Hoped something would come at her so she could sink her blade into them as opposed to letting herself drown in despair.
“It will take a few days,” Cassius said, his fingers tight on her waist.
They’d already spent days getting to Chaménos. They’d hardly rested, only switching out horses when needed.
Thalia blinked the tears from her eyes.
“You have to promise me something,” Cassius said, his words in her ear.
“What?”
“After … after I say goodbye to them, you need to kill me.”
Thalia jerked, her breath catching. “Cass—”
“I don’t want to become one of them,” he continued, undeterred. “I don’t want to be suspended in a state of sleep wondering if I’ll ever wake up.”
Thalia started crying, her tears splashing onto their joined hands.
“Keegan won’t do it. Camilla will try and suspend me. I—I need you to kill me.” Thalia shook her head, but Cassius’s grip tightened. “Please, Thalia. You need to do this for me.”
She twisted, finding his gaze hard on hers. His eyes glowed with such pain and sorrow that she wished she could stab her own heart.
“Promise me,” he whispered.
Thalia swallowed, eyes blurring. “I promise.”
He seemed to relax, brushing his lips across her brow. “Thank you.”
They continued on, and Thalia could have sworn she was hallucinating when something orange blurred in the distance through the trees, a smoky haze that made her vision fuzzy.
“What’s that?” She squinted.
Cassius stiffened behind her. “I don’t know.”
Thalia urged their horse, heart pounding.
The orange glow spread, and the scent of smoke hit them in full force.
“It’s a fire.” Thalia’s throat closed. She twisted in the saddle, looking back the way they’d come. Horror rose at the orange closing the distance.
“Go!” Cassius yelled.
Thalia kicked their horse and they took off, the sounds of crackling and burning logs falling behind her.
The smoke grew thick enough to choke, and Thalia’s eyes watered as she urged her horse deeper into the forest.
“Which way?” she shouted. Creatures moved by in a blur, trying to escape the flames.
Cassius gripped the reins around her fingers. He didn’t say anything as he urged their horse faster, trying to escape the fire that’d turned into a blaze. The trees seemed to cry out, their shrieks piercing her ears.
The horse whinnied, pulling to a sharp stop as branches fell in their path.
“Fuck,” Cassius cursed, before whipping their horse, spurring it toward a different path.
The fire was all around them. Thalia could hardly see the ground, couldn’t see with the fire closing in around them—
They broke through the trees, and Thalia’s eyes widened.
