Page 83 of A Court of Ash and Midnight
“She is the Phoenix, and you are the Night,” Julian says. “Complete opposites, but drawn to each other, again and again. It’s why you can sense her, Daemon. It’s why you’re so connected.”
Daemon and I look at each other. We’re clearly both thinking the same thing. Is it already too late?
“So… I, alone, can end the fae race, but together, we end the entire realm?” I ask shakily.
Julian nods and his shoulder slump. “If I had known what you were sooner, Embyr, I never would have allowed you both to reside within the keep.”
“But what do we do?” Daemon asks. “The heads of the royal houses have all been slaughtered, and the Queen is in danger of being overthrown. We need to help, not hide at opposite ends of the world.”
“Listen very carefully,” Julian says. “You must—”
At that moment, the sound of hoofbeats rings through the sky. Julian turns to us, panic in his eyes. “I will hold them back. Go! Now! You cannot, under any circumstances, let your family find you, Embyr. Find the Druids of Erissed. They can break the curse. They will tell you what to do.”
Riders on horseback pour into the glen on the other side, a few hundred feet from where we stand. Both riders in red, bearing the House Harkyn emblem, and riders in black, dressed all in leather. Cillian rides at the front, flanked by Kildari and Quelan. For a moment, I can’t draw my eyes away from them. From my cousin, who betrayed me. Who had lied to me this entire time.
“Embyr, now!” Daemon snaps, and before waiting for an answer, he grabs me, shadows spinning around us in a cyclone of midnight.
We vanish into the darkness, and reappear a moment later on a ridge the next valley over.
“What just happened?” I gasp, my blood feeling like it’s pulsing too quickly, like I might lose consciousness.
“I told you, I can travel through the night,” Daemon says, sounding slightly breathless himself. “But I can’t do it much—it requires a great deal of energy—and I can’t move very far.”
From our new vantage point, we can still see the glen where we stood a moment before. I watch, heart in my throat, as the riders descend upon Julian.
“We need to go.” Daemon’s jaw muscles pulse, his eyes hard.
“Not yet. I just need to see…”
“Embyr…” Daemon warns.
Julian raises his arms, and in the space between him and the galloping horses, a chasm appears, splitting the glen in half. The riders pull their horses up, and Julian turns to flee. I watch, helpless, as Kildari pulls a massive arrow from a quiver at his back, notches it in his bow, and sends it right for Julian. The professor stumbles, then falls face down in the glen. He doesn’t move.
“We are not nearly far enough away to stop now,” Daemon says. “Come, now, or I will carry you.”
I turn to him, feeling tears prick the corners of my eyes. “Julian justdied,Daemon.”
“Yes. He died for you, so you don’t fall into the hands of your family. Don’t make his death be for nothing.”
I wipe the tear running along the rim of my eyelid, and we run, and we do not look back.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
We’ve been runningfor three days.
The first night, we had an advantage with Daemon’s ability to transport us, so we could move across valleys and peaks that took the riders much longer. That helped us lose Cillian’s army.
The next two days we traveled almost constantly. We’d stumbled across a caravan that sold a couple horses to us, and we’d made our way steadily east. We’d stopped for an hour or two at a time to eat and sleep.
But by the third night we were both depleted, so we’d found an inn at the edge of a small town. Daemon set up spells all around the place so we’d know if anyone was coming. We’d eaten our first hearty meal, and then we took turns bathing in a tiny clawfoot tub.
“You can sleep in the bed,” Daemon says. “I’ll take the chair.”
We hadn’t spoken much the whole time we’d been on the run. Not only did we not have the chance, but so much had happened. So many secrets revealed in such a short span of time.
“No,” I say softly. “We can share the bed. Just to sleep.”
He eyes me for several moments, his expression impassive, and then he nods. I pull back the blanket from my side and crawl in, and he follows a moment later. It’s not a big bed, so we’re right up against each other. Daemon’s green eyes burn into mine, spinning with sorrow and unspoken words.
