Page 90 of The Mirror in the Mountain

The hoofbeats and whinnies of impatient horses topped by impatient masters brought me back to reality. The bustling camp had transformed back into a barren patch of land, the only sign of our stay the indentations in the earth.

We had lingered here for too long. That sensation like a ticking clock bore down on me, the ceaseless anxiety that every second not moving toward Adronix was one wasted. That we were ahead of schedule hadn’t shaken the feeling, especiallywhen I tried to calm my mind enough to sleep at night. Like even that delay might doom us.

My stomach felt tight and not from the hasty meal now turning leaden in my stomach. Bash leaned over, plucking the empty mug from my hand, then wrapped it in a cloth before stowing it in his saddlebag. “One day, we’ll get to see this realm at peace.”

A knot lodged in my throat at the promise in his words. I nodded, unable to look him in the eye as I urged Nisa down the path.

Chapter 39

Bash

The air had grown colder the higher we rode. We had taken extra time to blanket the horses in addition to upping their feed to maintain their energy levels for the uphill ride, but the more frequent stops had me anxious to get going. I knew I was pushing them too hard—the horses and our people—in my haste to beat Aviel to Adronix. But with only two days left to ride, barring anything unexpected, even these quick stops and scarce hours of rest at night felt like a risk when our maps couldn’t be trusted, and we had no way to know if our lead held.

“So, what are we going to do about Eva?”

Yael rode up next to me, Indra nickering softly as Arion came beside her, extending his neck to brush their noses together. Though Rivan’s dusky steed hated most other horses, Indra was one of the few he tolerated, let alone allowed that close. Yael lifted her chin toward myanima, who was passing out rations and a few extra blankets to a group of Solearans she had fallen back to ride with today. While tonight the tents would magically compensate for the colder weather, I knew that the gesture would be appreciated with the long, cold hours left in our journey as twilight turned to dusk. She knew each of them by name, I realized, as she exchanged a few words with one, thenanother. I could see the hero worship in a young Solearan’s eyes as she leaned forward, taking their hand with a quick smile of encouragement.

She was already a natural leader, more fit to be the High Queen of this realm than she realized. I only hoped she would get that chance.

Not for the first time, I wondered exactly what the Choosing entailed. If all went to plan, Eva would face whatever trial awaited her the day after next. And while I had no doubt she would be more than up to the task; I couldn’t help but wonder what else she would have to endure.

“Since she still seems determined to die for the rest of us?” Rivan asked, knocking me from my thoughts.

I gritted my teeth. “We’ve discussed it.”

Rivan let out a humorless laugh. “As have we. But I know when I’m being mollified.”

I knew Eva hadn’t let her original plan go, not entirely. I was still terrified that she saw herself as disposable when she was anything but.

Yael shook her head, her gaze still on myanima. “I think we all know that if it comes down to it, she’ll sacrifice herself anyway.”

Eva had been steadily drawing into herself the closer we got to Adronix. Not shutting me out like she had before but…I could feel something stagnant across our bond, wearing away at her. It was like she was slowly going into shock. It scared me to see her so lost; her dead-eyed stare at the ceiling of our tent when she thought I had fallen asleep. And I hated myself for it—that I couldn’t seem to help her.

Instead, I waited, struggling to keep my breathing even as I wrapped my arms around her. Feeling her apprehension deepening across our bond with each day, like a storm loomingon the horizon. Straining to keep my own impotent anger in check as it raged against a threat I couldn’t fight.

I wondered if she realized that taking her own life would be tantamount to taking mine along with it.

For a second, I thought of my mother, wasting away before our eyes after my father’s death. How much I hated her for it then. It seemed a strange form of cruelty that I now understood the reason she hadn’t been able to go on without him, even for us.

Because even if I didn’t let myself wither away like she had, there was no doubt in my mind that I would no longer be whole if Eva was taken from me.

“I know,” I admitted hoarsely, flexing my hands from where they had formed into fists.

Rivan sighed. “She doesn’t get that option if we defeat him first.”

Yael let out a mirthless laugh. “I’ll add that to the list of impossible things.”

I closed my eyes, careful not to let my worries leak down our bond. They would only add to Eva’s.

“She's one of us.” Rivan took my hand, then Yael’s, his lavender eyes narrowing in stubborn surety. “We won’t let anything happen to her.”

I watched Eva laugh softly at something one of my rangers said, wishing I could hear the fleeting sound of it over the din. “In the meantime, it can’t hurt to remind her exactly how much she has to lose.”

The clouds had lifted, the night vast and startlingly clear. A thousand stars glistened in the sky, peeking through the snow-dusted treetops in a glittering cosmic display.

It seemed foolish to even try to sleep with what lay ahead. To toss and turn in the few hours we had to do so, or pretend we weren’t both separately spiraling—Eva’s carefully even inhales and exhales a far cry from the soft breathing of slumber.

She held my hand as I led her down the dark path past camp. I frowned as we reached a patch of gray, a desiccated stump sticking through the thin layer of snow, carefully leading her around it so her boots didn’t touch the curse’s erosion.

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