I could not remove my gaze from her as I pulled us, stumbling toward the treeline. Seeing such vacancy in her was disturbing for a reason I could not name. I had used my mágik to quell emotions—to make people pliant—plenty of times, but to see its effect on Seren made me inexplicably uneasy.
Steel clattered to the earth as we fled, my free hand tearing blindly at the straps of my stolen armor. I breathed easier with it gone—my ribs no longer stifled beneath unforgiving metal.
Equinox came into view, and I ripped my fingers from hers. I gripped her thigh tightly, fingers pressing into firm muscle as I pushed Seren up into the saddle. I mounted swiftly and locked my arms tightly around her waist, bracing us as I gripped the reins with a white-knuckled grasp.
The thundering of boots and hooves rang through the deadened woods, but I did not dare to look back. I knew it was the Guardians that pursued us.
They chased Seren for what she had done. For what I had forced her to do.
My black mare rocketed into the forest.
Ordelés grew farther away with every hoofbeat. The Guardians raced after us, desperate to snare us—a spill of quicksilver pooling in our wake.
Trees whipped by on either side, branches hungry for our cheeks and hair. They bit into my skin, leaving me with a bloodied face.
I relinquished my hold over Seren’s emotions, focusing on the threat of the Guardians.
“What thefuck?” She gasped, slamming back to herself with the full weight of her feelings. They rose in my throat like a strong, bitter tea.
“Stay low,” I grunted, shooting a glance back over my shoulder.
The Guardians were gaining on us, drawing their gleaming weapons.
“Like hell!” Seren spat, throwing her elbow into my gut.
I coughed hard, having no choice but to ignore the pain as a shower of arrows descended upon us.
“Come on!” I shouted, urging Equinox faster with the hard press of my knees.
“Stop right there!” A Third Order Guardian commanded, drawing his bowstring tight.
I reached for my mágik, drawing upon it with great, heaving force. It blasted apart from me, a gust of wind ripping through the arrows as they flew, but Seren had me then.
She dragged her blade along my thigh where mine bracketed the warm length of hers—sliced through fabric and skin.
I lunged for her wrist, catching it tightly in my grasp, but the arrows were flying again. One clipped me in the ear, sending blood spilling down my neck.
Seren flailed still, fighting against the press of my fingers. Her head reared back, nearly crashing into my nose.
“Stop fighting me! You’ll kill us both!” I freed the dagger from her grip and tucked it into the waistband of my trousers, finally releasing her.
“Good!” Seren shouted, digging her fingers hard into the wound at my thigh.
“Goddesses fucking damn it! Stop, or I’ll throw you to the Guardians!” I roared, pain lighting my vision in brilliant white. “I can let them tear you to shreds, or I can save you.Let me save you.”
Seren blanched, turning in the saddle to meet my eyes—to look at the Guardians with their bloodthirsty visages. She settled, though her gaze still burned with fury.
My breath shook as I summoned a shield of air around us. I had already used so much of my mágik. Arrows ricocheted harmlessly over our heads, and I sent up a silent prayer that the barrier held.
We raced forward, toward Acsilla. The border was so close.
We would make it. We had to.
Chapter thirteen
Harkin
The push and pull of the mágikal border washed over me, mágik gripping us in a firm but fluid grasp. It let us pass, and Equinox immediately slowed, sensing safety in the bounds of the Varázis Erva. The Guardians could not follow us here.
