“I agree.I guess that leaves the mountain pass.”
Darion nodded.“Departing at first light would be best.Hopefully you can make it to your farm by nightfall, and then I can head west to the Order rendezvous point.”
“You should take the Emberbane,” I said, taking the vial out of my belt.“The Order will need it.”
“I’ll feel safer if it’s with you and Elena.It’s already saved you twice,” Darion said.
I nodded and put the vial back in my belt, noting that he’d chosen our safety over the Order.
We stood quietly under the moonlight.I looked over at Darion’s pensive face, ever thinking, ever planning.
“I have to be honest,” I said.“I’m surprised you’re willing to go to the farm with us instead of going directly to the rendezvous point.”
Darion faced me and looked deep into my eyes.“Maybe I haven’t made myself clear.I’d do anything for you and your sister.Anything foryou, Cas.”
I had to look away.The urge to forgive him and run into his arms was nearly overwhelming, but that deeply planted seed of doubt still held me back, gnawing at me like a wild beast.
“I want to believe you,” I said.“Ireallydo.But I can’t get that night at Pyrehold out of my mind.I simply don’t understand how you couldevertreat that monster as family.Even if it was for the greater good.”
Darion drew in a long breath, then said quietly, “He murdered my mother.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded, speechless, the simple awful truth landing hard.
“When I was young, I never knew who my mother was,” he said, still soft and fragile.“I was just a bastard son, sheltered in Orlik’s country estate and looked down on by everyone.When I was thirteen, my Embers started to show.I finally did some digging.This was a pattern for Orlik—spread his seed, then clean up the evidence.”
His eyes were glossy as he looked to the horizon.“I’ve had to live with that my whole life.And that night before Pyrehold, when you told me that Orlik killed your mother, it nearly broke me.I wanted to tell you so badly, but I couldn’t risk it.Not when our lives were at stake.”
The realization hit me fast and fierce.I had said I couldn’t understand how Darion could live a double life.But that was no longer true.I understoodexactlywhat that kind of trauma could make you do.It was what I had done my whole life.
I had been a fool, blinded by my own rage, unable to see that the man I cared for had the exact same trauma as me.We had simply dealt with it differently.And yet, we ended up in the same spot, together—scarred by the same man.
“Darion,” I said, choking back tears.“I’m so sorry.”
He looked my way, the pain in his face clear to see.“I’m sorry too,” he said.
We came together and held on tight, letting our emotions spill out in the quiet, knowing no one else in this world could ever understand this pain the way we did.
Chapter forty-two
Titan’s Span
Wewokeearly,hopingto make it over the mountains in a single day.After a quick breakfast and tending to the horses, we set off.The trail rose steadily and twisted into a mountain pass with peaks rising high on either side of us.
The ancient road may have been wide long ago, but disrepair and erosion had narrowed it and made it so rocky in spots that we had to dismount and lead the horses on foot.At points, the trail even cut into the mountainside, and soon we were walking along the edge of a steep slope.The cost of a misstep would be a long tumble down a rocky incline and a broken ankle at the very least.
But possibly the most disturbing thing was how exposed we were on the edge of the mountain.Gone were the trees that had provided cover.Any prying eyes in the area would plainly see us moving along the trail.My thieving instincts hummed with unease.
Although it still felt foreign to me, I had gotten better at suppressing my Ember, and so I’d begun to do it all the time, checking for null fields only every so often.Thus far, I’d felt nothing.
After several hours of steady incline, the trail began to level out.We had reached the top of a mountain pass.
“What’s that?”Elena asked, one hand shading her eyes from the sun and the other pointing ahead, where two stone spires rose in the distance.
“That looks like Titan’s Span, the bridge Jask told us about,” I said.“Let’s hope it’s in good enough shape to cross, or we’ll have to turn back.”It was still a ways off, but from here it looked solid.
“Only one way to find out,” Darion said.
“Hey, I think there might be somebody following us,” Elena said, looking back at the trail.
