Chapter Twenty-Two
KATERINA
Suppressing the memory of the way Niko’s eyes had bled to solid black, overtaking his familiar, stormy gray, Katerina shoved him behind her. Fire burned at her fingertips as she pressed him backward, into the tunnel of thorns.
Down their revived bond, she felt the amusement beneath his fury—as if, of the two of them, he was the one who needed protecting. He, who wielded the Darkness’s might.
He might command those shades, but as far as Katerina was concerned, they made him more vulnerable, not less. With every life they took, they left another scar on his soul.
“Dimi Ivanova. Nezhit Alekhin.” It was Berezin’s voice; Katerina recognized it well enough, though he stood outside the maze’s boundaries. “We have you surrounded. There is no way out. In the name of the Saints and the oath you once swore to the Light, surrender.”
If Katerina had felt like conversing, she would have told Berezin how idiotic this was. What sense did it make to obey, only to meet the hangman’s noose in the morning? Instead, she gathered herself, closed her eyes, and reached for her magic.
For a single, terrifying instant, she feared Niko might resist her, the way he’d done in Kalach. But no. She drew her power through him, as she always had, and he gave her everything. Flames collected at her fingertips, and she gestured, shaping them in midair, then mustered her witchwind. Moments later, a massive fireball blasted through the tunnel of thorns. It struck true: Berezin howled in agony, a wordless scream echoed by another and then another as more of her fireballs hit home.
This would hold them off, she hoped. But for how long?
“You said you trusted me.” Her Shadow spoke, his tone wary, as if he expected her to deny him.
Her gaze finding his, Katerina nodded. She had said that, back in the dungeons, and she’d meant it. His eyes were still that unsettling black, shadows shifting within them as if the shades themselves lived in their depths. But she could feel him, conflicted but still steady. Still hers.
“I do,” she said aloud, as the maze began to burn and smoke filled the air.
I would never hurt you. He sent the words down their bond rather than speaking, so she would know the truth of them.
Before she could ask him what he meant to do, the shades writhing at his feet rose, concealing both himself and Katerina within their dark embrace.
Run, he told her, and she obeyed.
They fled through the thorns together, Niko in the lead. The world beyond the shades’ veil was dim, the moonlight barely penetrating it, but her Shadow didn’t hesitate. Katerina couldn’t tell whether his keen vision penetrated the blackness, or whether he didn’t have to see at all. Perhaps the shades guided his feet, leading them unerringly through one passage after the next. Either way, there was no turning back now. Behind them, trampling through the burning maze, lay the Druzhina; in front of them lay the unknown. And, perhaps, freedom.
She had walked this maze a half-dozen times or more, praying to the Saints for guidance about her love for her Shadow, but she had never raced through it like this—running for her life, let alone running blind. Perhaps she should have been afraid, but there was something almost exhilarating about surrendering her control to Niko this way, moving, invisible, through the maze’s twists and turns. The shades never brushed her skin; they were a shield, concealing her and Niko from view, not harming her. Protecting her from the smoke and from their pursuers, as if they were an extension of her Shadow.
Trust me, he had said, and so she would.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than the shades fell away, leaving her and Niko standing under the clear, star-pricked night sky at last. Behind them, the maze had shriveled wherever his shades had touched it, the roses falling, blackened, to the ground, leaving the thorns bare. In the distance, the fire spread, devouring the desiccated blooms and leaves, a black spark burning in the flames’ orange heart. Smoke curled into the air, a dark thread twisting within it.
The maze had stood for centuries, a place of peace and sanctuary. She had only meant to lead the Druzhina off their scent, not to destroy one of Rivki’s treasures. What had she done?
Katerina shivered, reaching out for Niko’s hand. He jerked back as if her touch had scorched him, his gaze flicking to the dying maze—then to the path in front of them, which led to the stables.
There stood Ana, Alexei, Damien, and Sofi, horses saddled and bridled, just as Ana had promised before she’d bolted from the courtyard. Beyond them, the silvery waters of Lake Krasa rippled under the moonlit sky, the bridge over the moat that surrounded Rivki no more than a hundred yards beyond the rune-warded portcullis.
They were so close to freedom, she could taste it.
And of course, that was when everything went wrong.
The remnants of the Druzhina Guard came at them from three sides. One group surged from the burning maze, coughing and smudged with ash, their clothes torn. The others came from the left and the right, having gone around to cut them off. Berezin was not among them—had Katerina killed him?
Horror churned within her. Death by hanging was one thing; with an experienced executioner and a well-used rope, it was over soon enough. But if she and Niko had murdered the Druzhina’s alpha and his second, there would be no quick death for them. They would die slowly and in great pain.
They had to escape.
The Druzhina’s Shadows gripped their blades; their Dimis surged forward, fire flickering at their fingertips and the earth rumbling in warning. Witchwind whipped through the trees that edged Lake Krasa, and the water frothed, licking at its banks.
Behind Niko and Katerina lay the stables and the lake, the bridge over the latter blocked by the portcullis. There was nowhere else to go. Swimming across the moat was impossible, not with the vicious, hungry Vodianyye spirits that lurked in its depths.
Her Shadow stirred, drawing himself up. In the tension of his body, the grim set of his jaw, Katerina knew what he was readying himself to do: marshal his shades to slay what remained of the Druzhina Guard.
