Page 35 of Song of Night

Impatience chafes under my skin. Every minute we spend here is another minute that Night comes closer to destruction. But I’m not going to argue the point when she’s agreed to help us. And she’s not wrong about food and weapons.

Zara nods, though her lips are set in a grim line as if she’s thinking the same thing. “Lead the way.”

Jaylen doesn’t take us back to the tunnel in the ground. She leads us between two of the huge thorn trees and moves aside a piece of woven vines that I see now is a gate of sorts, cleverly set in place amongst the other branches and vines. After we pass through, she puts it back in place, and it looks as impenetrable as it did before.

The forest is shadowy and hushed as we traverse the mossy ground beneath the twisted black trunks. Here and there we have to duck beneath a gnarled branch or a huge vine covered in deadly thorns. In places the trees are clustered so close together that moving between them brings my face within an inch of a razor-sharp protrusion. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were poisonous as well.

While we’ve got to be at least two miles from where we entered the forest, I’m relieved not to hear hunting dogs in the distance. Vyrin’s guards have either called them off or they’ve traveled far enough in the wrong direction that they’re out of range. Nonetheless, my ears and the rest of my body are on alert. Zara seems tense and at-the-ready as well.

After traveling an hour or more south, which I can tell by the moss growing on the tree trunks, Jaylen halts and turns to face us. We’re in an area of the forest where boulders rise from the forest floor and the trees are a bit further apart. I can hear the murmur of a creek in the distance.

“My companions live not far from here. I should go first and explain who you are…they aren’t overly fond of outsiders.” She pauses, then adds, “There aren’t many monsters here in the forest. You should be safe until I get back.”

Not many monsters. I cross my arms over my chest and let out a snort of mirth, causing Zara to look over at me in surprise.

“We’ll be fine,” I say.

Jaylen nods and vanishes into the trees ahead.

“What was that about?” Zara asks.

“Well, within Night there are surges of wild magic and warring factions. Here in Cyrena there are evil fae and monsters.” I shrug. “I suppose everywhere you go there’s something awful to contend with.”

Zara contemplates this a moment. “I’m not sure I’d know what to do with myself if there wasn’t.”

I walk over and lean back against one of the boulders. “I used to wonder, in my darkest hours, if Night was worth saving. I clung to the idea of unity, of peace, but most of the time I never believed it possible.”

Zara watches me with those purple eyes, waiting for me to continue.

“But now that Vyrin is intent on grinding my city beneath his boot, of taking all the magic I struggled to contain these last centuries, I realize how truly bad things can get. How much darker the future could be.” I let out a slow breath. “Funny how things can change your perspective in an instant.”

Her voice is soft when she answers. “It certainly is.”

I realize by her tone, the hollow ring to it, that she means us.

My feet lead me to where she stands, without conscious effort to do so. Her arms are crossed over her chest, and she doesn’t look at me when I approach. “I wish I could change how I feel about things between us,” I say. “But it’s not that easy.”

Zara finally looks up at me, her eyes full of sorrow. “Nothing ever is.”

“You think I can just forget that you were raised and mentored by my brother, who is one of my greatest enemies?”

Her face shifts from sadness to cold anger in the span of a heartbeat. “What I know is that I’m tired of apologizing for my past, a past I had no control over and can’t change. If you want to hate me, then hate me.”

And she turns and strides away from me into the trees.

Chapter Twenty-Six

ZARA

I haven’t made it ten steps before I hear footsteps behind me. Asher grabs my shoulder and spins me around.

“Don’t you dare accuse me of hating you,” he growls. “You know that’s not true.”

“Do I?” I snap. “You told me you never wanted to see me again. You treated me like your blood bag. Now we have a fragile truce only because we need each other to get our magic back. But at every turn, you remind me of how impossible it is that we could ever mend things between us.”

“I was angry, but I never hated you,” Asher groans. “I want to hate you. Dark goddess, it would make things easier.”

He reaches up and runs his right hand into my hair, cupping my cheek as he does. His eyes lock onto mine.

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