Page 66 of The Serpent’s Shadow

I wasn’t sure if this was even a good idea.I was being led back here in shackles before all this. What makes me think it’ll be any different now?

Part of me wanted to toss aside the bindings of the academy and join the Lepers Who Leapt. I couldn’t be a full-fledged member because I now had magic at my disposal . . . yet I envied the freedom with which they roamed.

When I brought that up, Frida was quick to shut it down with a scoff. “We’re constantly on the run, bog-blood. You don’t want what we have.”

Arne snapped, “Don’t call her that, sister.”

“It’s fine,” I said, lifting a hand. “It’s what I am. I’ve heard worse.”

Dieter grumbled, frowning at Frida. “I agree with Arne. That may be what you are, Ravinica, but that’s not how the Lepers comport ourselves.” He scolded Frida like she was a child, and she scowled at him.

Some old habits died hard. Being called a bog-blood or a half-breed was by far the least of my worries these days. To think, afew months ago in Selby Village, it was the thing that wounded me most.

Now? Odin eat me, I didn’t give a shit. I had much more tangible,realthreats to worry about.

Before we could go to the academy, we had one last stop to make.

It came toward the end of morning, when the sun finally showed her face and beamed brightly across the Isle through the clouds.

We arrived at the fringes of Isleton in Helgas Wood—the lighter woodland that circled the small island village and fed into the wider, denser Delaveer Forest.

There, Dieter stopped. It took me a moment to realize the Lepers joined him. Once I could feel the size of our group had shrunk, I slowed and scrunched my brow, turning.

The first sight of civilization was just ahead, with morning smoke-vents letting out gray columns of smoke into the sky.

Dieter nodded his head. “It’s time, lass.”

I blinked innocently at him. “Time for what?”

“The Lepers aren’t going into Isleton. We’ve been showing ourselves too much there recently, overstaying our welcome. This is where we part. Which means . . .” Slowly, his eyes moved to Corym E’tar, standing close to me.

The Ljosalfar elf had been the closest man to me on our entire walk back from the pond, for hours. Almost like he feared what would happen if we were to separate.

The feeling was mutual.

“Right,” Corym said, clearing his throat. He made to move from my side of the wood to Dieter’s side, his body stiff as a board.

I grabbed his hand before he could get far, swinging him around to face me. My eyes drilled into his beautiful, smooth,deadly face, a helpless expression crinkling the corners of my brow. “This isn’t forever, Corym.”

He forced a small smile. “I know,lunis’ai.I won’t let it be.”

When I smiled back at him, sad and forlorn, his forced smile became genuine and warm. He squeezed my hand, finally letting me know how he felt about me—that the heady tension we’d fostered over the past month by each other’s side was not just nothing.

There was something there, and I vowed to explore more of it. Corym E’tar was just as worthy and lovable and radiant as any human. More than most, in fact. He had his quirks and faults, like any of us, yet I saw through all of them and recognized the man he was—the kind who would sacrifice his own safety for people he cared about; one who would fight to the death to protect what was his.

We hadn’t had our chance to spill ourselves to each other . . . but we would. Everything had been a whirlwind over the past few days. Just when we had started to get undeniably close, we were being ripped away from each other.

It was a fucking rollercoaster I’d gladly ride again and again.

“Keep her safe,” Corym said to the men behind me, his voice stern and commanding.

He was a leader among the elves, and Corym’s posture and demeanor brooked no argument. I heard a round of rustling clothes as the men nodded to him, giving him their silent oaths.

As the elf turned to leave, trying to unthread his fingers from mine, I squeezed tighter, keeping him there, pulling him in two directions.

Fuck it,I thought.

Corym chuckled, starting to spin to me again. “Ravinica, you must let me—”

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