Page 56 of Heart's Escape

Oh, I know what happened last night. What I want to know is what went wrong. How did we go from sitting beside the fire and laughing like old friends to kissing in the dark to…whatever we are now? I glance up at the backside of Phaedron’s cloak as it drifts across the narrow path in the dirty snow, and the churning swirl in my gut threatens to climb into my throat.

I thought we were friends. Stupid me. What experience do I have with friends after living most of my life in King Grathgore’s court, where getting too friendly with a magician might earn you a gibbet on the castle walls? But still, weren’t we acting like friends? Isn’t that what friends do, laugh together? Watch each other across the firelight, and—

Stars. I sink my teeth into my bottom lip as I follow Phaedron’s crunching path through a labyrinth of dead trees. Friends? That’s hilarious. I thought we were more than friends, didn’t I? Somehow, I managed to convince myself it didn’t matter that we came from different worlds, or that I’d already been seduced, or that I was carrying the spark from someone else’s seed inside me. Or that I was someone who could steal your magic, someone most reasonable people would never trust.

No, I let myself believe one damn kiss in the Silver City actually meant a man like Phaedron would ever fall for a magician like me. I let myself forget that he was, eventually, going to come to his senses and realize how very little I have to offer. Which, apparently, he did. Last night. Just after he gave me the most intense orgasm of my life.

Damn it. I’m such an idiot. I ball my hands into fists inside my mittens and blink back the bite of tears. Something catches my eye in the shadows, and I turn away from the ragged edge of Phaedron’s cloak. The ruins of some sort of rough building loom through the trees. At first, I assume it burned down, but when I narrow my eyes at the jagged remains of a wall, I don’t see any evidence of fire. So the building was just… ripped apart?

I shiver. Something else shivers as well, something dark that hugs the corners of that ruined building. I suck in a breath, then step back.

I have to be imagining things. I’ve almost convinced myself that, yes, I’m hallucinating on top of all the other problems in my life right now. And the shadow moves.

The shadow steps out from behind the ruins. It’s vaguely animal-shaped, but too damned long and sharp to be a creature from my world. Strange magic pulses in the air, low and acrid. The shadow stops, then twists to one side.

I think I’m going to be sick. I try to breathe, but my throat closes. The shadow twists even further, stretching out over the snow, and my mind fills with memories of the Silver City, the pain and biting pleasure of the old god’s magic, the tower crumbling around us. Something warm closes over my wrist, and I’m too scared, too numb to try to pull away.

“Keep moving,” Phaedron whispers.

His hand tugs me forward. I stumble over the ice, slipping in my boots but refusing to turn my back on whatever in the nine hells that thing is. The path twists, pulling me around a copse of dead trees

“They know Rowan’s gone.” Phaedron’s voice is so cold it might as well have risen from the frozen earth itself. “They’re getting bold.”

“W-Wh-What?” I stammer, trying to pry my words through a jaw that wants to remain resolutely closed.

Phaedron drops my wrist, and the scent of hot metal sets my teeth on edge. The buzz of magic washes over my skin, prickling and stinging. My gut rolls in response. The standing stones of this teleportation hub are still buzzing, but there’s a low sort of whine buried within the buzzing sound that makes me think this particular hub might not function for much longer.

Now that’s a comforting thought. I sink my teeth into my bottom lip, and the taste of blood dances across my tongue. Phaedron’s boots click and shuffle over the frozen ground behind me, but I still can’t take my eyes off the path we took. Every shadow cast by the grove of dead trees looks like it might be moving, stretching out across the snow, reaching forward to grab me.

“Alindra?”

I jump, then curse myself for being so damned scared. Phaedron stands behind me, his illusion arm hanging stiffly at his side, his real arm raised, and his bare hand hovering over the teleportation stone. And he’s frowning at me in a way that makes me want to cry.

I hold my breath, as if that’s going to make this next part any easier. I need to be touching Phaedron to ride the teleportation hubs, a fun little fact that neither one of us seems able to voice right now. A strange, soft crunching sound drifts out of the woods behind us. Phaedron looks up with a frown.

I move closer to him. I’m trembling, and I hope to the stars it’s just from cold. Phaedron’s mouth opens, as if he’s going to say something, and I press my hand against his shoulder.

He flinches. It’s subtle, but it feels like he just kicked me in the gut. Is it that bad, having to endure my mittened hand on his cloak? Is it—

The scent of burned metal sizzles through the air. Magic grabs me by the guts and thrusts me forward. I’m shoved through something huge and open, so vast it makes me want to scream. Blue lights flash through my eyelids, and then the ground slams into my feet. My knees collapse. I fall forward, gagging on thin air, my mittens sinking into grass.

Grass? I blink, trying to force the world to stop swaying around me. There’s grass under my mittens. Grass and the edge of Phaedron’s cloak. I rock back on my heels, then wipe the edge of the cloak across my mouth. The air is cool here, but it no longer hurts to breathe.

“You okay?” Phaedron asks.

There’s a tremble in his voice, like wind through a grove of birch trees. He must be feeling the effects of the teleportation hub as well. I nod, then take a deep breath, waiting until I feel like I’ll be able to stand up without crashing into the man who’s made it very clear he doesn’t want to touch me ever again. When I finally do come to my feet, Phaedron is standing at the edge of the teleportation stones. He turns away so quickly I could almost believe the mere sight of me burned him.

Fine. We’re almost done with each other. All I need to do is open a portal, and then Phaedron can rescue his brother and I can return to the Worlds Above. Where I can try to forget everything that’s happened to me since this idiot crashed into my bedroom.

I’m so focused on ignoring Phaedron that I almost walk right into the woman waiting for us outside of the teleportation stones. Arryn’s still wearing her cloak, although the hood hangs loosely against her shoulders. She looks at me, then Phaedron, then back to me.

“Is everything okay?” she whispers.

“Fine,” I snap.

“We’re fine,” Phaedron says at the same time but with less of an edge in his voice.

Arryn frowns like she’s trying to decide which one of us is the least trustworthy, and then she shakes her head.

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