Page 19 of A Kingdom of Shadows

"Humans?" Tibith's voice squeaks from below, causing Darius to look at him with a look that's just as unsure as Tibith's.

It is clear that a well-thought-out trap couldn't have been caused by the creatures we've encountered so far. But humans? Most, if any, have never survived—or that we know of, at least.

"Or it's the Elven King," I say in theory, and those amber-brown eyes—gold and honey specks—lift.

"Maybe," he replies, but something unspoken lingers between us.

I want to hate it.

I choose to always hate it.

Hate him.

But the second it looks as if he is going to say something more, my eyes catch a spiraling vine—alive and covered in ivy and thorns slithering up a tree, like an ominous snake behind him. It coils around the branches, and my eyes grow wide as I watch it shoot out in our direction. I shout for Darius to look out, and he dodges to the left as I grab my blade, chopping the vine in half.

The three of us stare down as it sizzles into dust.

Tibith gasps. "Like magic, Darry!"

Darius chuckles. "Ever experienced something like that in your trapping days, Goldie?"

I throw Darius a sarcastic look. "I'd say you were much worse than this."

"Impossible," he teases, and strangely it eases me to see him smiling again.

When I go to smile back, something wraps around my ankle and knocks me down. My chest slams against the ground, and a dull ache reverberates through my entire body before being dragged through the dirt.

Darius yells my name, with Tibith panicking in the background. I twist onto my back, glancing at my leg where a thicker vine pulls me along.

Give me a break, for Solaris's sake!

I try slashing across it with my blade, but this time it seems indestructible, angry even. Jamming the dagger into the ground, I resist its pulls as Darius reaches me, attempting to cut it with his blade. Another vine twists around his sword, yanking it out of his grip. He swears when one tries to grab him but successfully evades it.

My fingers go taut, the pressure of holding onto my dagger begins hurting, and a desperate cry comes out of my throat as my grasp slips.

Darius catches my hand in seconds, falling onto the ground as he tries hauling me toward him.

Tibith climbs up his arm, trying to help him before a mouth between the bark trees opens, and we meet with a cave of slime and darkness.

Panic sharpens like a knife in my gut, and I look at Darius, his forearms straining as he tugs at me. "If I live through this—"

"You can thank me." His voice is low and forced. "I know."

I manage a scowl before he grunts and finally yanks me from the grip of the vines. I wince as it scrapes along my skin, and then I'm on top of Darius as he falls onto his back.

Tibith growls at the tree, and I press my hands on Darius's chest, lifting my head to look at him.

We're both panting as I ask, "Will there ever be a day when we stop saving each other?"

"I hope so," he says, in an obvious way he doesn't mean it. "I can't stand any more of your stubbornness."

"And I can't stand you," I reply with a smile as I get off him, and he helps me to my feet.

His usual cocky grin broadens, only to vanish as he watches me.

He must see it before I can feel it as his face becomes a blur, and I can't focus straight.

'What's wrong?' his voice echoes.

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