Ryther grinned as she led him back to the Healer’s house. “So, you were worried for me, then.” “No. I just told Mera that I would see if you’d made it back.” Carissa twisted her wedding ring around her finger. Though it hadn’t been responsive in days, it was still comforting to feel its presence….
“And your relatives, you say?” Mera ran her hands through her already rumpled bun. “Yes. Please, please allow us in. Our friend is bleeding badly. He’s going to die, and you’re just–just standing there asking us questions.” The man turned and talked to another man, taking the stench of smoke and sweat with him. Mera…
One of them men swallowed, his throat bobbing. It was the man who most often let Mera ride his horse. He’d been called “Tian” earlier. “Y–Yare wolves? You’re certain?” A howl pierced the air. The forest muffled noise, and Carissa guessed the wolves were even closer than they’d sounded. Carissa grabbed the reins to Ryther’s…
“Why do you think Elon saved me?” It was the first Mera has spoken since the journey had begun. Carissa walked in silence, mulling over her question. It was something she’d been puzzling over for a while. But Elon never made mistakes. “Perhaps he used his foresight and knew you’d be vital for this part…
Mera went still, not even blinking, her glazed eyes seeming to stare past Carissa. “All of them?” “All of them.” Mera glanced down at her lap, then up at her. “Are you certain? Perhaps they were—” “Elon and I burned the corpses.” “E–Elon didn’t save them?” Carissa shook her head. Mera pressed a hand to…
Two Days Later Carissa twisted the ring around her finger, her heart beating harder and faster as they approached their destination. Elon had been silent for the past two days of travel. She hoped this was the right decision. The path they were traveling now was well-worn, and each footstep stirred a tiny billow of…
Carissa recalled the last few days she’d spend with Elon—when they’d reunited in the town, the night they’d spent in that dripping cabin. If she had known that those were the last days she’d spend in his company, perhaps she wouldn’t have chased him away in the first place. Grief wound around Carissa’s chest, regrets…
She managed to stay away from him for ten minutes. In those ten minutes, she’d found nothing. No Reapers that she could negotiate with or plants that could help Elon. With each step, her heart felt heavier until she feared it would rip through her chest. She finally turned back and sprinted to Elon, branches…
Pain rushed over Carissa so suddenly that her legs weakened, and she fell to her knees. Elon. Gone. And he’d healed her. She pressed a hand to her chest, the pain within rivaling the wound of seconds ago. Elon was a part of her now, in a deeper way than she could even comprehend. He’d…
Tervalyn lifted a bow, drew back an arrow. “Carissa, get down.” Elon tackled her just as an arrow flew overhead. She was breathing so hard that her lungs throbbed with air—in and out, in and out, in and out. Elon dragged her to her feet, and they sprinted toward the entrance of the passage. More…