Page 46 of Peril

The deep connection of the heart bond was well and truly in effect now. If she let go of his hand, he would die.

They stepped into the narrow corridor, joining the stream of people heading for the doors and the platform.

Edmund attempted to walk, stumbling as if drunk. He sagged heavily against Jalissa, and her legs shook under his weight.

How were they going to haul him across half of Aldon to the palace?

They did not have a choice. She and Sarya would simply have to grit their teeth and do it.

While a few of their fellow passengers gave them sidelong looks, no one focused on them for long, usually looking away and shaking their heads in disgust. With their hair tied back in buns at the back of their heads and their ears hidden, Jalissa and Sarya simply looked like two young women helping a drunken man from the train.

Once they reached the platform, Sarya tugged Jalissa and Edmund across the platform, through the station, then into the dark streets beyond. A few gaslights provided some pools of orange light, but other than that the streets remained cloaked in black and relatively empty at this late hour.

With each step, Jalissa’s knees shook under Edmund’s weight. Sweat trickled between her shoulder blades, and her heart pounded painfully in her chest and thundered in her ears. Agony stabbed through her gut, growing with each street they walked.

She squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on breathing and trusting Sarya to guide them.

It would be so easy to sink to her knees right there in the street. All she wanted to do was collapse into tears and beg for someone else just to take over.

Just one more step. She forced her aching leg to shuffle forward. Now another step. Yet another. She gritted her teeth and pushed forward.

In her arms, Edmund’s breath caught, his body seizing.

Jalissa stumbled to a halt and frantically tugged at his shirt, pressing her hand to his chest over his heart. Her own breath caught in her chest, her stomach heaving.

Sarya gripped Edmund with one arm, reaching for Jalissa with her other hand. “Amirah?”

No, Jalissa would not give up, and she would not let Edmund go. She was just as strong as Essie or Farrendel or anyone else who had kept their loved one alive with a heart bond.

She would breathe. She would live. And so would Edmund.

With something almost like a scream building in her throat, she sucked in a breath. Then another. In her arms, Edmund’s body shuddered as he dragged in another breath.

Jalissa glanced at Sarya and managed a nod, unable to waste the breath to speak.

Her mouth pressed into a tight line, Sarya set out once again.

Once they reached the nicer streets, some of those out and about at this time of night gave them longer, suspicious looks.

Jalissa kept her head down and hoped they could reach the castle before someone called the city guard to report drunks wandering the streets of the elite.

When the tall wall of Winstead Palace loomed before them, Jalissa could have cried. Perhaps a few tears even leaked out of the corners of her eyes as she all but collapsed against it.

While it would have been so much easier to walk to the nearest gate, Edmund had been adamant that they could not alert anyone to their presence. That had been the point of sneaking across the kingdom rather than going up to the nearest telegraph office and wiring his brother.

Jalissa gasped in a breath. “Sarya, can you get us over? I do not have the strength.”

Sarya nodded, then pressed her hand to the stones. Her face taut, her magic crawled over the stones, seeking a plant to grow.

Finally, a tree on the other side of the wall bent and reached its branches toward them. The twigs wrapped around them, then lifted all three of them off their feet.

Jalissa clutched Edmund, making sure she did not lose contact with his hand, as the tree whipped them through the air, then set them down heavily on the inside of Winstead Palace’s wall. She collapsed onto the ground, her arms clutching Edmund.

Sarya released her magic, falling to her knees with a gasp. Sweat beaded on her forehead, her face white, a testament to the strain of that much magic had taken on her. Weylind would have been able to work such a feat easily. He could have sent his magic into the entire parkland of Winstead Palace without breaking a sweat.

But neither Sarya nor Jalissa had that much strength of magic. For Sarya, taking control of that one tree had drained her.

After another moment, Sarya pushed to her feet and approached Edmund and Jalissa. She tugged Edmund’s arm over her shoulder again, hauling him to his feet, and Jalissa along with him.

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