Page 7 of Forgotten Queen

I focused my thoughts on memories of my best friend. Us sitting on rooftops gazing up at stars. Running from the Alpha Clique. Trying on clothes, laughing at whatever pack gossip was particularly entertaining that day.

Friendship was a powerful force. I willed my magic to channel that force and mend itself.

Sweat trickled down the side of my forehead as I scrunched my face in focus.

The numbness was the first to go. I bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood in my effort to stop crying out. I’d thought merely tapping my side before was painful? This was an ocean of agony. It pulsed like a living, vicious thing, rounding through me in waves.

I wanted to give in. To stop trying.

But that wasn’t an option.

Daphne. I focused on the memories of my friend.

And then… the blistering pain eased.

Not a lot. A fraction of relief that barely made a dent, but it was enough to bolster my efforts.

Heal, damn it!

It wasn’t instantaneous. The process was an eternity.

But eventually, the pain faded. I rubbed my sides, the movement no longer painful, marveling at the unblemished skin my fingers met under the fur blanket.

For the first time all day, I had enough strength to sit up. The movement was nearly effortless compared to before. I examined my body with my own eyes. The stitches had disappeared like magic, which was good because I didn’t relish the thought of pulling them out of my newly healed skin.

It wasn’t perfect. The skin was healed, but underneath was tender, like a brutal bruise lay hidden.

But I could move.

I could escape.

I glanced around, better able to appreciate my surroundings. The barest moonlight lit the room from one faraway window, but it was enough for my honed senses to make out the contents of the room. No one was here. I stepped off the sick bed as quietly as if I was sneaking past the Alpha Clique in the hallways as a youth. It was a good thing I’d been used to avoiding detection.

My attention caught on a bundle of clothes in the chair next to me, the one Xander had dragged across the dirt floor to read in. Clothes. He’d brought them despite his initial refusal. No doubt he hadn’t planned on me escaping in them, but with the winter chill, I was grateful.

I dressed and slowly opened the cabin door, grateful for the well-oiled hinges. I opened it the barest fraction to strain my hearing to listen outside, but all signs showed the Wind-Blood camp was silent.

I eased my body outside and read the sky. I had a better sense of where I was now. My travels to Moon-Ghost would be much easier once I crossed into the territory, which was to the northwest of Wind-Blood territory.

I had no desire to linger and get caught again. This time, I’d be more careful, sticking to trees if I needed to. Still, curiosity gnawed at me. This would likely be my only opportunity to ever see the Wind-Blood camp. Much of it matched the cabin I’d been in, simple wood lodges lining the camp, which was sheltered by a nearby mountain. Rather than wandering through the seemingly empty camp, I scaled the side of the one I’d been in so I could cross the rooftops.

From my vantage there, the path was clearer. I just needed to get to the tree line.

I padded as quietly as I could across the roof before jumping to the next, landing easily on the pads of my feet. One by one, I crossed, refusing to sacrifice my silent travels for speed. I may have healed myself, but I wasn’t going to count on being able to do so again.

There. The tree line was thirty feet away.

Twenty.

Ten.

I lowered myself from the roof of the cabin on the edge, avoiding any windows as I landed on the snow.

Five more feet and I could get into the forest and continue my journey.

“Going somewhere?”

Chapter V

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