Page 7 of The Shadowbound King

Consciousness returnedin a rush of pain and nausea.

Something hard dug into my gut, knocking the wind from me as I bumped up and down. Leaves crunched, and a man’s labored breaths filled my ears.

Gerren.Anger blazed in my chest. The blacksmith had knocked me out, and now he carried me on his shoulder like a sack of grain. My head pounded, the pressure behind my eyes like someone attempting to pop them out from inside my skull. Agony throbbed in my shoulders. The world was a gray haze.

Because Gerren had put a sack over my head. My hands were bound behind my back. My tongue pressed against something thick and foul-tasting. The horrible bumping continued. Up and down, up and down. With every jolt, pain exploded in my gut. Vomit burned my throat.

My eyes watered, and a whimper escaped me. Whatever happened, I couldnotpuke. Not with cloth filling my mouth. More cloth wrapped around my head, holding the wad of fabric between my stretched lips. My head dangled toward the ground as Gerren continued his breathless jog.

Sucking air through my nose, I released the loudest scream I could muster.

Gerren kept running, his thick arm clamped around my hips. Fear and frustration formed a noxious cloud in my chest. The gag bit into my cheeks. The cloth in my mouth adhered to my tongue, which felt twice its normal size.

I screamed again, but the sound was pitiful. Why was Gerren doing this? Aedith’s words about the bad winter and needing money ran through my head. Did Gerren intend to hold me forransom? If so, it was a foolish plan. My father would pay, but he’d also make sure Gerren died a long, painful death.

Finally, Gerren stopped, and panic shot through me as he stooped and then tipped me off his shoulder. My knees buckled as my feet struck the ground.

“Stay quiet,” Gerren grunted, catching me before I could fall. My stomach sloshed, and dizziness swept me as he gripped my shoulders with rough hands. I blinked furiously, my world reduced to the sack’s gray interior.

Then it disappeared, and I stood in Gerren’s grip, his fingers biting into my upper arms. Blue sheened his face and stained the leaves scattered on the ground. The same shade spread over Gerren’s shirt, which gaped wider as he struggled to catch his breath.

Blue was everywhere. Too much of it. I turned my head—and froze.

The Covenant shimmered less than ten feet away, the blue wall of magic rising as high as Purecliff’s towers. The forest lay behind me. But no trees grew in front of the Covenant. The land around the boundary was flat and barren, the soil scorched by undiluted magic. Nothing thrived near the boundary, which killed mortals who attempted to cross it. Power filled the air, currents of raw energy licking over my skin.

Tasting me.My heart pounded as the memory of my father’s voice filled my head.You must never,everventure close to the boundary, Mirella. The elves hoard their power. They kill those they deem unworthy of it.

Under other circumstances, I might have dismissed his claims. After all, the elves had promised to leave humanity alone when they abandoned Andulum. But Autumn was different. It was hidden, its shadows too thick to penetrate even from the top of Purecliff. And every so often, someone from the village went missing…

Gerren shuffled his feet, drawing my gaze to his face. Sweat rolled down his temple and into his beard as he stared at the barrier. His nostrils were flared, and his pulse thudded in his throat. He drew a ragged breath, his eyes darting back and forth as if he searched for something.

No. Hewaitedfor something.

Chills raced down my spine. What in the name of the gods was Gerren doing? We had to leave.Now.

I squirmed against his grip. When he looked at me, I tipped my head toward the valley behind us. “We have to go,” I tried to say, but my words emerged as a long, unintelligible moan.

Gerren spun me around, and my panic spiked higher until I felt him fumbling with the tie around my wrists. Seconds later, my arms were free. By some miracle, I’d kept my satchel, the leather a familiar weight against my hip.

My arms were useless, though, everything from my shoulders to my fingers numb from lack of blood flow.

Gerren spun me back, his big hand like a manacle around my bicep. He used his free hand to jerk the gag down. “Stay quiet, or I’ll hit you again.”

I spit the cloth from my mouth. “Are you out of your mind? We can’t stay here!”

His expression darkened as he squeezed my arm. “Did you hear what I said?”

“You’ll get us both killed! Your brother-in-law disappeared near the Covenant.”

Gerren jerked me closer, a wild look in his eyes. “You think I don’t know that? I was with him when they came.”

I stilled, my heart trying to pound from my chest. “Who’s they?”

He looked at the Covenant, his face washed with blue. He was a big man—a blacksmith with pie plate-sized hands and shoulders as broad as a doorway. He’d been rock-solidthroughout Ingaret’s labors, fetching clean linens and stoking the fire in between comforting his wife. But now, his lower lip trembled, and terror swam in his dark eyes.

“The shadows,” he whispered. “They said…”

Chills raced down my spine. Every instinct I possessed screamed at me to run. “What did they say?” I asked. “Gerren?”

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