.”
He took the sword without question, and then, before either of us could talk me out of it, I thrust my hand deep into the moss.
I’d never stuck my hand into a fire before, but I imagined this was how it would feel. The searing pain made me see stars, and I couldn’t shake the idea that something in this moss was peeling my skin frommy bones. But I kept digging until my fingers finally met metal. I was sobbing, though I didn’t realize it until I wrenched the key free of the moss and staggered back.
“Breathe, Mara, and listen to me,” Gareth was saying, his voice thick with tears. “Gods, I’m so sorry. It will be all right. We’ve got to climb now, darling. Can you climb?”
Gasping for breath, I wedged the key into my waistband. The metal bit into the skin of my belly, but that was nothing compared to the pain in my hand. I couldn’t look at it. I couldn’t, or I would be sick.
I started to climb, tears streaming down my face. Each time I grabbed on to a root with my bare hand, the pain exploded anew. But I had to keep climbing no matter what. If my fingers fell off, I’d do it one-handed.
Gareth was right behind me, his progress inconsistent. Every few seconds he stopped to hack away at something. The chop of the blade against wood was sickening. I felt like we were clawing through the meat of a beast’s belly. And the hole above us was closing faster and faster, weaving itself shut. The darkness was terrible. I couldn’t see where I was going, and the air hissed with awakening roots, like we were crawling through a pit of snakes. I felt like my body was gone, like it had fallen away and all that was left of me was agony.
For an instant I imagined letting go and dropping to my death, letting the moss eat me alive. That would be it. There would be no more pain, no more dead Roses, no more anything.
“Mara, don’t you dare,” Gareth shouted from below me. “Keep climbing, or so help me, I’ll kill you myself.”
That made me laugh through my tears. The hole above us was nearly closed. We’d never fit. Maybe I could punch my way through with my good hand. Then I’d have a matching ruined set.
“Kill me?” I gasped. “You’d never, not before you’ve had the chance to fuck me.”
“And what wouldthatbe like? Do tell, and please spare me no details.”
His voice gave me the push I needed to climb the last few feet, and just as we reached the top and I started to laugh in delirious despair at the sight of the fistsized hole, the entire top of the tree exploded outward. Splintered wood flew everywhere, and the world outside roared with the sounds of battle, but the sight of escape was irresistible.
I climbed fast, screaming through the pain, screaming for Gareth to hurry. Once we were out, I scrambled down the roots with him just behind me. I was clumsy, uncaring. I fell twice, knocked my jaw against a root and tasted blood, but at last we were free, standing on solid ground.
And there was Gemma, haggard and half alive. But even so, her hands were bright with power, and her magic washed over us in hot waves, reassembling our glamours and keeping the thrashing roots at bay. Just behind her was Farrin, still holding her up and singing, her voice as fresh as ever and her song ringing with triumph.
I felt for the key—still there, tucked against my skin—and reached for Gareth with my unhurt hand. He took it gently and pulled me against him, and I closed my eyes and held on to him. His arm was strong around my waist; his heart beat wildly against mine.
“I claim you as my prize,” he murmured into my hair, “and thus this hunt is finished.”
The relief that swept through me was nearly as powerful as the pain in my hand. I sagged against Gareth in a daze, only dimly noticing our surroundings. Cries of anger, then of fear. Dark shapes darting swiftly through the air. A clash of swords; a sharp fae scream. Golden eyes flying toward me, and the cool brush of dark wings. “Kill them!” someone cried.
“Mother?” I whispered.
Then I knew nothing more.
Chapter 16
Pain tore me out of unconsciousness, and I sat up gasping.
Brigid was beside me, her face drawn and white. Her hand was on my left arm; she’d just shaken me awake. I lay on a cot, and beyond Brigid stood the walls of the Rosewarren infirmary. We were alone, with only Freyda for company. She paced from side to side along the perch in the corner of the room, all her feathers flattened against her body as if to make herself look smaller.
“Gemma?” I croaked. “Farrin, Gareth—where are they?”
“They’re fine, but your sisters couldn’t stay. They took the key south to Fairhaven to keep it out of reach of the fae. The Warden wasnothappy that all three of the anchors you’ve found so far will now be at Fairhaven, but I think she was too distracted to stop them.”
