Page 69 of Magic Cursed

“Are you able to climb?” Daimis asks.

I try to put weight on my hurt arm and suck in a short breath at the pain that responds. I shake my head. “It’s out of the socket.”

Daimis gently paws at my shoulder and nods. “Okay, I’m going to put it back in. Look in my eyes.”

I listen, taking deep slow breaths. This isn’t the first time I’ve had this injury, and I remember how much this part hurts.

“Ready?” I give him a little nod. “On three. One, two—” He forces the bone back into its socket with a sharp pain that I grunt against, followed with a string of curses.

“Better?” Daimis asks when I’m done.

I stretch my shoulder and nod.

“Well, if the arrows didn’t scare the ogres away, then your colorful mouth will have.” He smirks. “After you.”

We climb the broken bridge, rung by rung, until we pull ourselves over the lip of the canyon. I stand, look up at the towering statues, then beyond them into fae territory. The woods don’t look any different from the woods on the Thaaryn side, but I know better.

I turn around and look at the rest of our traveling party on the other side of the deep ravine. The Regent is currently having an argument with Kellan. But I can’t hear what they’re saying. Tuuk stares at me wide eyed and Elsie just shakes her head disapprovingly. I give her a shrug and she throws her hands to the side dramatically, as if to say now what. I mouthgo home. Both she and Tuuk shake their heads. Then I mouthbe careful,and they nod.

I look down the steep walls to the roaring river far below. Daimis does the same.

“How are we going to get back to the Thaaryn side?” I ask Daimis.

“We’re not,” he says. “Not here, anyway. It’s too dangerous.” His face is sober, and his lips pressed in a hard line. I imagine he’s thinking the same thing I am. We’re separated from the Regent and might not be able to get to the other side in time to stop him now. I screwed up—badly. Daimis told me to focus on the bigger picture, but I decided to take matters into my own hands.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I just couldn’t sit back and do nothing. And because of that—” I trail off shaking my head.

Daimis’s face softens. “We’ll figure it out.”

“You can be mad at me, yell at me even. I messed up, it doesn’t happen very often, mind you, but when it does, I take responsibility for it.”

“Sky, you saved my life. Yes, it ended up with us on the opposite side of the ravine, but you did the best you could under the circumstances. I’m not mad about that.”

Doesn’t he know I was the one who set the ogre’s chains free. I should tell him the truth.

“Daimis,” Kellan yells out. “Do you know where Glacier Pass is?”

Daimis’s brows crease. “Yes,” he calls back.

Kellan nods. “Good, that’s where we’ll meet.”

The Regent yells out to me, “If you help the prince get safely to Glacier Pass, your payment will double.”

Double my pay? I guess he does want Daimis alive and well. And here I thought he was happy to get rid of him. Either that, or he’s putting on a show for everyone else. I just nod.

“And be careful,” Kellan yells.

Daimis and I head off into fae territory.

“Where is Glacier Pass?” I ask in a hushed voice, worried for what might hear us on this side.

“Not in Thaaryn.”

I turn my attention to him. “It’s in fae territory?”

He nods. “I think the Regent was planning on crossing the bridge here. This is the most direct route. Now they’re going to have to go hours out of their way to the next crossing, which means if we don’t run into bad weather, we should get there before them, even without the horses.”

I scowl up at the ominous sky, remembering what Elsie had said about the snow. We’ll definitely be running into bad weather, but hopefully we can make good time before it hits.

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