“You don’t understand. I need to go.Now.” She glanced at Callias who glowered at her, arms crossed firmly over his chest. “I can’t stay,” she said, much quieter. And everything she didn’t say hovered suspended in the sliver of air between them.
Vesper’s eyes flared, as shock settled into his bones. And as he caught sight of the unmistakable red caked beneath her chipped fingernails, his stomach sank. This was worse than he imagined.
His lips parted. “I … you—no. You didn’t, Nef. Tell me you didn’t.”
She turned pale as winter and the mountains ahead. “Let’s leave.”
Vesper’s jaw clenched. His temper simmered as this tarnished all his plans. Nef kept her chin up, though fear threaded her gaze.
I’ll always take care of you.His own words berated him.
Vesper strode to Balthasar and swung his leg over with steaming anger. “Let’s go. Marlys, Briar, Cal—you never saw her.”
Briar’s brows pulled together as she raked her gaze over Nef, recognition stirring, until he saw something visibly click. When Briar turned back to Vesper with unbridled disappointment in her eyes, her voice quiet, as she said the words, slow as molasses, “Saw who?”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
EMMERY
Only streaks of sights and sensations coloured Emmery’s mind as Destonne carried her back to Blackdawn—her cheek against a wet shirt, hard chest, a sticky hand in her hair, a wound splitting, blood spilling, a soothing voice when she woke and all she could do was whimper.
Each time a needle threaded into the deep gash in her arm, she jolted awake and her flames roared to life and came to her aid. The moment a draught tasting of buttered tarts and salt touched her tongue, she tumbled into the barrage of nightmares she’d run from all this time in Asaella.
Vesper’s bloodless face, a pool of crimson engulfing him.
Bodies burning in golden flame. Children shrieking.
Buildings crumbling around them.
That knife searing into Maela’s skin, hissing, replicating the very marks that haunted Emmery.
She woke once with a dry mouth, aching limbs, and heavy eyelids as she fumbled for the bottle she’d left at her bedside. Anything to drown the dreams, desperate to keep them away. But when she sipped the liquid, Emmery winced. It was too hot and bitter and minty.
“That’s not yours,” a voice said.
Destonne.
Her head lolled and her eyes wouldn’t focus. A glass of water replaced the mug and though she clutched it, water sloshed over her trembling fingers. A warm touch helped the glass to her lips. As she gulped the water, it spilled down her front, but she didn’t care. Then she faded into sleep again.
By some miracle, she found herself in the Divide for the first time after arriving in Asaella, since the nightmares had kept her locked in their clutches and Shade hadn’t returned to save her. Emmery pressed her fingers to her lips recalling their kiss, how her heart had soared like he’d breathed life back into her. But maybe he’d changed his mind. Maybe he simply didn’t want to come back to her.
Alone, she slogged through the empty darkness. Maybe it was the draught or she was truly desperate, but an idea popped into her head. If she could replicate the night of their kiss, maybe Shade would come back to her. Each time she blinked, another star appeared in the vast inky black until she’d painted the sky in golden flecks of light. Then she stood and waited.
Waited and waited and waited.
Just when she had given up hope, she felt a presence,hispresence, like a chilled night breeze on the nape of her neck. She froze, her limbs taut with both joy and fear. Because what couldshe say? That she missed him more than life itself? That she was lost without him? That her heart ached without him near? Gods, how pathetic.
Slowly she turned and blinked as if she couldn’t believe her own eyes.
Because there he was: a familiar cloud of black mist with the most stunning green eyes she’d ever seen. And he was here. He’d come back for her.
“Shade,” she exhaled his name in a sob, a plea, a beckoning for him to hold her.
He crossed the distance and she fell into him. His arms cocooned her, and she allowed herself to feel safe in this dying world and endless darkness. Only when she was with him.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he whispered into her hair.
Not willing to waste a single moment in this volatile place, Emmery stretched onto her toes and her lips found his face, his neck, anything she could reach, and she clung to him like an autumn leaf about to sever and float away from the only home it ever knew.