“We’re trying,” Ashton calls back.
I sense the wind stirring. Clean air flows into the dusty hole Alette and I are trapped within. But should therebewind in this hole?
“Ashton!” I shout, recognition dawning. I can hear him before I see him, the faint rustle of air shifting, and then, appearing like a wisp of smoke, his figure flits through the chaos above us.
“Ready?” he asks.
I glance at Alette, reaching for her hand. To my relief, she reaches back. Her hand finds mine, her grip strong and desperate. I pull her in closer, wrapping my arm around her waist, feeling the coldness of her body as it seeps through my skin. Her body trembles against mine, her breath quick and shallow, and I can feel her heart hammering in her chest, the rapid beat matching my own.
“Hold tight,” I urge, even knowing I won’t let her go.
Ashton’s magic surges around us, pulling at the very fabric of the air, and before I can even process the shift, we’re airborne. The vines reach for us, their tendrils snapping in frustration, but they can’t reach through the wind. They can’t catch us as we’re pulled out of the pit, and out of their grasp.
The wind whips around us, carrying us higher, and we’re free from the danger below, the weight of the world falling away as we soar just a few feet above the tangled vines on the ground beneath us. Cassius and Sylvian battle the vines with swords that flash with every quick movement. When they spot us, they draw back from the opening of the pit we’d been in, trying to keep pace with us as Ashton floats near us, moving his hands, urging the wind to carry us further and further from danger. We’re carried over the vines, drifting through the labyrinth until the vines disappear and only dirt is left. I feel Ashton’s magic waver. His powers only work in short bursts.
Ashton’s spell lands us on solid ground again, the earth beneath our feet feeling stable and real in a way the slithering vines never could. I turn Alette to face me and check on her immediately, my eyes raking over her tiny frame as I continue to hold her close. There’s the bruise on her cheek. The cut above her eye. Small tears in her leathers. But otherwise, she looks to be in one piece.
“You’re okay?” I ask, my voice gentle.
The weight of her body against mine is reassuring, but I need to know she’s truly unharmed. I need to hear it from her now that we’re not in danger. Now that she doesn’t have to be fine.
Her body trembles, the lingering effects of adrenaline coursing through her, I’m sure. The sword in her hand shrinks into a dagger once more, and she slips it into her sheath before her eyes meet mine. There’s something different in them now, something deeper, something raw and unfiltered. It’s a quiet intensity, a shared moment between us that feels almost sacred.
“Alette?” I ask again, my thumbs stroking her arms.
She nods, but there’s that flicker again, that strange, inexplicable pull between us that I still don’t quite understand. It’s a feeling that tugs at my heart, urging me to explore it, even though the last thing I’ve ever wanted to do is explore an emotion. I can’t shake the feeling that we’re connected in a way I never expected.
Is it the goddess’s doing?I can’t tell. But it’s real. It’s undeniable. And I can’t ignore it.
“Alette!” Cassius, Ashton, and Sylvian all say at the same time, as they surround us.
The moment breaks. She looks away.
“That was…” she begins, but doesn’t finish.
“Crazy?” Ashton offers, followed by a grin.
She returns his smile. Something she’s never done for me. Although, to be fair, I’m not sure I’ve ever smiled at her. Ashton is all smiles.
I step back away from her small body that fits my own so well. “Let’s move. No point in lingering here.”
But they don’t listen. Sylvian sits her down and uses his water to clean the wound on her head and the dirt from her face. Ashton shamelessly flirts, bringing another smile to her face, and Cassius studies her wound and declares that it doesn’t need to be stitched.
I just… stand. Alone. Something I’m very accustomed to being. But this is the first time in my many long years that I’ve wanted to be part of something that my adversaries, the three kings, are a part of. I don’t like them touching her. I don’t like them flirting with her, or showing off their intelligence.
These three are the kind of men women fall for. Women do not fall for me. They fall for my power. They fall for my title. And they fear me. Just as Alette does.
She glances in my direction, then away quickly, and my heart twists.
Fear. That’s what Alette and I have that ties us together. Fear.
Nothing has ever bothered me more in my life.
18
Alette
At first,the maze seems straightforward. The path was narrow but mostly clear, a slight turn here, a split ahead there, but straight more than not. But after a while, the turns started coming faster, the angles sharper. The path split, offering different courses, which meant we had to make judgments about which way to go, and the ground slanted in ways that made my knees scream. Sometimes we doubled back and passed the same dead tree, the same cluster of pale mushrooms, the same pile of what I suspect are animal bones, but I could never be sure, because everything was always shifting, always alive.
