“If Grayson were injured and couldn’t watch yours, would you stop watching his?”
He scoffed. “Of course not.”
“But you wouldn’t get anything in return.”
He looked at me as if I were speaking gibberish, then his lips pursed. “I do not grind women beneath my heels.”
“You watched me being whipped. What is that if not grinding a woman beneath your heel?”
Flynn’s expression darkened. “You think we enjoyed watching that? You think any of us slept that night?” His voice dropped. “But defying Carron would have gotten you killed faster. At least this way, you survived.”
“Barely.”
“Alive is alive, Princess.”
“You left me in the pit for days.”
“What would you have us do? Defy Carron?” He scowled at me. “You’re a pretty girl, but you’re not worth my career.” He kicked his horse’s flank and galloped ahead, joining Grayson and Pierce.
“Making friends?” Teal pulled his horse next to mine.
“Not here,” I bit out.
He frowned at me before he, too, rode ahead.
Chapter
Eighteen
TEAL
“We should make her understand.” I twisted in my saddle, scanning the forest for a place to make camp. The trees’ dark trunks pressed too close. The dirt track was so narrow it barely allowed Pierce and I to ride abreast.
Pierce patted his mount’s sweat-darkened neck, but his gaze drifted to Haven. He’d been doing that all day—taking furtive glances when he thought no one was looking, cataloging her posture, her expressions, the way her pain showed on her face. “Understand what?”
It was a fair question. What was there for her to understand? That we’d stood by like cowards while she was tortured? That we’d chosen our duty over doing what was right?
“If we interfered, she’d be dead,” Pierce continued. “You know this. She’d be in a grave, not following behind us with a permanent scowl on her lovely face.” He rubbed a palm across the back of his neck. “Besides, I doubt she’d care for our excuses.”
“She hates us.” And she had every right to. I kept telling myself we’d saved her life by not interfering, but watching her now—the way she held herself, the way she winced in pain if her horse stumbled, the way her time in the pit haunted her eyes—I felt nothing but guilt.
A large blackbird flew too close, and my horse danced beneath me. I tightened my legs and took firmer hold of the reins. “This fucking forest.” We’d delayed our departure until Haven could ride, which meant we had to cut through Ravenswood—the shorter, more dangerous route to Angelfire.
“What bothers you most?” Pierce lifted his left eyebrow. “The wolven or the wraiths?”
Wolven, with their fangs and insatiable hunger, were bloodthirsty killers. Wraiths were worse. “I can handle monsters. It’s the trees. They’re too close together. I feel like I’m in a cage.”
Pierce shot an amused glance my way. “A thousand ways to die in this forest, and you’re worried about the trees?”
He didn’t have earth magic. He didn’t understand. There was something rotten in Ravenswood—in the soil, in the trees, in the effing birds. I hated this place. I wondered why the king hadn’t taken action. Since we’d captured Haven, I’d started wondering a lot of things. Maybe the problem wasn’t just Ravenswood—maybe it was us. Maybe we were the rot.
“What about over there?” Pierce pointed to a break in the trees, and we rode to the opening, where we found a small clearing with a ring of stones at its center.
Above us, the light faded to a lavender hue. We were running out of time. Something felt off, even worse than the rest of the forest, but we didn’t have another option. This spot would have to do. “Grayson!”
Grayson, who rode ahead of us, turned in his saddle.
“Come look.”
