Page 105 of Until the End of Ever
I was supposed to spend my life with Lucian. We were going to talk about it tonight.
I remembered the many times I had his signet ring right against my skin, warm and exciting, like a dare. We should have sealed a bond on the first day. I should have insisted the moment he told me the purpose of the ring.Who the fuck cared about my soul?
But now, I understood why he hadn't accepted it when I'd been so flippant. I should care about my freedom, my autonomy, mychoices. He'd respected them. He'd respected me.
A little too much.
My foot touched the first marble floor when all of a sudden, completely unexpectedly, Zenya gasped. Then, her goons were screaming.
And just like that, the connection broke. I turned, desperately looking for Lucian.
But it wasn't Lucian behind me, hand raised towards my mother, dark, sinister mist surrounding him.
It was a little kid I'd never seen before. Dark, messy hair that definitely needed a wash, a shirt too thin for the November mountain air, and golden eyes, the one source of brightness in his shadows. He was maybe twelve, fourteen at a push.
The kid tilted his head. "Come on, it won't last long. Let's get going."
I opened my mouth, and then knew better. I ran, only daring one glance behind.
The five people on the stairs were stillterrified.
"You did that?" I asked after he'd opened the closest lift to the underside.
"Uh-huh." The kid leaned back against the wall, relaxed.
"How?" I shook my head, "Wait, why? How did you know you I needed help?"
"You were very scared. It's not normal to be that scaredandthat serene. I figured it was a spell."He shrugged. "You're that girl who hangs with Regis, right? Sessona said you fixed her back."
Suddenly, I made the connection. This was one of Sessona's orphans. It explained the slightly disheveled look, and the fact that he was alone up in the vale.
"I don't know what fates guided you to me just then, but thank you." A sob clogged my throat as the tears I'd been desperate to shed finally fell, and I was holding the poor kid in the tightest of hugs. "Thank you, thank you."
"Hey, chill. It's no big?—"
He straightened up, frowning, those golden eyes bright. "They're no longer under the spell, and they're coming after us."
"You can feel that?"
Again, he shrugged. "There's something wrong with them. They feel weird. Don't let the guys catch you. And the woman—she can still control you. She was just distracted."
Fuck.
I doubted my mother or her goons knew the way to Lucian's, but they were going to arrive in the middle of the town circle, which was an open space. I'd be easy enough to spot. No one was expected me, so I couldn't count on a carriage ride. Waiting for the tram wasn't an option. How the hell was I going to get back to Lucian's without being caught?
Auntie Hilda would probably laugh if she knew that my ignoring her strict fitness regimen for the last couple of weeks would spell my doom. I would be the example she used when she justified why trainees had to take care of their endurance.
"Look, I can take you to the Royal Manor, if you'd like," the kid offered, somewhat reluctantly.
"You'd do that?"
He snorted. "Like I want to tell to Lucian bloody Regis how I let some asshole catch his girlfriend."
I was going to empty my entire bank account and give it all to this kid. "I would owe you. Big time."
"Yeah, whatever. Keep up, and keep your head down, yeah?"
The kid was fast. I was fairly certain keeping my head down wasn't going to cut it, but the moment we stepped out of the lift, I noticed all my clothes and hair had turned black. Sort of. It was more like a layer of shadow covered them.
