I’d dropped her in a well, and now I was leaving her in enemy territory. It was unthinkable. The thought lodged like a shard of ice beneath my ribs, every breath scraping sharp against it.
Kaelric would never forgive me.
‘I’ll always be with you, Brynn,’she promised.‘Distance cannot break our bond.’Her voice wrapped around me like an old blanket, familiar and warm, but beneath the reassurance, I could feel the quiet tremor of fear she tried to hide.
And with that, my memory blurred, like I was watching myself from very far away, moving through cold water. I let Godric drag me back to the market, where I barely remembered sneaking into the small tent that held the garlic stall and crawling into the tunnel under the cart. The bitter scent of garlicclung to me, sharp in my nose, grounding me only enough to move my feet.
I was in shock. Never in a thousand years would I have thought I was going into the city with Valkaryn and leaving without her. She was like a second mother to me. I felt like I’d betrayed her. I kept touching my hip, fingers searching for weight that was no longer there, a phantom limb in steel’s place.
‘Hush, child. It will be okay. I’m just glad you are safe.’Her words were nice, but I felt her unease beneath them. She was worried she’d never make it out of the dark waters as well.
‘I vow to you, in the name of the mighty Creator, I will rescue you,’I told her.
‘It’s okay,’she said again, and it felt like she was saying it was okay if I didn’t rescue her. My throat tightened. She was giving me permission to abandon her, to live on without her, and it broke something inside me.
I fell into a depressed silence then, walking aimlessly, exhausted, as Godric led me a safe distance into the forest. The trees seemed to sway with whispered judgment, every branch like a pointing finger. Damp earth swallowed our footsteps, muffling sound until even the forest felt like it was holding its breath.
Kaelric was quiet. I assumed it was because he was in close contact with Godric and had learned I had left his mother, and the most powerful weapon this world had ever seen, in the clutches of the enemy. He would never speak to me again. The bond between us, usually a warm thread of golden light, felt frayed and thin, like a rope burned halfway through.
My legs felt heavy as I tripped a second time over a fallen log, and Godric caught me. His hand on my elbow felt steady, an anchor keeping me upright when my mind wanted to melt into the ground. How long had I been without sleep? I could go days without food, but sleep, I needed it badly.
Godric eyed a ramshackle cabin in the distance. It was only midafternoon, but he mercifully suggested we get some rest at the cabin.
The roof of the small hunting cabin was sagging, but still held. The windows were long gone, leaving the sides exposed to the elements. The front door hung halfway on its hinges, and when we stepped inside, my gaze went to the dirt-packed floors. They look hard and unforgiving, and yet I longed to lie on them and sleep for a week. A thin line of light pushed through a crack in the wall, catching the motes of dust drifting in the stale air. It looked like even the light struggled to survive here.
“This will do,” he said, and took off his coat and the huge pillow he’d stuffed inside his shirt to change his appearance.
“Feels good to be rid of that.” He laid the pillow on the floor and then his coat. He patted the makeshift bed for me to lie on, and I frowned.
“That’s okay. You take it. I’ll sit up against the wall.”
“Lay down, Brynn.” It was an order, but his voice was filled with compassion.
Tears filled my eyes, and I wasn’t sure why I was getting so emotional. Well, I was sure. It was her. My hand kept going to the place at my hip, rubbing the spot she used to rest. The absence pulsed like a bruise, raw and new.
Godric began to build a fire in the hearth, and I fell to my knees on the coat, and then lowered myself onto the pillow, my head sinking in with joyous relief.
Delirious sleep began to pull at my limbs and mind, but my heart wouldn’t let me rest.
‘I’m sorry,’I told Valkaryn, but might have said it to Kaelric instead.
‘I love you,’came his reply just as sleep took me. His voice swept through me like a warm tide, and finally, darkness claimed my thoughts.
Chapter Eight
Iawoke to a soft stroke on my cheek. My eyelids snapped open to see Kaelric peering down at me. For a fleeting second, I thought I was still dreaming. His face was so close, framed by moonlight leaking through the broken window.
I was confused for a moment.Where am I?I was in the hunting cabin, night had fallen, Godric was outside sitting on a chopping stump, and Kaelric was here!
I sat up, scooting away from him until my back hit the wall. My pulse leaped like a spooked rabbit.
‘Kaelric, I…’My chest heaved. How could I tell him? He must not know. Godric didn’t tell him, and he came here thinking he would check on me, but…
‘It’s okay,’he said quietly.
I frowned.
‘I left her there.’I couldn’t help the sob that formed in my throat.‘Five hundred feet down a well.’
