“An altar that shouldn’t have existed. A place I was never supposed to be.”
I was too annoyed that his response didn’t sound labored to parse it, though his tone of voice sounded ominous as the words rolled over me. “What is?—”
“Get them!” one of the guards shouted behind us.
Hart squeezed my hand like he knew I’d hate this and pulled me across the hill as quickly as my legs could carry me. He turned further left, heading directly toward the castle.
“You are not?—”
He drew me faster, his pace pushed my legs harder, and wesprinted around the garden trails heading toward the city wall behind the castle. Greenery careened past—trees, bushes, hedges—but it wasn’t tall enough to shelter us.
“There is no way out. The city wall.” Why was I explaining this to him? He’d helped build this goddess-forsaken kingdom and the wall that surrounded it.
“Trust me, Chaos. Please.”
It was thepleasethat did it. It felt foreign from him. Hart was not used to being denied. He was a prince. First in line for the throne. He was a human summoned by a goddess, even if it wasn’t what he’d chosen for himself. He led the Feared. He brokered deals with leaders of foreign kingdoms. He wielded authority that may or may not be imagined.
Yet he asked me for trust.
Begged me for it.
I’d trusted him with my life on countless occasions. He’d yet to let me down.
I stopped questioning him and found another burst of energy. Something would have to give soon, before my legs did. We would hit a literal wall in minutes. I could give him this.
He pulled me through the gardens. The castle spires loomed overhead. Overbearing, watching, waiting to claim us.
Hedges lined the paths through the gardens. The growth granted some cover, but it wasn’t enough. The guards shouted again in pursuit as we cut into the maze of pathways and greenery. The bushes grew denser the closer we got to the wall. If the guards who chased us didn’t find us, some new ones on patrol would.
With another sharp turn into dense rows of olive trees, we sprinted to a pathway on the other side. The echo of the guards’ shouts seemed to continue toward the wall. Hartslowed our sprint to a brisk walk on the new path. His grip on my hand was like a vice.
Footsteps clomped ahead of us. Hart moved before the source of the noise appeared. He pushed me into a grove of orange trees, and his long frame pressed against me as he peered around the trunk.
He was so close. We still had nowhere to go. I didn’t doubt he knew the castle well, but did he think we could evade all the groups of guards patrolling the grounds?
Did we have any other options?
I struggled to control my breathing and realized I wasn’t alone in my effort.
A moment of silence. Another.
His weight pressed my back against the tree trunk, as if he could hide me with the sheer force of his will. I stared at his throat. It bobbed as he swallowed once. Then again. I hated that he smelled so good. Hated that it felt so warm and safe here, even though we were the furthest thing from it. Hated that the bitter taste of his fear coated my tongue, and I had no doubt in my mind that he didn’t fear for himself. He feared for me.
I doubted so much when it came to Hart. Doubted his intentions, doubted his words.
How could I be so sure of this?
“We can go.” He stepped toward me and closed his hand around mine again. I stared at our clasped hands. We’d made it this far holding fast to each other. My gloves still covered my skin, and I reasoned that the layer of protection helped even though I knew it didn’t. My awareness of him was almost as consuming as my fear of being caught.
Instead of dragging us back to the path, he took us farther into the orchard.
“Where are we going? Is there another way out?”
That made him laugh, but it rang hollow. “Do you remember when I told you the story of the Firstborn? Of his confrontation with Eris?”
We walked more slowly now, not drawing attention to ourselves as we moved between the trees and hedges. Hart stopped by a particularly large bush just shy of the city wall.
“You mean when you told me your own history but didn’t acknowledge the story was about you?”
