Page 84 of Through the Wicked Wood

“I watched them drag you away, I watched them…” I lose my voice as Cade steps closer, his fingers sweeping across my cheek until they land under my chin. My breathing stutters at his touch but it’s for all the wrong reasons. His hands are cold and dry. They are not the hands I remember. They are not the hands I want touching me.

I try to step back, but am held by a guard. I want to run. No, I want to rip his hand away from me and sink my dagger through the softness of his throat. But, with my hands shackled, I am rendered useless. So, instead I stand helpless, looking at the face of a man I once loved. Or at least, I thought I had loved.

“They did drag me off, that part you’re remembering correctly.” Cade’s hand slides from my chin as he straightens his posture, placing both hands behind his back. His militant stance looks unnatural and stiff as he watches me. I shift under my feet, my magick begins to resurface against my palms but with them bound together by iron, there’s not much I can do.

“I couldn’t very well let you think I was the one who led the hunters to us, now could I?”

“What. Do. You. Mean?” I hiss, narrowing my eyes in his direction, hoping he can taste the poison dripping from my words. His catlike grin makes my stomach churn, this is not the Cade I remember. This isn’t real. Can this be real? The sudden loss of Ruse’s voice inside my head makes my knees weak. Desperately searching for Alaric, I reach out mentally but am met with silence. Whatever is happening with the bond has my stomach in knots.

“Sweet, Elora. Always so naïve. So set on gaining your magick, you ceased to pay attention to anything else happening around you.” Now it’s Cade that narrows his eyes, his grin quickly turning down. “Did you really think I wanted a life on that Mother-forsaken mountain?”

“And so you led Roman directly to us?” I ask, my mind still in disbelief as to what I’m seeing. As to what he’s saying. “Why Cade? What was in it for you?” All this time I’ve grieved the man I loved, have held myself back from how I truly feel because of the guilt. And now… That feline smile returns as Cade steps forward, his hand grips my face again. Recoiling back, he holds my chin firmly. Too firmly.

“You know, I really did care for you once,” he whispers, inclining his head so our breaths intermix. The unease in my stomach threatens to spill out onto the forest floor. I attempt to shake my chin free but his grip only tightens. “I’ve spent a long time searching for you, Elora,” he continues. Stepping back, finally dropping my chin. “That night on the mountain, I’ll admit, was a bit bloodier than anticipated. But I gave you distinct directions to stay put, didn’t I? Why did you run from me? I was your fiancé after all.”

“Intuition, I guess. Maybe I should have listened to it all along. You betrayed us. You betrayed me.”

“I did what I had to do to get out.” It’s brief, but for a moment something resembling hurt flashes over his features. As quickly as it comes, it vanishes. “I never wanted to be there in the first place. How many nights did we dream of escape? Of something grander?” Craning his neck around me, he gestures with his hands as bootsteps sound behind me. “It was my mother who dragged me there or do you not remember? You were so wrapped up in your own life and your own desires, you never once considered mine. When rumors that Roman was searching for the Awakening Stones arised, I saw a chance. An opportunity to get out, and I took it.”

“And this is what you desire? Is becoming an officer for the corrupt king worth betraying us?” I struggle against the men at my sides but it’s no use.

“Getting away from that mountain was worth doing anything. How very typical of you,” Cade says through a laugh, the noise sending a shiver down my spine, “to feign ignorance rather than admit you’re at the helm of the chaos. As if you weren’t desperate for your own future. Your own magick. Even now, look at you. You knew what risks coming back here posed and yet, here you are. You have your magick, was it worth coming? How much has it served you, Elora? This magick you risked everything to gain.”

My stomach drops, because as much as it sickens me, he’s right, and he knows it. Snapping his fingers at the guards, they pull me towards a row of horses. I drag my feet and flail my body against the men. “Make sure she stays apart from the others,” Cade shouts.

Others.

“Where are they?” I shout to Cade over my shoulder but all I’m met with is a laugh and a shake of his head.

“And no fucking around with this one,” he says to the larger guard to my right. “We need her in one piece. Keep her shackles on her. Without them, you’re a dead man.” He steps closer again, so close the warmth of his breath tickles my skin, the smell of tobacco thick in the air between us. “Time to put that magick of yours to good use, Elora.”

Chapter 42

Elora

Atop the mountain the wind is relentless as I drag my feet up to Nevek Peak where the Stones are embedded. Four guards follow me, and to my surprise, Cade isn’t one of them. Rage engulfs me, and despite the freezing temperatures outside, my body is scorching. My mind wanders as I think of all the ways I could end Cade’s life. My daggers, once a gift from him, would be a perfect way to off him. Alaric’s teeth to the throat may be even better, though.

“Pick up the pace! We ain’t got all night!” one of the guards shouts before his boot lands in the center of my back. I fall to the ground as I have nothing to break my fall with my hands bound behind my back. My cheekbone takes the brunt of it and a menacing crack splits between my ears. I lie there with my eyes closed, reaching out mentally for Alaric, for my magick, until the guards force me to my feet, dragging me forward by my elbows. I reach and reach for my magick and yet I’m left unanswered. The iron burns around my wrists, nulling my magick. I whimper as a guard pulls me to my feet.

Please, Alaric.

Please, hear me.

“I’m not sayin’ it again, Enchantress. Pick. Up. The. Pace.” The guard's words are clipped as he spits them into my face.

The rock is jagged and the air is freezing as we make the final ascent to Nevek Peak. My breathing is labored not only from the hike up, but from the heaviness that surrounds this place. Once warded by my mother’s magick, she’s here in every sense except the literal. In the breeze as it brushes my long strands away from my face. In the scent of oncoming snow. Fresh and crisp. In the light of the moon, silver, just like her eyes.

As I’m lost in a pocket of grief, my breath catches when my eyes land on the Stones. There, embedded in the slate gray of the mountain peak, are four brightly shining crystals. The first, an iridescent green; Earth. The second, a shimmering pale blue; Water. My fingers itch to reach out and touch them. Like they’ve been waiting just for me. I guess in some way, they have.

Tears stream freely from my eyes as I glance to the final two Stones. The third, sparkling crystalized white; Air. And lastly, the fourth. A vibrant ruby set deeply into the stone; Fire.

“Get on with it!” a guard snaps behind me. I swallow down my sobs as I draw myself upward. Closing my eyes, I try to remember all the steps in retrieving them.

“I need my hands,” I tell the guards, shaking the shackles still placed around my wrists.

“I don’t think so, lass,” one of them says, spitting brown sticky tobacco onto the ground.

“Then you will not get the Stones,” I snap, meeting each of their eyes.

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