Page 108 of Lady of the Nightmares

The following morning, Scion’s mood was as dark as Quill’s feathers.

“You must realize that Bael is likely unconscious,” the prince groused as we stood outside the Crossroads tavern, preparing to return to the capital. “I have not a shred of doubt that if my cousin were aware you were gone, he’d already be here.”

“So say you,” I muttered. “I can’t say I know anything of the sort, actually, given that I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

I heard myself and immediately knew I was lying.

Ididbelieve Scion that Bael would be here with me if he could. More, I could feel it, deep in a part of myself I wasn’t even aware I could feel anything until all too recently. But wasn’t that even more reason to go back and see him?

“That was your choice. I would have told you.” Scion grumbled.

I still believed I’d got the better end of the deal by negotiating to return and choosing to hear whatever secrets Bael had from the male himself.

It didn’t matter now, anyway. I’d done my part. I’d cooperated, and now I needed to leave.

We’d already bid farewell to Cross and his children, but Scion still seemed reluctant to leave. “You are quite positive I cannot make you understand that Bael will not talk to you? You do not need to go rushing back when we could still be useful here.”

I put a hand up to shield my eyes from the setting sun peeking over the tops of the buildings, making it slightly difficult to make direct eye contact. “Perhaps if we’d found anything, but I do not see any point in waiting around for nothing.”

That, and honestly, I was not sure I could handle the tension. With the last lead turned cold, there was little to do but wait for something else to happen, and in the meantime, Scion and I were stuck in close quarters.

He could never convince methatwas a good idea.

Most especially not now, with the added complication of the bite mark still red and raw on my throat. No, any more time spent alone was a terrible idea.A terrible idea, indeed.

* * *

We appearedon the outskirts of the capital city empty-handed, with little to show for the last three days than wasted time and an additional layer of tension cast upon our acquaintance.

My knees nearly buckled, but I managed to stay on my feet as I blinked furiously, clearing the shadows from my gaze.

Scion had dropped us at least half a mile away from the palace gates, in the middle of the dirt road that led to the outer village of Cheapside. I squinted at the hazy dark sky of the horizon, which was the near total opposite of the sunny street in Inbetwixt. We were just far enough away that the tall towers of the obsidian castle were not yet visible over the crest of the sloping hill. “Feeling like a stroll?”

Scion scowled at me. “Sarcasm is barely better than lying, you know.”

I scoffed. “I would bet everything I own that if you could use it, sarcasm would be your native tongue.”

“Everything you own…meaning the clothing on your back?” he said dryly, looking me up and down.

I flushed. “But truly, why land so far away from the castle?”

“It wasn’t intentional. I got distracted,” he replied, nostrils flaring slightly.

Interesting.“How does it work? Traveling through the shadows.”

Scion thought about it for a moment as we started up the road. While he was silent, I looked around at the painfully familiar surroundings: the woods on one side of the path, the rolling fields on the other. The muddy boot prints, seemingly permanently etched in dirt. The air smelled sour, as if some cart of garbage had recently overturned nearby, and there was smoke in the air—no doubt coming from the chimneys in the village, burning early in the season to combat the unseasonable chill.

It had been quite some time since I’d walked this road, though the view was familiar as prior to the night that everything changed, I’d often walked this way to run errands or meet Caliban in the stretch of trees behind the small, thatched houses.

It seemed now like someone else’s life.

“I cannot say,” Scion said finally. “But I would wager it is similar to if one were to fold a map and walk within the crease.”

“That is entirely unhelpful.”

He huffed out an annoyed breath. “To travel through the shadows, you must not think about it. You have to simply try to fall between the worlds.”

“But this time, you overshot it, I take it?” I grinned. “What distracted you?”

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