Pausing, she takes a deep breath and fiddles with her amulet. “I’m a Flamewielder, Durvla.”She huffs out an uncertain laugh, and I smile at her.
“I know.”
“This is madness.”
“And apparently our new reality.”
“I need tosomehow stop Iywan’s bizarre plan and keep him from marrying me off to Rheon. That man…” She visibly shudders. “I?—”
My body prickles and things start to fade on the horizon. Behind me, the castle is also beginning to fade. “Our time’s running out.”
She squeezes my hand tightly. “Don’t go.”
“Garrick!”The voice catches me off guard, but it’s not Carys who speaks.
I blink at Carys. “I’m sorry,” I tell her. “But listen.”
“For the love of Damarlach. Garrick! Open your eyes. We have to go.”Kilkenny’s voice in my mind.
My shoulder is jostled, and I’m almost pulled out of the dreamscape, but I hang on to Carys’s hand.
“Don’t do anything rash. You’ll figure things out. You can do this.”
“I’m not sure I can.”
“Wake! Up!”
“I believe you can,” I say. “Just as you believed I could knit you an entire dress in a month.”
She smiles and squeezes my hand even tighter but the world around us is fading rapidly.
I try to ground myself in this dreamscape but it’s no use. It’s like grabbing on to air. “Be brave,” I tell her, echoing the words Kilkenny has said to me more than once. “Don’t break.”
“OPEN YOUR EYES?—!”
I awake with a gasp, squinting against the small ray of sunlight that shines through the trees. Alys and Osheen are frantically tacking up the horses while Chiyo and Kilkenny fend off three men clad in ragged clothing and leather. Another man lays unmoving nearby.
I scramble to my feet, my heart in my throat, my head spinning, as the scene unfolds before me. I’m rooted in my spot, unable to make my feet move. Kilkenny is quick and light on his feet, matchingeach strike of the assailant’s sword, swing for swing, jab for jab. That man goes down quickly.
Chiyo slings a small, sharp weapon toward a gaunt ruffian off to her side, and it slices across his thigh, darkening his stained trousers with crimson. She draws two daggers as the man screams and wildly brandishes his sword.
Alys shouts something, gesturing from off to my right. Before I know it, Osheen is tugging me toward Ghendor and hoisting me up into the saddle. Cold prickles at the back of my neck, and a bizarre buzzing sensation flares up beneath my skin. I clench my fists and try to will myself calm again. Kilkenny glances over his shoulder at me, his brows raised in a question.
The buzzing under my skin becomes nearly unbearable, and suddenly Kilkenny’s voice is in my head.“Put the bracelet on.”
I jump so hard at the sound of his voice that I nearly fall off Ghendor, but I rummage around in the saddle bag and grab the bracelet, quickly fastening it to my wrist. I breathe through the sudden shift in my body as my powers are silenced.
I’m focused on Kilkenny as he sheaths his sword over his back and wraps his arms around his attacker’s neck from behind. The man struggles, his face turning bright red, then blue, as he flails and swats at Kilkenny’s arm.
Chiyo isfast,dodging the brawny assailant again and again, a delighted grin lighting up her face. She’splayingwith the man, goading him on, taunting him as she ducks and weaves, twists, and spins. She makes it look easy—graceful. A lethal dance.
Kilkenny gives her an aggravated look and shouts something at her. She rolls her eyes, and as the brawny attacker swings again, she ducks. The man Kilkenny is holding stops struggling, his face purple, and Kilkenny drops him as Chiyo flings her dagger into the brawny attacker’s chest. The man drops like a rock.
I didn’t even lift a finger, but I feel like I’ve been running for miles.
“Let’s go,” Kilkenny says, hurrying toward Ghendor while I try to ignore the dead bodies we’re leaving behind.
My heart is still racing as Kilkenny mounts Ghendor, but it slowly calms as his arm encircles me. As we gallop out of the clearing, Kilkenny’s voice is loud in my head once more.
