“Brace yourself,” Roshan says as dust flies up around us. “They won’t let us go without a fight.”
Sure enough, I hear the sharp thwack of a weapon firing in the distance, and flames dance in a streak across the dark sky. One hits the ground with a boom, and the tremor reaches all the way to us, the earth shuddering.
“What the fuck is that?” I shout, thankful our horse hasn’t faltered.
He peeks over his shoulder. “If I had to guess, jadu arrows inscribed with earth runes.”
My heart lurches. “Jadu?”
I don’t know why I’m surprised. I’d seen arrowheads in Vasha’s forge, but my brain hadn’t put the two together.
We’re almost to the caves; another arrow hits the ground behind us, but as the earth quakes, we reach the hollows, slipping into the welcoming darkness.
The trip into the cavern seems endless, but it’s only a handful of terrifying minutes before we’re well out of sight of the men shooting at us. It’s nighttime, and the light of the bloodred moon casts an eerie, disturbing glow on the gravelly earth.
“They’re going to chase us, you know,” I say, relief choking me.
“I know. We have to keep moving. Our only choice is to get to Aran.”
I stare up at Roshan in horror. “The Indraloka? Have you lost your mind? That’s thefirstplace those mercs will go! And what if others want to claim the bounty? We can’t trust anyone.”
“No, we can’t. But if we need a portal to Coban to make sure your family is safe, that’s the only place I know with jadu to spare.” He exhales a harsh breath. “There’s another Dahaka outpost not far, just on the other side of this basin that will have access to a portal. But we have to be careful. Aran is literally the only one I trust not to sell us out to Javed. Anyone else might.”
Roshan shifts, and I feel the day-old scrub of his beard scraping against my neck. As if he can’t help himself, his lips grace the sensitive spot below my ear. I ignore the flare of warmth at his soft touch. “Are we going to need to bypass the guards then? There has to be security there, right? Otherwise, anyone would be able to waltz in.”
“No one would be that stupid.” His lips dance over my skin one more time, and then he straightens. “Don’t worry. I know what to do.”
I don’t point out the fact thatwe’reclearly that stupid, and we ride on for a few minutes in silence. As the adrenaline recedes, I feel the dull ache in my thighs and back at the horse’s movement; riding is not something my body is used to.
Roshan shifts against me when I squirm trying to get comfortable, and I freeze at the press of rock-hard thighs beneath my bottom. “I’m sorry,” I say, swallowing. “It’s difficult to get used to the horse’s gait.”
“No, you’re fine. And it’s not safe yet for us to slow,” he says, his own tone strained. “Anything could happen. Sit tight, try to balance, and we’ll be there before you know it.”
I try to do as he says. “How long will it take us to cross the basin?”
“Altogether, with him carrying the weight of both of us, a few hours. Unless we run into a storm, which is possible. The weather patterns are unpredictable out here.”
I suddenly think about the shadows that had appeared out ofnowhere, helping us escape our attackers. Had that been a trick of the atmosphere? Or some other strange magic? I glance around, but the landscape arounds us seems normal, and I decide not to say anything to Roshan. Surely it was just an oddity of the area.
As we ride, the air grows warmer. The sky above us remains cloudless, thank the stars twinkling above. Their glimmer, and the glow of a third quarter moon, is the only light in the gloom, and the rolling hillside and rocky crags throw odd shapes across the ground, making me feel like we’re riding through a dream.
I relax against Roshan’s chest a little more. “How do you know we’re going the right way?”
Roshan shifts, releasing the reins with one hand to point upward to a shining pinpoint of light. “We follow that star.”
“How do you know this...?” I begin, but my voice trails away as I feel the warmth of his breath on my sensitive nape, making my skin prickle and goose bumps rise everywhere. His head leans into mine as the tip of his nose grazes the exposed skin above my mesh collar, as if he is craving the contact, as if he needs the touch just as badly. But he doesn’t do more than inhale deeply before settling his cheek into the curve of my neck and shoulder as we ride through the darkness.
“Roshan?” I ask shakily. “Why are you doing this? Putting your life on the line for me. You don’t owe me anything.”
“I can’t just leave you—it wouldn’t be the honorable thing to do. My mother would turn in her grave if I abandoned a woman in mortal danger.”
“It wouldn’t be abandonment if I told you to let me go,” I say.
Roshan says nothing to that, and we ride in silence for a while, preoccupied with our own thoughts. Something between us has irrevocably shifted. Our bond feels deeper, more intimate. It feels liketrust. I twist in his lap, tilting my head up to his.
“Use me at the bunker,” I whisper. “We can leverage my magic.”
His entire body stiffens. “No.”
