Page 177 of What Lies Within Masks & Shadows

“I know you don’t enjoy celebrating your birthday. But I hope this one was different. Even just a little… Happy Birthday, Your Highness.” Alora pushed up on her toes, and, with warm lips, kissed his cheek, noticing how he leaned into it ever-so-slightly. How his eyes trembled closed. “I hope you sleep well tonight.”

“Unlikely, but I do appreciate the sentiment.”

“Don’t forget. You’ve survived every nightmare so far, real and those that torment you. Don’t let them win.”

He squeezed her hand and forced a smile before vanishing into the night.

“Has anyone seen Garrik?”Thalon let the High Prince’s tent sway closed as he scanned the open area of their firesite.

“He told me he would be unreachable tonight. That he’d see us in the morning.”

Golden eyes glowed in the amber light. Thalon shifted uncomfortably. “Shit,” he whispered through a cracked breath.

Alora noticed Thalon’s face ripple with panic. “Is everything okay?”

“No.” He was frozen on his feet, eyes scanning across the tents as if he could see through them. To no one sitting in particular, Thalon muttered, “Where are you?”

Swirling winds,a burst of thunderclouds, and striking lightning swirled, illuminating the path between Aiden’s tent and Garrik’s. Casting hues of blue and white strikes, and a cascading glow bright enough to think a star had exploded. With a bright flash, two silhouettes emerged, then it imploded, leaving the firesite illuminated only by the dying amber glow of the fire.

Jade and Alora still sat, Alora reading a red book. Jade happily laid on the dirt by the fire, one hand playing with a flame licking at her fingers.

With heavy steps and strained muscles, Thalon pulled their High Prince across the dirt, one arm banded around his waist while Garrik’s arm hung over Thalon’s shoulders, feet dragging and head dropping low against his chest. Passed out, drunk.

Alora’s vivid hallucinating snapped out of the book she’d been wholly enthralled in and dropped it beside her. Sapphires assessed them as Thalon pulled Garrik close to the tent entrance. She stood, but one look from Thalon made her second guess taking a step. “Is … he okay?”

Thalon only nodded before pulling the tent open and disappearing into the darkness without a word.

A gemstoned, ring-wrapped finger still played with a flame. Jade pushed up on bent knees and pulled her hand away. Face taut, her green eyes locked onto the burning wood beside herand cautiously explained, “He gets like this after visiting the castle.”

The silence was only filled by crackling embers and far-off dying melodies.

Jade inhaled a long, labored breath. “Thalon’s one of the best Guardians I’ve ever met. Always watching out for him. He’ll stay up all night to make sure Garrik doesn’t drink himself to death.”

The illuminating glow of a single candle lit inside Garrik’s tent, drawing Alora’s attention to Thalon’s silhouette removing Garrik’s boots on the bed. “Why?”

“Bourbon is easier to swallow than old nightmares … and new.” Jade breathed deep again.

“Why doesn’t anyone help him?”

“We try. Thalon was the only one who could get through to him for some months after he…” Her hand found her ivory and coin necklace, gripping it tight. “Came back to us. Garrik doesn’t allow us to help anymore. There’s no use. The nightmares will never leave him. Not while her magic’s still inside him.”

Neither heard the silent footsteps nor saw Thalon’s considerable figure kneel down before the dying flames.

Thalon brushed his face with ink-covered hands then massaged the muscles on the back of his neck, relieving pressure and stress that also plastered his face. “They’ll plague him for some time after this visit.”

Looking to Jade, Alora nervously rubbed her death mark. “She. Whoeversheis … was there with him.” Alora didn’t dare repeat anything more—or break Garrik’s trust. If he wouldn’t speak to anyone else, if he’d only been speaking to her, she didn’t want to ruin that form of release.

Jade swore under her breath and glanced at Garrik’s tent.

“It’s going to be a long while then.” Thalon dropped his head low.

Stabbing the stump beside her with a dagger, Jade hissed and gritted her teeth. “I’ll fucking kill her. One day. I’ll fucking kill her.”

Jade rode to Garrik’s left as the legion started their ascent up the mountain, Alynthia lying somewhere hidden within its peaks. Thalon wasn’t with them. In the early hours, he had stepped through his portal of thunderstorms and vanished before camp broke.

Though Eldacar was speaking to another soldier beside them, Alora couldn’t keep her attention off Garrik, watching himsit rigid, attempting to mask any inclination of his painful injury. Ghost’s steps caused his body to sway and bounce in the saddle. His right elbow wedged into his side, harder than usual.

Does it hurt?Alora hoped he could hear her.

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