Page 64 of Once the Skies Fade

He let out a single, dry laugh, continuing to circle Oryn and me. The vines didn’t seem to pay him any attention, and my scowl pulled at my lips before I could think better of it.

Another laugh erupted from him, this time longer, louder. “You’re not the only one to find one of the vials,friend.”

Oryn groaned then, a weak and pitiful sound that sent guilt rippling through me. I should have shared the vial with him somehow. Should have protected him. As much as I hated to admit it, Graham was right. He wasn’t going to last much longer unless he got help. Reaching across his body, I pushed aside the undergrowth to free his arm and shifted his other off his chest. Well aware of Graham’s scrutinizing stare, I lifted one of Oryn’s legs, threaded my arm underneath it, and rolled my back onto his chest, bringing his leg onto my shoulder as I moved. Using the momentum of the roll, I hauled him up so that his body lay across my back, an arm over one of my shoulders and a leg over the other. Pushing to my feet, I shifted his limbs so they draped comfortably.

“You can’t be serious,” Graham protested, his tone more bitter than incredulous.

I raised my brow innocently at him. “You may be a heartless prick, but lucky for Oryn here, I’m not.”

Something shifted in Graham’s expression, like he almost felt bad for being such a dick. His voice softened, only a hintof bitterness remaining, when he asked, “Where do you plan to take him?”

“They have the forest guarded, right? Surely one of them will take him to the healers.” Careful not to let Oryn fall, I reached into my pocket to retrieve my compass.

“You’re planning to carry him the whole way?”

If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he sounded impressed, but from what little I knew of Graham, I was probably imagining it.

“We should be nearing the forest’s outer edge,” I said, pivoting with my compass until I found the heading I wanted. Slipping it back into my pocket, I adjusted Oryn higher onto my back and set off.

“They’ll have to carry him around the forest back to the castle, though,” Graham protested.

I called back to him but didn’t stop. “Better than trying to keep him alive in a forest trying to kill him.”

“Wait,” Graham said, and this time I did pause. He strode past me and knelt beside Aric’s body. I was about to ask what in the stars he was doing, when he suddenly produced the medallion. He barely even glanced at it before tossing it at me, and I nearly missed reaching out in time to catch it.

“Why would?—”

“Maybe this prick isn’t as heartless as you think,” he said, standing and brushing dirt from his knees. “Plus, I already have my own.”

“Thank you,” I said, shoving the large medallion into my pocket. “Will you be coming with me? Or is this where we part?”

“Don’t misinterpret my actions as actually liking you, Matthias,” he said, but the disdain in his eyes seemed less potent now, and I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I walked away.

I had only walked a hundred meters when I got the uneasy sensation that I was being watched. Stopping, I turned slightly tolook behind me. Maybe Graham had changed his mind and was trailing after me. But no one was there. Something moved to my right, but again, I found nothing—nothing but darkness among the trees, except this darkness was thicker, heavier, as if nightfall had already reached that part of the forest.

These woods might not kill me now, but they seemed stars-bent on toying with my mind.

Shaking my head, I drew in a deep breath to clear my mind. But when I looked that way again, the darkness seemed to move, like a shadow dancing with the shifting of the light.

Shadows.

I stiffened and stared deeper into the lingering darkness.

It couldn’t be. Could it?

Though spying on her contestants did seem like something the shadow queen might do. I listened intently for a heartbeat, but could hear nothing beyond mine and Oryn’s, growing slower and weaker still.

“Is that you, Killer?” I threw the question at the shadow, which seemed to still for a moment, drawing a smirk from my lips, before slowly retreating deeper into the woods.

Chapter 31

Calla

Astring of curses screamed inside my mind as I scrambled backwards, nearly falling over a tree root.

He had looked right at me.

It had only been for a moment, and, while it was clear he hadn’t actually seen me, the fact that his eyes had seemed to latch onto mine at all had my heart racing and me desperately trying to chase it out of the woods.

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