The attack held me in its clutches.
I choked on gasped breaths, eyes flying open. Hovering faces spun around the room. The lilac and woodsy purloe scent rolled in like a flood, but before Shade or Wista could move to comfort me, Eleanor was there. She pulled me into her arms, and I sank into her hold, dark curls tickling my cheek when I buried my face into her neck.
For the first time in my life, I lost myself in front of my little sister, broke entirely in her arms. She cocooned me in her warmth and strawberry scent. I had always been the strong one, the one to provide comfort and safety, always putting her above my own wants and needs to ensure she was happy. She held me as I fell apart in a million different ways, the way I’d yearned for since our parents died, since I had been burdened with responsibility.
No one said a word, and I expelled every hurt from my body in a deluge of tears and chest-racking sobs. It was cathartic, and the weight always resting on my shoulders, lifted slightly.
Once my sobs had reduced to light sniffles, Eleanor spoke. “You need to get out, take Shade and make a wish.”
I pulled back to face her. “I won’t leave without you.”
Her lips pursed, but she didn’t argue, she knew it was the one thing I wouldn’t budge on. “Then we need a plan, I’ll do anything but stand by and watch him hurt you again.”
Her voice held strength, that same determination she always had when she set her mind to something. I insisted she was too soft and kind for the truth of this world, but that strength, it gave me hope she would survive the truth and her fate. Everything about the set of her jaw and fire in her eyes reminiscent of a true leader.
The truth curled around my tongue, ready to give her the reason I endured so much to protect her. I stopped the wordsat the last minute. She had already received so many revelations today, it wouldn’t be fair to impart the biggest one of all.
Not today—but maybe soon?
“He won’t let me go, not while he still has two wishes to make,” I said, throat raw from sobbing.
Eleanor scoffed. “They aren’t his wishes, they’re yours.”
“Agreed,” Shade rumbled, who had been silent during my breakdown. He stalked toward us and lifted me from Eleanor’s lap, then sat beside her with me in his. Arms circled me protectively, and he traced patterns on my thigh. I settled against him, basking in his protective touch.
Eleanor raised a brow at me, a sly smile tugging at her lips, but didn’t comment, which I was grateful for. Shade and I hadn’t spoken about what this was, so I didn’t know what I would tell my sister when she eventually asked.
“What about the tunnel in the library? Maybe it won’t be blocked,” Eleanor suggested, jumping to her feet and pacing the room.
“We’ve searched the entire room and haven’t found anything,” I said, and if the other way had been blocked, there was a high probability this one would be too. “Terym said we were going back to Ferveem Forest. I think our best bet is to plan a way to escape on the road. It will be harder to keep us separated, if we can be together while the sun is at its highest peak, Shade can take us away.”
“Where would we go?” Eleanor asked the question I had been mulling over since we arrived in Prallues. Our mother’s letter said to travel to Hutteran, to search for a man named Cutler, but it could be just as dangerous as Prallues with Lord Kheal residing in the city. Terym would be after us, would enlist the entire kingdom to get his wishes back. Our safest bet would be to travel as far away as possible.
“To Mortremon,” I whispered, still wary to say the name of the opposing kingdom aloud.
Eleanor’s eyes bugged out, but there was definitely a spark of excitement in them. “How would we cross the border?”
“I may have a way, Adelia. If I can offer a suggestion?” Wista said, stepping up to us and leaning close. I nodded at her to continue.
“We could reach out to King Siro, I have a way to contact him, through those …connectionsI told you about.”
Of course, she was from Mortremon, had even worked in Siro’s castle, she would have a way to get a letter to him.
Would Siro be just as bad as Terym? There was no way to know for sure, but if he could assist us across the border, we could hide within his kingdom. He wouldn’t have to know where we were or who Eleanor was. Once there, I could tell her the truth.
I looked at my sister, silently asking what she thought, and she shrugged. “It’s as good a plan as any.”
My eyes met Shade’s next, whose thumb rubbed circles on the back of my hand. “I will be with you wherever you go, Adelia. It is your decision alone.”
His confidence and support bolstered me, and I straightened my spine. “Right. We’ll contact Siro and together work on a way to escape on the journey to Ferveem Forest.”
“Why are we going back there?” Eleanor asked after everyone agreed to the plan.
“I don’t know.” It was clear by the king’s words he thought it a threat. I didn’t know why, but we wouldn’t stick around long enough to find out. “The biggest problem we’ll face is trying to be together while we travel. Terym has already said he would keep us separated, but Shade needs to be able to touch us all to get out.”
“Harkin can help!” Eleanor exclaimed, and we all looked at her with mirroring expressions of incredulity. “Don’t look like that, he’s trustworthy.”
Pink tinged her cheeks as she averted her eyes. Their relationship had obviously progressed; I’d have to speak with her about it at some stage.
