Page 94 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
“I’ve thought about it,” I said finally.
“And?”
“And I don’t know.” I blew out a breath, watching the dust swirl at my feet. “I want to tell her I’m sorry. That I should have been faster?—”
Sadie cut me off with a snort. “You’re going to waste your first words by telling her you should have run faster? That’s not what she needs.”
I shot her a look. “And what is it that you think she needs?”
“The truth. Your truth. And not the polite king version. You’ve crossed a literal desert and fought off countless Nameless to get back to her. Something tells me there is very little you wouldn’t do for her.” I dipped my chin, and she continued. “She knows you’re sorry. Fuck wasting time on apologies. You need to tell her how you feel and thenshowher.”
“Show her?”
Sadie smirked. “Yeah. You’re not exactly the type to stand around reciting poetry, so lean into what you’re good at. Actions. The kind that leave no doubt in her mind where she stands with you.”
I huffed a quiet breath through my nose. “You make it sound simple.”
“That’s because it is. You’ve done all of this to get back to her. That’s already half the speech done for you.”
I let that sit between us, the crunch of sand under our boots the only sound for a few steps. She wasn’t wrong, but I still had worries. “What if she’s not ready to hear it?” I asked.
Sadie didn’t even blink. “How would you know she’s not ready to hear the truth unless you speak the truth?”
We walked in silence for a few more steps before I said, “What would you say, if you were me?”
Sadie grinned. “Easy. ‘I’d cross every godsdamned desert, cut down every Nameless, and burn the Fold to the ground if that’s what it took to get back to you.’”
I huffed a quiet laugh. “It sounds insincere. Rehearsed.”
“It is rehearsed and cheesy,” she said again. “But you mean it.”
“The problem isn’t saying it. It’s not even meaning it. I would end realms for her, commit unspeakable acts if it meant keeping her safe. You were right when you said there is very little I wouldn’t do,” I murmured as we walked. “I just don’t know if it will be enough.”
“Seriously, you could say what you just said to me. Don’t think about it not being enough,” Sadie said. “Instead of going into the conversation with the outcome you want from her, go in with honesty and an open mind. You’re not the only one who’s been through hell this entire time, and knowing my sister, she’s done some thinking of her own.”
Her words sank in, heavy but steadying, like a hand on my shoulder before a fight. I didn’t answer right away, just kept my eyes on the shadowed cut of canyon ahead. The heat was still oppressive, but the air had shifted, cooler now, threaded with the faint metallic tang of the Fold.
Sadie must have felt it too. She rolled her shoulders, tightening her grip on her axes. “Almost there.”
“Yeah.” My voice came out low, the weight of what waited ahead pressing in.
She gave me a sidelong glance. “Then you’d better have those words ready.”
I kept walking, the image of her—of Meera—burning behind my eyes. “She’ll hear them when I see her.”
The wind shifted again, carrying a sound from up ahead. A scrape of stone. A whisper of movement. Shadows stirred along the canyon wall, and the heat that had baked us all day bled into the chill of oncoming night.
The Fold was upon us, but we weren’t alone.
Chapter 25
Meera
“Godsdammit!”
The word left my mouth like a curse and a prayer all at once, just as a golden snake slithered across the ground beside my boot. I yelped, stumbling backward and, in a moment of sheer panic, launched myself toward Damon like he was a lifeline.
Spoiler alert: he wasn’t.
