“Well, I’m obviously not going to be the human who takes you through the portal. Good luck with the rest of your thousand years.” And with that, I twisted on my heels and ran. Pumping my arms by my sides, I flew through the wet, dense brush of the forest. A tree limb slapped me in the cheek, stinging my skin. But I had to just keep moving. Yuto was no doubt hot on my trail. I didn’t know how I could outrun him, but I had to try.
My lungs squeezed tight. Heavy footsteps thundered behind me, giving me flashbacks of so many nights on the run through the cloying city streets. The hot breath of the prince’s guards on my neck. The fear churning through my veins like toxic nettles.
All those times I’d managed to get away. But I hadn’t had a dragonlord on my tail.
My leather boots hit a patch of slippery moss. Down I went, knees slamming so hard into the ground that my teeth knocked together. Pain lanced through my head, and I curved forward, pressing my trembling hands to my skull.
Two strong hands encircled my arms and hauled me to my feet. I couldn’t fight against it this time. The pain in my head was blinding.
“You shouldn’t run through this forest,” he said gruffly, almost with a hint of worry in his voice. But that had to be wrong. I was just delirious from my fall. “It’s too dangerous. You could hurt yourself.”
“What do you care?” I snapped in as vicious a tone as I could muster.
“You can’t get me back through that portal if you’re dead, now can you?” he hissed back with just as much venom. Gone was the air of concern. The real demon had come out to play now.
“I don’t know what it is you expect from me,” I sobbed, hating myself for it. “You know I can’t give you what you want.”
“You’re just a thief.” He spoke the words as if they were poison, as if I were nothing more than a lowly speck of dirt on the bottom of his boot. Maybe, to him, I was. “I’m shocked the magic even cares. It won’t take long for it to let you back through.”
I slumped. Stupid magic. “So, you’re going to force me to stand by the portal until it lets me through again? How long is that going to take?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” He pulled on my arm, dragging me back the way we came. I had no choice but to stumble alongside him. Weariness weighed heavily on my shoulders. My bones ached. If I tried to run again, he would only catch me. And I didn’t think my throbbing head could take another tumble. “It could take a year or more.”
“A year?” I repeated dumbly, slowing my steps. “I thought you said it wouldn’t take long.”
“That isnotlong.”
“Yeah, I guess it isn’t when you’re five hundred years old,” I muttered.
“Eight hundred and seventy.”
I blinked. “Mother of Midas.”
He cocked his head, hands still cinched tightly around my arms. He wasn’t taking any chances now, keeping two hands firmly locked on my skin. His steel gloves were hard and cold, like chains. “Mother of Midas?”
“It’s an expression,” I said with a slight smile. “Like a curse? Don’t tell me you’re eight hundred and seventy years old, and you’ve never heard that before.”
“We come from very different worlds, Aradia,” he murmured.
I shivered. “I’m guessing that means there are more of you out there.”
“More ofme?” He chuckled, a sound that caught me off guard. All he’d done so far since I’d met him was growl or curse. “There are not more ofme, no. But there are more dragonlords.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I was more intrigued than I wanted to admit.
“You ask too many questions,” he repeated for at least the five thousandth time. We pushed through the brush and stepped into the clearing where the portal still shimmered faintly beneath the blaze of a midday sun. I stared at the rippling waves, half-expecting some new terror to come charging through.
Instead, Yuto’s steel grip was suddenly replaced by the rough burn of a rope. He’d moved so fast I had scarcely registered what he was doing. One moment, he had his tight grip on me. The next, he was making the finishing touches of a complicated knot.
The blood in my veins stilled as fear took hold of my heart. “You can’t do this.”
“Oh, but I can.” He finished tying the knot and stood back, eyeing me. “You clearly can’t be trusted.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Of course I can’t. And can you really blame me? I’ve stepped from one hellhole into another!”
I was probably getting a little delirious because I could have sworn his eyes softened. A softness that could not be found in his words. “Perhaps you should have considered the ramifications of your actions before you decided to steal from your prince.”
Grinding my teeth, I glanced away. “At least I didn’t abduct someone.”
