Page 28 of Winter's Edge
I knocked softly and then entered, and immediately knew two things. One: she was asleep. Two: Grady was here. His angry, volatile emotions stiffened the air and made it hard to breathe. His glare burned through my skull from the far corner of the room where the faint creak of a rocking chair had stopped the second I'd opened the door.
Doingmy best to ignore him, I shuffled across the room with my arms out. He didn't bother to offer direction, a good thing since I didn't want to hear his stupid voice. My fingers grazed a thin wooden bar and then another one, like those on a crib, and I reached over and sifted my hand through the softest fur imaginable.I smiled despite my dark company.
"Be well, Sasha," I whispered. "I hope I get to see you again."
Without a word to Grady, I left and shut the door behind me. Making sure my coat was bundled tightly to the cold, I silently said my goodbyes to the cabin and walked out into a blustery day.
"Morning," Archer said in that deep, easy way of his that never made me jump.
"Good…morning…" I stopped on the porch as his footsteps thudded about ten feet away, not over snow, but wood. A short banging sounded from that direction, swift and confident like a hammer driving a nail home. "What are you doing?"
"Just finishing up with your sleigh. There's your quiver of more freshlycarved arrows just to your left there, and the fake poison is right next to Grady's walking stick."
My jaw dropped. I bent to retrieve the items and rubbed my fingers over the arrows’ smooth wood. "You did this…for me? Already?"
"I did." I could hear the grin in his voice but imagined it fading much too fast. He crossed toward me and stopped, standing so close I could feel his breath feathering my lips as he towered over me. "But also for me. I don't like this idea and I don't like you leaving here, but I understand that you have to do this."
"Thank you. Thank you for all of this." No one had ever bent over backward before for me, not ever, and certainly not by making me a sleigh and arrows by hand. Then again, I'd never been this desperate to survive. It showed that he cared—really cared—and it stole my next several breaths at just how much. I shook my head, feeling tears rise and overflow, but with my hands full, I couldn't wipe them away.
So Archer did, clearing one cheek, then the other, his touch like fire. "Don't cry, Aika."
"I can't help it,” I admitted, the words thick with emotion. “Grady's going to go insane when he discovers you gave me his walking stick, and these are my happy tears at the very idea."
He chuckled, and then it faded out into a long sigh. "You want to say goodbye to Hellbreath before we go?"
I nodded and set my bow, arrows, and walking stick down, then Archer led me to the barn and left me alone with my poor girl. She seemed to be in the same position as last night, no worse and no better. Mostly we just hugged each other while I promised her dozens of things we could do together when she got better, like another picnic in the springtime with Jade and Lee and apples, all she could eat. Not a new name though. She rumbled her dissatisfaction when I suggested it.
"Okay, not that. Just the other things, but only when you get better though," I whispered into her fur, wet with my tears. I hated to think this would be the last time I saw her. As soon as spring came, I swore I'd be back here as soon as I could, which might not be soon enough.
I gave her one last kiss and scratch on the top of her forehead, her favorite spot, and then walked out of there with my heart dragging behind me.
Archer met me outside and wrapped me up closer to him with his arm around my back. "Ready?" he asked gently.
No, I wasn't. Yes, I was.
I sighed. "Ready."
"All you have to do is hold on to the handrail. I won't go too fast, but I'll go fast enough to cover the three miles there. It should take about thirty minutes. The wind is super shitty today though." He led me to the sleigh and then up onto it, showing me where the handrail was, which was rough and easy to grip, even with gloves. Same for the wood under my feet. It felt sturdy and thick enough that I didn't feel like I'd slip off.
"This is perfect, Archer." I beamed over my shoulder at him where I could hear him securing the bow and arrows and all my other supplies. From the slightly hollow sound of the boards, there must have been a compartment under my feet for storage. It really was perfect.
"Well, I don't know about perfect, but I think it'll get you there. Okay, I think that's it." He stepped down from the sleigh and stopped at my side. "Shout if you need anything. I'm going to go ahead and shift, and we'll get going. Oh, one more thing. Can you crouch down a little? Just for a second."
I did as he asked. "Like this?"
"Yeah, a little more, and turn toward me."
I narrowed my eyes because his voice was laced with a teasing smile. "Why do I have a feeling you're having fun with me."
"Probably because I'm having fun with you." He laughed, and then it cut short, followed by the sound of paws hitting the snow and the smell of snowy fur.
In an instant, I could see again, my own grinning, tear-streaked face right in front of Archer's eyes. My other eyes. A long pink tongue darted out and slicked across my mouth, and then Archer turned and bounded away while I sputtered with laughter.
"Hey!" I shouted. "You licked my teeth!"
Just as the sleigh began to move, gently at first, I stood upright, the cold wind freezing my grin in place as we left the cabin behind. A miracle grin, because the rest of me cracked open, deeper and deeper like a jagged ravine every foot we moved away. My temporary good spirits at being licked by Archer's wolf tongue chipped away as fast as a certain realization took hold.
Grady had been right—this terrain was wild and rough. Archer panted his way through it, dragging me up the sides of hills strewn with sharp stones and twisted tree roots poking at odd angles up through the snow. He looped me around the widest parts of frozen streams to try to cross the narrower channels.
