He had every reason to release my hand and run on. I’d seen him before his fall. He’d have made it easily without me slowing him down. We weren’t allies or friends. I’d pulled him out of that crevice, but he did not owe me anything. Getting me moving from that ledge was surely enough of an act of mercy to appease Seraxa.
He did not let go.
“Faster, Koryn,” he demanded.
I couldn’t go faster. I was going to get us both killed.
I looked back. Rilk was only a few yards behind, but even that would be fatal. The entire ice field was disintegrating.
We weren’t going to make it.
I threw out the hand that Garrick did not hold. Bright power so cold that it burned flowed from my veins, but to me it was not pain. It was release. It was right.
Frost solidified into a thick, solid layer of ice, creating a path to safety.
Rilk was close enough for me to hear his gasp.
But I let the consequences roll past me. Life, first.
Another few yards, that was all that stood between us and the gate. My legs pumped beneath me, mustering the last dregs of life-saving energy.
We slid through the gate as the path of ice I’d created crumbled and a crevice opened beneath our feet. We were too late. I was certain we would die. I’d risked it all—my chance to return to my coven, my quest to protect my sister’s legacy, my own life—for a bounty hunter who’d imagined me dead as easily as breathing.
My last thought as the ground fell away was that maybe Seraxa would take mercy on me before the Dark God got ahold of my soul. I fell and fell and fell. An eternity of falling. Then my back crashed into the ground.
CHAPTER 17
I lay blinkingup at the sky for more minutes than I cared to count.
My senses picked up on the other supplicants. Rilk’s wheezing breath came from somewhere to my left, but far enough away not to be an immediate threat. Somehow, he’d made it through. If my body was wrecked, I could only imagine the state he must be in.
Of course, the Gates would require physical strength and endurance. And without my power to bolster me, I was too fucking vulnerable.
Not that it mattered anymore.
Rilk had seen my power. He’d already shown himself to be a snake by making a deal with that monster, Nash. Soon, he’d spill my secret to the rest. I lacked pointed ears, so there was only one other thing I could be. So much for that tin of paste still tucked in my pocket. Covering my coven mark was now the absolute least of my worries.
I couldn’t keep laying there so openly exposed. I would be too easy to pick off once the others recovered. Dark God, spare me. The fae female didn’t look like she needed any recovery time at all.
Every muscle screamed, but I forced myself to sit up. I shivered and moved to pull my cloak tighter around me, only to remember ripping it from my shoulders on the ice wall. Fucking great. I might not technically be able to freeze to death, given that frost ran through my veins, but I could still feel the cold.
Steps crunched in the frost, someone else dragging themselves up to stand. My power rose despite the exhaustion. If there was anyone I could muster the energy to kill, it was that fae bitch.
But the weight of the steps was too heavy, and I knew exactly who it was that stopped a few feet short of me. I could already feel the bruises forming around my wrist from where his hand had gripped mine as I dragged him up over the ledge.
I did not waste any more time panting on the ground. I would not give Garrick the Red the satisfaction.
The ground was slick and my muscles so tired, I stumbled half a step as I dragged myself up to stand. I lurched forward into his space, but he didn’t so much as flinch. When I lifted my head so I could glare up at him, the corner of his mouth had quirked upward.
I glared harder.
His eyes raked over me for half a second before he shrugged. “You’re alive.”
“That is all you have to say?Youare only alive because ofme.” I could practically feel my eyes bugging out of my head. But the bastard was completely unruffled. He looked like he might have rolled out of a particularly rough romp in bed—pale hair slightly mussed, lower lip swelling, buttons on his leather vest torn askew.
I wasnotpicturing Garrick in bed. Not after what he’d just put me through.
He rolled his neck along the back of his shoulders, giving me the absolute bare minimum of his attention. “Did you expect a thank you?”
