Page 67

I square my shoulders and work to gird my emotions into order. Tomorrow, I’ll hand him over to Veradin, who will know which questions to ask and which threats to make. Agnar will become someone else’s problem, and I can return to life as an order-following trainee instead of a leader who decides on grave matters.

I have my dire wolf, my magic, and a course that leads to safety. I should feel in control, maybe even powerful.

Instead, I feel empty, like someone took a giant spoon and scooped out a crucial part of me that I never realized I wanted to keep.

I tighten my cloak around my shoulders. I can’t stop staring at Agnar’s broad back, at the careful way he navigates terrain he can’t see, at the space between us that’s both too vast and not vast enough to assure my security.

He cuts through my spiraling thoughts. “I mean it. Stop.”

I don’t respond with a promise or a lie.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Agnar

The morning fog fades beneath the sun as it peeks over the mountaintops. I can’t see a damn thing with this blindfold on my face, but I can inhale the moisture blowing in on the morning breeze, along with the warming air and aroma of drying leaves.

It smells beautiful. So long as I pause every now and then to consult my earth sense, I maintain a pretty good idea of my surroundings, but I miss drinking in the landscape’s beauty.

Esme whispers to the dire wolf. She hasn’t said anything to me since this morning, when she told me to start walking after we’d eaten some of my rations.

I still taste the pleasure of taunting Esme about my darkness yesterday.

You don’t want to know what I want to do to you.

Esme barely slept last night, tossing and turning so much that the wolf shifted closer to her. She probably had nightmares about what I might do to her. I said it intentionally to provoke fear and facilitate the break when the time comes to separate, yet part of me regrets the choice.

My toe snags on a large stick as the path climbs sharply upward, and I pitch forward. I raise my hands to brace for a fall, but they’re fucking tied together, the material chafing my wrists. After a few stumbles, I regain my balance.

Behind me, Esme’s snort suspiciously resembles a laugh.

She wouldn’t be laughing if she knew how much I wanted to crack this mountain open until I unearth her precious mentor’s hidden cave. Fighting the bandits impressed her, but that was nothing more than a few weak tricks. Ending non-magical humans isn’t a challenge. Brutal killing isn’t the hard part.

I untied Esme after ensuring she wasn’t armed, shared my rations with her, and let her sleep comfortably. And how does she repay me? With bound hands and a blindfold.

Fuck this and fuck her. No matter how sweet and innocent she acts, I can’t trust her. I need to start thinking with my head and not my dick.

The path steepens sharply again. Grass cedes to dirt and pebbles. As the air thins, my thighs burn with exertion. Despite the spring sunshine, the taste of snow rides on the wind.

We must be nearing the peaks.

My lungs strain, and my heart pounds against my ribs. In my ears, my pulse throbs, making it difficult to track the sounds around me. I continue anyway, pushing my magic into the earth because I need to orient myself.

The path narrows even more. Rock presses close on the right, near enough that I could reach out and touch it were my hands not tied. The left side drops away into nothing. A cliff edge.

The wolf paces ahead, his claws clicking on stone, but even he proceeds with caution.

Behind me, the scrape of sliding gravel precedes a fear-filled gasp. Ahead, the wolf howls in warning.

When I pulse a quick burst of magic into the ground, my heart stops.

Esme’s toppling over the edge of the cliff.

I lunge toward her without thinking. My bound hands grab fabric, her cloak or maybe her shirt, and yank her backward with all my strength.

Together, we crash to the ground. My spine slams into the stone, knocking the air from my lungs. Esme lands on top of me, all sharp elbows and knees. She places her palms on my chest, using me to brace herself. Her leg ends up tangled between mine, her hip wedged against my bound wrists where they’re trapped between our bodies and clinging to her clothing.

For a moment, we remain in a pile as we gulp down oxygen.