“What are you doing here?” Sebastian asks from between the boulders.
I half-jump out of my skin as I turn to face him.
“Don’t walk up on a person like that,” I tell him.
His shoulders lock. His hands ball into fists at his sides. His eyes blaze with fury.
“What in Kakara’s name are you doing here, Isla?” The words come out quiet, lethal. “You should have left this place. If you stay anywhere near me, you’re going to get yourself killed.”
“I should ask you the same.” I put my hands on my hips. “What are you doing here?”
He takes a step toward me, and there is something almost wild in his expression. “Leave now. Turn that horse around and go.”
I hold his gaze. My pulse is hammering, but not from fear.
Then I reach back and slap Jack hard on the rump in much the same way Sebastian did before.
“Go home,” I tell him.
The sorrel bolts. He takes off at a startled gallop, heading south along the tree line, his reins flapping against his neck.
Sebastian watches as Jack disappears in a cloud of dust. When he turns back to me, his entire body is taut. His jaw could cut stone. His eyes burn with a heat that should terrify me.
It doesn’t.
He looks like a male ready to tear the world apart. Every line of his body is drawn with rage; his chest rises and falls with hard breaths. He towers over me, and I have to tilt my head back to meet his eyes.
Something hot and liquid pools low in my belly at the sight of him standing there.
I’ve lost my mind. I’ve completely, irrevocably lost my mind.
His hand closes around mine. His grip is firm, his palm rough. He pulls me forward, through the narrow gap in the rocks, into the hidden alcove beyond.
23
Sebastian
This female is infuriating.
She’s going to get herself killed, and I won’t be able to live with myself if that happens.
I turn to face her as we reach the area between the boulders.
“Have you completely lost your mind?” I ask under my breath.
“No. Have you?”
“I’m trying very hard to keep you safe, but you’re making it impossible. How are you going to leave if you don’t have a horse?”
“That’s just it, I’m not leaving. Not without you. I’m here to talk you out of this crazy plan. You can’t go after Snow on your own. Don’t deny it. You’re planning on trying to defeat her alone, and it isn’t going to work.”
“That’s not what I—”
“You are!” she practically growls. “Give me an ounce of credit, please. I’m not a simpleton. I know it! You’re planningto go out there to face her…alone,” she whisper-shouts, pointing her finger at me.
“Are you suggesting that you should help me? You have some magic, Isla, but you…you need to stay away…that’s all.”
“No, that’s not what I’m suggesting at all.” She shakes her head. Her hair has fallen loose from her braid. Tendrils frame her face, catching the light. “I’m suggesting that you shouldn’t go at all. You should leave this court now. I don’t care whether you go back to Julienne or if you leave for the deadlands. It doesn’t have to be with me. I know you still don’t trust me, but I do want you to listen to reason. You have to leave here while you can. It doesn’t matter where, only that you do. If you stay and face her, you will die.”
