Page 25

I finished my “morning constitutional,” as Raina used to call it and stepped out of the clearing. I could only see the far edge of the dark gray pond and the top of Revel’s blond head. He leaned down and was completely out of sight for a second. Shaded by trees, the pond didn’t look very inviting, but I needed to wash up, too. I could smell the dank water. I found myself hyperaware of all the moss on the trees. I was staring at a tree that seemed to have an inordinate amount of the fuzzy green stuff and hadn’t realized I’d reached the top of the path. My feet began moving quickly down a steep trail, one that ended at the pond. A shirtless Revel was crouched down at the water’s edge.

I had to work hard to stop the momentum drawing my feet down the sloping path. I slowed my pace, but my breathing did the opposite. I struggled to catch a decent sip of air. Revel’s naked back and shoulders rippled with muscles. As broad as his back was, it tapered down to a narrow waist at the top of his breeches. He hadn’t heard me arrive. The muscles in his arms and back tightened and relaxed as he tossed more water over his shoulder. A long, messy looking scar, possibly a burn, stretched from one shoulder down to the side of his waist.

His bicep bulged as he reached his hand up to comb his wet fingers through his hair. I sucked in a small gasp and realized I could feel that same gasp all the way through my body. The blush had moved through my body as well.

I still hadn’t moved, but Revel heard me. Maybe it was my pounding heart making a racket. He glanced back over his shoulder. “Whisper, you’re back. The water’s cold, but it’s safe to wash in.”

I took a steadying breath and headed to the water’s edge. He stood just a few feet before I reached it and turned around. His chest was more breathtaking than his back, and that was saying a lot. It, too, had a scar, a jagged one that crossed his shoulder. He plucked up his shirt and pulled it on, and I finally managed to tear my gawping gaze away. The tilt of his mouth assured me he enjoyed knocking me off balance with his glorious physique.

I bent down to the water and realized more than ever I needed a cold splash of water. It helped wash away some of the schoolgirl blush I’d been stuck with since I found myself sitting firmly in his lap, snuggled against him and grasping his shirt. The water was icy cold, but it felt nice for washing my hands and face. The refreshing water cleared my head, and more questions filtered through my mind.

“Those scars,” I started. “The one on your back looks like a burn.”

“Flaming arrow. It scorched my back before I could yank it free.” He held out his right hand. There were flecks of the same burn scar on the back of it. He rolled up the sleeves on his shirt and dipped his bloodied axe in the water for a rinse.

“The one on your shoulder?”

“Broke it in a fall.”

“A fall. You mean you tripped?”

His braids swung gently back and forth as he turned toward me. “No, it was a big fall, a really big fall. Broke the bone so bad it stuck out of my flesh. A healer put a piece of bear bone inside to make it strong again.”

I smiled. “Wow. Every time I ask a question, five new questions pop up behind it.”

“Don’t have time to answer all of them, Whisper.” His hazel eyes glittered gray green from the reflection off the water. “We need to go.”

I take a deep sip of the soggy, musty air. The aching in my skull begins at the base and radiates up and … I’m somewhere else.

Tears blur my vision. “No, you can’t leave me,” I cry out. Mom is weeping so hard she can barely breathe. She reaches back to me, and I take hold of her hand. I hold it so tightly my fingers grow numb. The tall stranger stands in the doorway casting a menacing shadow over the room, our room, the room we laugh in, the room Mom tells stories in, the room we play games in. But tonight, there are no games. Mom crouches next to me. Between us, the tears flow like salty waterfalls. I can taste mine on my tongue.

Mom’s hand touches the side of my face. I grab it and hold it there. “You can’t go. Take me with you,” I sob.

“It’s safer for you here … without me. I did something. I broke a rule when I helped Mrs. Dancy. I have to go. It’s for your protection.” She leans over to kiss me. I can’t breathe through my sniffles, but I try hard to capture the smell of her shampoo, her soap.

I don’t know who the stranger is, but I hate him. I will hate him forever and with every fiber of my body. He steps inside farther, and the dim light in the cottage shows his face. “We need to go.” His gaze lands on me a second, then he looks away. His big hand wraps around Mom’s. She is crying louder, but I can barely hear her over my own screams. They slip out into the night, but his hand reaches through the still open doorway. He waves it once.

I sit back, confused. I reach up to my face. It’s wet. Have I been crying? Why was I crying? I walk down the hallway. “Mom?” I call. I reach her room. It’s empty. “Mom?” No answer. She must have gone to the store, I tell myself. I plunk down on the couch and pick up the remote.

“Raphael?” Revel’s deep tone cut though the haze in my head. It was the same deep tone I heard in the glitch.

I stared at him. With every fiber of my body, the words played on repeat. “It was you.” My words were crackly and dry with anger. “You took my mom from me. It was you that night in the cottage.” His expression didn’t change, but I saw flashes of emotion in his eyes. His jaw tightened. “We both cried and screamed, but you took her anyway. You left me alone. You took the one and only person I ever needed. Then you wiped away the memory of it.” I marched toward him and pounded his chest with my fists. He let me. He didn’t stop me. Tears streamed down my face as I pounded him. “You took away my mom. Did you kill her?” I stopped pounding and lifted my face to his. “Did you?” I screamed. I lifted my fists again. This time he swept both my wrists into one of his hands and held them up so I couldn’t keep pummeling him.

I yanked them free and stumbled back. “Did you?” I asked weakly.

“Raphael,” he reached for me, but I stepped back sharply.

“No, you don’t finally get to call me by my name. You don’t get to talk to me. You can’t even answer or explain yourself.” I swung around. “I’m leaving this fucking place. I want away from here. I want away from you.”

Behind me, the sound of something whipping through the air was followed by a thud. “Fuck!” Revel’s yell thundered through the forest. I peeked over my shoulder just as he was pulling his axe free from the trunk of a tree.

I marched along confidently but quickly lost my way in the maze of trees. He walked sullenly past me without a word. The walk back to the others was interminably long. Revel lumbered ahead of me, but he glanced back often to check I was still there. On the trek back, I hatched a plan to get Austri alone and offer to pay him to get me back through the Ironfall Wilds and back to Dante Fell. I would have to leave behind Lyric and Madigan, but I was an adult now. I didn’t need them anymore. I could make my own way, protect myself, and I had another best friend, Paxton. He would be freaking out by now.

The trio were eating the leftover bread and cheese when we returned. “Saved you some,” Madigan pointed to the tin lid filled with bread sitting on top of a smoldering fire.

“Time to move on,” Revel said curtly. He started throwing supplies back into the burlap sack. Madigan and Austri exchanged confused shrugs. Lyric carried over a piece of cheese wrapped in bread, but I had no appetite. I shook my head.

She dropped her shoulders. “You don’t like it?”