Page 127 of A Storm in Every Heart
It’s impossible, and yet I know it’s true. I feel an ineffable…something blooming in my chest, strange and electric and terrifying, but before I even have a chance to examine it; before I can say something, the universe intervenes with cruel efficiency.
A shout cracks through the night, echoing over the water—followed by another, louder this time. The sound slices through the happy, blissful bubble around me, popping it and making me crash back to reality.
My body locks up and I sit bolt upright, a cold wave of terror rushing through my veins. I peer into the darkness and for a moment I’m not sure what I’m looking at. I can’t see anything clearly, just a smear of torchlight and movement at the edge of the swamp.
“Shit,” I whisper, because that’s about the level of eloquence I’m capable of at the moment.
Kastian is instantly alert, his wings snapping tight against his back. He’s off me in a split second, and yanking his trousers back on and jumping out of the boat.
“Who the fuck is that?” he asks, speaking more to himself than me.
The lights are closer now, bobbing and weaving through the trees. Shouts echo across the water, the voices multiplying—at least half a dozen, maybe more. I can’t pick out any words, but I know a search party when I hear one.
“Someone is looking for us,” I hiss, fumbling along the bottom of the boat looking for my dress. “Or they’re looking for someone else and are about to find us instead. Either way, I doubt we want to be found.”
“I don’t understand how, though,” Kastian hisses. “Unless, someone recognized me on the way to the inn. Or, you, I suppose.”
“We didn’t see anyone.”
“That doesn’t mean they didn’t see us,” he says grimly.
My mind is racing, but I can’t think through what he’s saying because I’m still completely naked. “I can’t find my dress!”
Kastian turns in a circle, then grabs my shredded, muddy dress from where it must have fallen among the reeds along the water. He thrusts it at me, and I snatch it, fumbling to pull the fabric over my head. My whole body is slick with sweat, and the dress sticks, halfway tangled over my chest and shoulders.
Dear gods, this is how it ends. I’m going to die in this boat with my tits out. It’s both tragic, and somehow, deeply, darkly funny.
“Help me,” I hiss through gritted teeth.
Kastian doesn’t hesitate, grabbing the fabric at the shoulders, yanking it hard enough to pop a seam. The dress falls into place, and I try to smooth my hair back.
There’s no time for anything else.
The lights are almost on us, and now I can make out the silhouettes—figures in dark armor moving with purpose toward us. One of them shouts again, something guttural and harsh.
Kastian stands rigid. His sword is somewhere on the ground near the boat, but he doesn’t seem to need it. Instead, his right arm is raised half in the air, and I can practically see the sparks of magic growing in the air near his fingertips.
“Don’t do anything stupid that will get you killed,” I whisper. “If they’re bounty hunters, they’ll want us alive.”
Kastian gives me a look. “Sure, for now.”
Before I can respond, a sharp, tinny whistling flies through the air over my head. There’s a sickening thump of impact, and Kastian lets out a bark of pain, then stumbles.
I scream, equal parts surprised and terrified, and bend to try and help him. I don’t know what that sound was, but Kastian is doubled over, still standing, but with a hand pressed to his shoulder.
“You should listen to the siren,” a condescending female voice shouts out of the trees. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
I look up just as a figure steps out of the trees, half a dozen more melting out of the darkness behind them. They’re wearing familiar green jackets beneath pitch black armor, and moving toward us slowly in an organized formation. At the front of the pack, the leader is carrying something in front of them. I squint, and realize they’re pointing a crossbow at Kastian’s chest. A horrified gasp escapes me, just as Kastian reaches for the arrow I now see protruding from his chest and yanks it out of his flesh with a sound that makes my stomach roll and bile rise in my throat.
“Don’t move,” the soldier with the crossbow says, as if we didn’t get the message from hershooting at us. “The arrows are poisoned. Just one shouldn’t kill you, but if you try to fly, I’ll shoot you out of the air and who knows what a few more doses of poison will do.”
I gasp, and squint toward the soldier with the crossbow. She’s definitely female, but taller than average and packed with muscle. She’s wearing a well-tailored Hydrattan military uniform and her dark hair is braided tightly into a crown on the top of her head.
That confirms it. They’re not bounty hunters, they’re soldiers.The king’ssoldiers.
My gaze darts to the other soldiers—also women. Apparently, King Magnus didn’t want the slightest risk that I might compel his troops to let us go. But how could he have known to send these women after us if he didn’t know where we were?
Something isn’t making sense, but I suppose it doesn’t matter while there are weapons pointed at us.
