Page 41 of King Elijah (The Zemiran Chronicles 2)

He scrunched up his face. “I could have handled—”

“Riiight!” she said, drawing out the word. “Now shut up and swallow that pride of yours. I’m not done helping you.”

She opened a barn door next to the tavern, and they slipped inside. Tegan quickly shut and latched the doors behind them. She picked up a lantern off the ground and quickly lit it with some flint. The room was filled with a soft yellow glow as she turned to Aiden.

“Sorry,” she said. “About your horse . . . I know you want to grieve, but you must keep moving.” She waited for his response and Aiden gave her a nod. She was right. Without a horse, getting out of the city wouldn’t be easy. With a coven of sorcerers heading their way, he had to move quickly.

Tegan rushed to the end of the stalls, opening the gate to the last one. There stood a large, black horse with golden eyes and long, patterned black and white hair.

As Tegan prepared the horse, Aiden looked over his shoulder at the barn doors, seeing lanterns beam through the crack of the door. There was a faint sound of movement and voices coming from the outskirts of the village.

“You’ve been here one day, and you’ve already drawn the Newick witches’ attention to us.”

“Well,” he said, “there’s a reason for that.” He had no doubt Kieran had sent his men to find him. Janelle never returned, and Newick witches would have strung together the inevitable outcome that Aiden would come to gain his sister’s freedom.

“Come on,” she said. “You can share your story on the ride to the cabin—it’s a safe place, so we can hide there for a few days. Get on.”

He turned back to her. “I can’t go with you, Tegan.”

She let out a jaded breath as she climbed onto the horse, settling into the saddle.

“They will kill me because I helped you. I can’t stay here anymore,” she said.

Aiden shook his head. “And I appreciate everything you have sacrificed for me, but it’s too dangerous.”

Aiden knew Newick, a city filled with sorcerers, was even too dangerous for him, but a woman? He couldn’t have her blood on his hands.

“Get on the horse, you buffoon,” she said. “I can hear the others entering the tavern. You don’t have a choice. They will check the stalls next. Then we’re both dead.”

Aiden let out a grunt. He sheathed his sword as she leaned forward, extending a beckoning hand. He gripped her tiny fingers and threw himself over the saddle, nestling behind Tegan. Once he settled her between his legs, his rough hands covered her exposed waist. Her muscles clenched beneath her taut, velvety skin. Aiden felt the curves of her body as he pulled her closer into a protective grip, her back flattening to his chest.

The fear of dying before he reached Newick had ebbed away, as if Tegan’s presence blanketed him with power and strength. It was an aberrant response that was both foreign and intoxicating—the woman wasn’t truly human. Since birth, he had been gifted with an intuitive sense of others’ magic. The energy she radiated caused his own powers to seize.

As his thoughts slowly came together, he tilted his head, trying to read her aura and study her movements and the energy that trailed behind it. She let out a command for the horse to move forward and hurried them out of the barn.

The dark forest behind them was all they could see.

“What direction were you going?” she asked.

At that point, lying wouldn’t help either of them.

“Newick, the capital,” he said, waiting for her reaction.

“Well then,” she said. “We will be going the opposite direction. We’ll be at the cabin within three hours.” She looked over her shoulder. “Unless you have a death wish.”

She clicked her heels, and they trotted forward, bringing her horse to a run as they disappeared into the forest, heading northwest.

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