Page 20 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

“They’re here for you.” His tone was almost exasperated. “Not to kill, most likely, but to capture. You need to go.”

“Not without the others,” I said stubbornly.

He muttered a string of words I couldn’t understand, most of it being in the old language, though I gathered from the tone it was likely curses.

“They’ll be fine,” Bael insisted, switching back to the common tongue.

“But Cross and Siobhan?—”

“Aren’t who they’re looking for.” He looked up, as if appealing to the gods. “I can’t heal you if you get hurt, so please, I need you to act against your nature andrun.”

I bit the inside of my lip, but nodded. Bael’s yellow gaze locked onto mine, a silent promise passing between us before he dashed off toward the chaos.

I stood there for a moment, before turning and fleeing into the darkness, the clash of steel still ringing in my ears.

* * *

The landoutside the gates of Inbetwixt was wild.

As I sprinted through the dense forest, the branches whipped against my face and it felt like the darkness was closing in around me.

The sounds of the battle slowly diminished, and my mind was flooded with memories of my first night in the Waywoods. A wave of dread cooled my skin, my mind conjuring images of an unknown entity lurking in the shadows.

A branch snapped behind me and I whipped around.

My heart pounded. That had been a footstep, I was sure of it.

I stood still, straining my ears for any sound, but the only thing I could hear was the faint rustling of leaves in the wind. Letting out my breath, I turned back around and continued.

Without warning, agony seared through my shoulder.

I closed my eyes, and for a moment the pain almost stopped, my breath catching, as if I momentarily lost consciousness between breaths. I let out a scream of agony a beat too late, everything seeming to occur just slightly delayed.

Finally, I looked down, and nearly gagged. A crossbow bolt, as thick as my middle and pointer fingers held together, jutted out of the side of my chest. From the angle, I guessed it would be sticking out my back as well, somewhere just above my right shoulder blade.

Behind me, leaves crunched. Footsteps pounded, no longer bothering to creep along in the darkness. My eyes darted back and forth like a frightened rabbit, but the forest was too dense to see who might be following me. Worse, I couldn’t run like this, and whatever rebel had followed me had to know that.

My heartbeat quickened, the throbbing ache in my chest radiating outward, burning, like a hot poker against my skin. I closed my eyes, willing myself to disappear, when an idea struck. I could,literallydisappear.

It was a terrible idea, if only because it was nearly impossible.

I hadn’t even been able to shadow walk out of the store room into the hallway, and most Fae could not shadow walk while injured. That was how Aine, Thalia and Gwydion had been stranded in the burning tower, and even Bael said he’d rarely managed to disappear while in pain.

The sound of pounding footsteps echoed closer and panic set in, making my decision for me. I had to at least try to escape, because the alternative would be infinitely worse.

The pain was almost unbearable, but I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling my body tremble with the effort to hold back the tears. I could feel the magic pulsing within me, like a strong current running through my veins. I could hear it, like the crackle of electricity before a storm.

I tried to focus, to concentrate on the image of the place that I needed to go, but my mind was jumbled. I couldn’t think of anything clearly, except the poundingache.

Without meaning to, I let my eyes flutter open once more, just in time to see a stranger sprinting toward me out of the dark. I caught a glimpse of his hard face, and the tattoos covering his scalp, before the edges of my vision blurred and I felt myself sliding to the side. Distantly, I thought I heard a raven cry, and the wind seemed to beat at my face, as if with a rush of wings, then my unfocused gaze went dark.

I just barely had time to wonder if I’d managed to shadow walk, or instead, fainted on the forest floor.

8

SCION

THE CUTTHROAT DISTRICT, INBETWIXT

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