“This is as far as I can take you,” Parry said, already leaning back down. Alize moaned and swayed, barely conscious, but Parry supported her deftly. “The king will notice my absence, and I must get Alize to safety, too.”
Garrick’s brow creased. “My mother?—”
“Already safe,” Parry said, her mouth pressing into a line. “I sensed things might go awry.”
“How do I know?—”
“You will have to trust me,” she said plainly. “We are out of time for explanations. Good luck. Lift the curse. Edmund and I will try to keep Balar Shan standing until you do.”
Have you ever seen magic like this?I asked Isanara.
She lashed her tail from side to side.I did not meet many people before you.
I guess not, then.
If Garrick asked, I’d go back through the passage. I’d fight my way through Balar Shan at his side to make sure his mother was safe. I would try to get Isanara to stay here, and I’d fail. It had taken every bit of cunning I possessed to convince her not to fight Maura or the fae king on her own while Garrick and I were compelled.
Parry did not wait for permission. She’d already made herself clear. There was no time. She carried Alize gingerly, supporting her without touching her burns in an incredible show of strength, even for a fae.
Garrick let her go.
We watched as she closed the passage and opened a new one. The location was indistinct, too dark to make out distinguishing details. Parry muscled Alize through it, and then they were gone.Garrick, Isanara, and I stood alone at the foot of the mountains, darkness and snow overhead.
Garrick slid his fingers between mine. He lifted our joined hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the inside of my wrist. Right atop the Lifebind.
“What now?” I asked, knowing there was only one answer.
He lifted his gaze to the mountaintops. “To the Unknown Gate.”
CHAPTER 53
GARRICK
She looked impossiblyfragile from the sky. I knew that she wasn’t. She’d proven it to me again and again. In Balar Shan, she had proven it to everyone. I did not care about anyone else. I cared about her.
A pair of sultry blue-black eyes flashed in my vision. But the flash was only the tip of my wing as I banked to circle down and land.
Syleris was gone, and there was no telling when he would return, especially now that we were out of the castle. I would honor his last entreaty because it aligned with my own priorities. Priority. Koryn.
It was not because I missed him or wished that he was with us.
I shifted in the air, my wings expanding into arms, feathers absorbing and reforming into skin and clothes. The elongated black talons were the last to disappear, retracting back into my fingers.
Koryn watched me with wide eyes. She’d only seen me shift once before today, when Maura had forced it outside of the Memory Gate. Whether she found it beautiful or grotesque, I did not know. She did not offer an opinion.
I shook off the ice that clung to my clothing, as it had to my feathers. It was still snowing. At least in my human form, I was within the shelter of the trees.
“We will reach the Unknown Gate by tomorrow evening. I imagine they will feed us and then send us through,” I said. “Unless they have tired of waiting for us.”
Scouting had been my stated purpose for soaring overhead rather than walking at Koryn’s side. I’d flown high enough to see where we were within the spiral-shaped mountain range and to verify that we were not being followed. Not yet, at least.
But I’d also sensed that Koryn needed the solitude. She kept one hand on Isanara’s back at all times. The usually difficult dragon must have sensed her witch’s need, because she did not join me in the skies despite the cold slog that the snow drifts demanded.
“Varian seems to value protocol above all else,” Koryn said, frowning at the mention of the priestess even though she was the one who’d spoken her name. She shook her head slightly from side to side before refocusing her eyes. “Should we camp here?”
We’d hiked straight through the night and into the next day. Our ceremonial clothing from the Winter Tithe was in tatters. We needed a fire and food. Luckily, I could see to both.
We picked out a sheltered spot beneath the branches of an evergreen. Koryn started digging through the thinner layer of snow.
