They nod. “We’ll see what we can manage with the others,” Em says.
We all take off in opposite directions, and I pray to every god I know as I break back into the tree line behind the boy.
It takes me only a moment to reach him.
I leap from my horse, grabbing the boy, and slam my hand over his mouth. “Look at me andlisten,” I demand.
His wild eyes settle on my face.
“I’m going to lift you onto that horse, and you’re going to get out of here, as fast as you can ride. Do you understand?”
He nods against my palm, but his eyes shift back toward his home.
“No. This is not the time for bravery or saving someone else. This is yourlife. Tell me you understand.”
His gaze shifts back to me, and a tear slides down his pink cheek.
I uncurl my fingers from his mouth.
“I understand,” he whispers.
I hoist the child into my arms, not wasting another second, and position him in the saddle.
“Grab the reins,” I beg as he sits in his shock with winter raging around him.
His small hands grip the leather.
“Get into the city, get rid of the horse.”
He nods, then I cluck at the horse with a firm coax on her hindquarter, and they race into the night. I spin back toward the clearing, eyes red and burning under my anger, and wade through the snow in my gown.
“You broke therules, Veya!” Nerian laughs as I emerge into the meadow, struggling through the knee-deep snow.
“I fell off and couldn’t get back up in this fucking dress,” I say through a spine-shattering shiver. “I lost your horse in the process, too. I’m sorry.”
He shakes his head with a snap of his tongue. “What a glorious failure, my queen,” he laughs, and I don’t even have to try to look defeated or disappointed.
“Indeed,” I sigh, eyes catching on Second as he emerges from the tree line, empty-handed on his horse.
“I guess I won, then,” Nerian says, the man he chased draped over his horse with two arrows in his back.
“I guess so,” I say, wondering where the child the man was holding ended up. I’m not sure I can handle the answer.
“I would love to show you the cellar now. Back to the castle, shall we? You could use a drink, I think.”
I nod, breath heaving, and beg the gods to get me through the rest of this night.
CHAPTER 12
KADE
Two Hundred Years Ago — Goreon Kingdom
DO YOU FEAR FAILURE?” Master asks, warming himself by the roaring fire in the living room as my body finally calms down after Sam’s magic ran through me like a blade.
My trance shifts from crackling logs to Master’s weathered face. Rhett parks himself on the floor beside the fire.
“I feared loss of life, but not failure,” I admit. “But now—”
