Page 94 of Hallowed Games

“We’ve been in the weald for five days. Lydia has been tending to you this whole time. Feeding you milk, trying to heal you with her magic. She said it was working. You kept talking about the Serpent’s hunger, but then you were mumbling about a masque by the sea.”

I stared at him, my heart fluttering. “Lydia?”

“I couldn’t be around you. Even now, I can’t stay long. Perhaps Lydia’s magic can heal your cravings, but it does nothing for a dead thing like me.”

“What are you talking about?”

His throat bobbed. “I can’t control my bloodlust anymore, Elowen.” His expression looked pained. “I’m afraid I’m not the same person I was when you met me. I’ve completely lost myself.”

He looked so different now. So vulnerable. Maybe it was his eyes, or that he was no longer dressed as the Raven Lord. He stood before me in a gorgeous midnight blue shirt and dark gray trousers of a rich-looking material that I wanted to stroke. I wished he’d move closer.

“You’re wearing something new.”

A half-smile cracked his grim expression for just a moment.

At last, the shadows slid from my skin. I sat up on the bed, flexing my wrists. I wanted to run my hands over the soft fabric of his shirt.

I stared at him. “You said that Sion was loyal to his cause, but you weren’t. Except the cause you were talking about was the resistance.” I glanced up at him. “So was that what you meant? You weren’t as loyal as he was to the resistance because part of you needed the Order?”

He flinched and looked away. “Sion doesn’t feel the loss of his soul like I do, but I can never fill the emptiness.”

My chest tightened. I wished I could have been that person for him—the one to fill the void. But we still hadn’t fully trusted each other. In Ruefield, seemingly on opposite sides of a war, how could we have?

My muscles ached, and I rose from the bed, taking a step closer to Maelor.

He held up his hand. “Stop. You can’t come near me anymore.” A sharp command cut under his voice. “You don’t know how much I want you, Elowen. I never stop thinking about you. The way you look, the way you smell, the sound of your sighs. And that’s exactly why I’m saying goodbye.” The expression in his dark eyes was agonized.

Before I could say another word to him, he was gone. The door shut behind him, and only a few wisps of shadows remained.

I stared at the closed door, weighed down by the silent emptiness of the room. I felt as if my chest had cracked open. He could still come back, couldn’t he? It wouldn’t be the last time I’d see him.

But a new fear was already raking its claws through my thoughts. The memory of Leo came crashing into me like a lightning strike, the little boy waiting for me. My stomach plummeted. Where the hell was Leo?

I flung open the door, and my question was answered immediately.

At a small kitchen table, Lydia sat with Leo. Sunlight spilled in through a window onto them. The pair of them wore flower crowns of ivy, meadowsweet, and primroses. Lydia’s gaze flicked up to me.

Leo turned, and a grin spread across his face. “Elowen!” He leapt up and ran for me, arms outstretched.

Panic shot through me, and I held out my hands. “Stop!” I hadn’t had a chance to look over myself to see if I was totally covered. With a hammering heart, I glanced down at my leather gloves, the full cloak over my body.

When I looked back at Leo, his eyes had gone wide.

This was what Maelor had just felt moments ago, wasn’t it? That bone-deep fear of killing someone you loved. Screaming at them to stay away.

“It’s okay,” I said softly. I beckoned him closer with gloved hands, and I pulled him into a hug.

With Leo pressed against me, I glanced out the warped, sunlit windows. Two more crumbling stone cottages stood outside, and Percival walked on a path between them, carrying buckets of water.

“How did we end up here?” I asked.

“Percival knew about these cottages,” said Lydia. “Abandoned long ago…he doesn’t think anyone will find us here. So we’re waiting, until it’s time to fight back again.”

I glanced down at the top of Leo’s head, wishing I could kiss it. “And who brought Leo here?”

“Maelor ordered me to get him,” said Lydia. “It was actually extremely dangerous since I’m supposed to be in hiding. Honestly, it was fairly heroic.”

I frowned at her. “Since when are you taking orders from Maelor?”

---