They don’t answer me of course, but I can’t even be mad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lucien Avrell playful in my entire life. Cambria may think she sucks the life out of people, but it’s a damn lie; she inspires the people that actually see her for who she is to reach new heights.
“Last to reach the top has to pay for the new mattressandtake everyone out to dinner when we cross over?” Lucien offers and her eyes narrow.
“You know how to light a fire under a girl’s ass, I’ll give you that,” she states. “I haven’t even gotten paid for my first week at my new job.”
“Then I guess you better not lose,” he retorts easily.
“Ready, set, go!” Dorian shouts in a rush, darting off a split second later before we know what hit us.
Cambria laughs, breaking into a dead sprint after him, Lucien right alongside her. I groan, pushing my already screaming legs to their breaking point. Weaving between trees and jumping over roots so I don’t break my ankle, I catch up to the rest of them. Because despite how exhausted I am, my job is way more physical than the others’ and it gives me a slight advantage right now.
It has to be no less than a solid half hour at this rate and I lose sight of the others as I develop tunnel vision, praying to stave off my impending heart attack until after I cross the finish line. I’m starting to believe this mountain has no end, that it must extend into the sky forever. A roar fills my ears the more I press on, and a few minutes later I make it to the top, but just barely. I instantly fall to my ass, lying down and panting heavily, each breath stabbing my lungs in a punishing rhythm.
Lucien arrives next with Dorian right behind, the latter promptly tripping over me and knocking the precious breath I managed to find right out of my chest. I shove him off, rolling him down my legs, and he doesn’t even bat an eye. His chest heaves as he strains for air and I can feel his heart thundering against my shin.
“Looks like Cambria’s buying,” I huff out over the roaring in my ears. “She’s going to be pissed.”
“Not quite,” she chirps, and I tilt my head towards her voice.
She’s directly above us in the tree, sitting on a branch and swinging her legs, perfectly at home and in her element. She grins down, looking honestly happy for the first time in days.
“How the fuck did you get up there?”
She maneuvers herself until she’s hanging down, swinging slightly before she drops so that she doesn’t land on top of us. “I’m a lady of many talents, as you already know.” She winks dramatically and I struggle out a strangled laugh that comes across as more of a wheeze.
“That you are, little fae,” I agree. “So I suppose Dorian here is the loser then?”
Dorian groans in defeat. “If I was going to lose anyway, I should have just walked.”
Cambria laughs, walking over to help him to his feet and off of me so I can stand. “Close your eyes,” she commands, and I happily let mine shut. She takes me by the hand and leads me a little bit away. “No peeking,” she decrees as she goes to get the others.
“You brought us here to kill us didn’t you?” I tease, heart starting to return to a normal rhythm.
“Yep, and you idiots followed me to your deaths willingly. Nobody likes characters that are too stupid to live, Atlas,” she replies with ease.
“To be fair,” Dorian throws out there from my left, “you have a nice ass. Can’t really blame us.”
She chuckles, the sound thankfully easy and more carefree. “Open your eyes.”
When I do, my heart stops. From here, the world looks so small and so massive at the same time. The tiny spec of the city and the castle, the giant green swath of the forest cutting across the land. Mountains and valleys, distant specs of other towns.
More miraculous though, is the way a section of land seems to hover above the ground, unconnected; like something you could only reach if you could fly. From the town, the view is obstructed, and I wonder if it’s from glamour or just the landscape. To my right is the river I heard earlier, tipping over the edge to cascade down in a waterfall that’s far quieter than the ones I’m used to. Even the water doesn’t dare to make too much noise and disrupt the tranquility up here.
I risk a look over the ledge, entranced in the way the water pools a hundred feet beneath us on a platform before continuing to another. The water falls in a series of steps down to the valley far below, snaking off into the distance.
“That city over there,” Cambria begins, gesturing to the most distant one I can makes out.
I wait for her to continue, unable to look away. From here, everything just feels so peaceful. There’s so much more to this world than what we’ve seen and I finally start to understand the appeal of the worlds Dorian throws himself into. If he sees even half of this in his head, is able to capture this feeling to revisit whenever he wants?
I don’t think I can mock him anymore.
“That’s approximately the end of my mother’s territory,” she finishes on a whisper, like she’s terrified someone will overhear the declaration.
My head whips to face her, that lone sentence like a slap to the face. “So why haven’t you ever left?”
She looks out over the world, breathing easier like none of her problems can reach her up here. “Even if she doesn’t treat me like it, legally I’m her daughter. She’d be within her rights to ask any other kingdom to turn me over or allow her forces in to search for me. If I ran, I’d never be able to stop running. I wouldn’t be able to have so much as a crappy apartment to call home for fear of her finding me.”
When she turns to face me, her eyes appear haunted, worries I can only imagine holding her captive. “And shewould, eventually. Everything she’s ever put me through would pale in comparison to what fate she’d have in store if that happened.” She looks down, following the path of the river. “So it was better off staying a pipe dream to get through the worst days. At least now, I have a semblance of a life, and that’s more than I ever thought she’d allow.”
