Page 141 of The Shadow Bride

Eventually the winds pick up, the river rises, and it sweeps you away.

Dimitri’s hair ruffles in a boyish way as he glares daggers at my sister. “Who saidyouwere coming with us?” He crosses his arms, his brown skin more vibrant without the pallor of vampirism. That isn’t the only change, however. Whereas Michal and I are... livelier, Dimitri seems strangely steady. His gaze doesn’t dart from person to person as it once did; it doesn’t track the pulse in our throats and wrists. Even with Death’s blood in his system, he hadn’t been this—well, serene.

“Iam here to ensure everyone follows Death’s instructions,” Filippa asks coolly. “We areallmarching straight back through the veil, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. In case you haven’t noticed, you lost those sharp teeth of yours. Unless you kept the knife I buried in your heart?”

Dimitri bares his teeth in a hard smile, taking a purposeful step forward, but when I reach out and touch his arm, he stills. He turns to look at me—toreallylook at me now. A smile cracks open his face at whatever he sees, his dimple flashing, and the sight fillsme with immediate comfort, like the first sparks in the fireplace on a long winter night.

“Célie,” he exhales in surprise. “You’re—you.”

He charges forward then, stealing me from Michal and pulling me into a bone-crushing hug. “I thought I’d never see you again. I thought I’d never be able to apologize and tell you what it means to have you as family—”

Filippa bristles instantly. “She isnotyour family.”

As if innately sensing how best to rile her, he pretends not to hear—pretends she doesn’t even exist—and spares her not a single glance. I laugh loudly before he says, “I know it was sometimes hard to do so, but you believed in me. Youtrustedme. I should have been more careful with that.” Releasing me, he looks to Michal, and in his eyes shines true sincerity. “I should have been more careful withallof your trust.”

“Dimitri,” I say, squeezing his arm reassuringly, “I know.”

He nods once, gratitude alight in his gaze, and picks a drifting snowdrop from his hair.

Then he flicks it directly at Filippa.

She swats it away with a fierce scowl before gesturing to the gust of wind. “This is all verytouching, but if we don’t leave soon, we won’t be leaving at all. That cannot happen.”

“Again with thewe,” Dimitri says incredulously. “What makes you think we’re going to make this easy on you? What makes you think we’re going tohelpDeath’s favorite little minion? Do we look like fools?”

“I don’t think you want me to answer that—and Death isn’t mymaster.”

Michal silences them both with a wave of his hand. “Whereisthe way out?” he asks Filippa. “Point us to it, and we can... discuss this on our way.”

A tendril of unease appears at how he saysdiscuss, but before I can question it, Filippa stabs a finger behind us toward the storm cloud. “Wego back the way we came.” To Dimitri, she says, “I am not sure, however, whereyouare going. Death needs these two, but you aren’t part of the plan—”

“Whatisthe plan?” Dimitri spreads his arms wide, incredulous. “Is it here in the garden with us? I’d love to hear it if so—”

“Enough.” I step between them while maintaining careful eye contact with Michal, who no longer seems to be listening to their argument. Indeed, the incandescent light in his gaze has dimmed slightly since spotting the storm cloud, and I don’t like the implication. I don’t like it at all. “We should go—”

A gust of wind sweeps past at that, much faster than before; it bends the topiaries and tears several flowers from their stems. Filippa gestures from them to the rising river, which creeps ever closer to our feet. Her voice turns derisive. “We must take care not to touch any water.”

Cautiously, Dimitri eyes the slowly churning, almost hypnotic depths. “It pulled me under straightaway, yet I can’t—” The longer he stares, the deeper his brows furrow in confusion. “I can’t actually remember where it took me. Not the exact place, anyway. I suppose it was more a... feeling than anything else.”

Filippa stalks past him, rolling her eyes. “No one can.”

I hesitate before following her, glancing back at Michal, who still hasn’t spoken. “Whatwasit like?” I brush the damp hair from my face, kicking a stray orange from our path. “The other side?”

He smiles softly at that. “It felt like home.”

“Oh.”

Michal takes my hand before I can say anything else. “It felt like my home a long time ago—before all of this, before I became a vampire. And it felt”—he searches for the right word, his own eyes scouring the distant birch trees—“peaceful, yes, but also incomplete.” When I glance up at him, he squeezes my hand, pouring every ounce of his regret into that touch. “Youweren’t there. I know I promised to wait for you, Célie, and I did. Itried. I waited in that garden until the wind picked up, until it forced me toward the river—until I heardDimitrishouting in the distance, clinging to a branch by his fingertips.” He shakes his head ruefully. “I never expected to see him again, so when Idid, I—I just couldn’t let him go. I tried to help—he slipped—and in the end, the wind took us both. The river swallowed us whole.”

Michal opens his other palm, and the white cord sparkles between us. “And that is when this showed up in my hand.”

“The bond,” I whisper.

From up ahead, Dimitri cranes his neck to look back at us suspiciously. “What are you two whispering about?” Then, to Filippa, “Can you hear them?”

“Do me a favor,” she says sweetly, “and taketensteps away from me now. You smell like river water.”

Narrowing his eyes with a razor-sharp smile, Dimitri steps even closer, and my sister glowers before marching ahead without another word, her jaw set and her eyes determined. Dimitri watches her for a moment, head tilted in abject frustration, and stalks right after her.

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