Page 22 of Heart’s Rescue

A pause, and then I swear I can hear the man shrug.

“Suit yourself,” he replies. “Just be careful. The void beasts come out in the dark.”

Void beasts. I shiver. That’s almost assuredly a lie, a threat meant to coerce me into going with him. But at least he’s using words to coerce me when we both know how easily he could overpower me physically. I glance up at the knot of shadows that’s all I can see of his silhouette, then back down at the few flickering embers left in my fire.

I could stay. I could build the fire back up, pile together some straw, and spend the night curled up in this man’s cloak. When the light comes back, if the light comes back, I could go off into the woods and search for my beloved.

With no idea where to start. Or how to get back to our world.

“I’m Rowan,” the man says.

“Rowan.” I roll the word around on my tongue, tasting it. Then I push the hood back, which does absolutely nothing because it’s almost pitch black inside the ruined barn now that I’ve killed the fire. “I’m Arryn.”

I could have given him a fake name, but why? What does it matter who knows my name down here?

“Arryn,” the man - Rowan - says, and I get the feeling he’s doing the same thing, tasing my name, rubbing something from the Worlds Above against his tongue and through his lips. The thought brings another shiver, but a shiver that makes my cheeks burn.

“Well, Arryn,” Rowan continues, “I think you should come with me. We’ve got tea and biscuits and, honestly, you’re gonna love my brother. Everyone does.”

My stomach makes an indelicate rumbling noise at the mention of biscuits.

“Fine,” I say.

If he’s going to kill me either way, I’d just as soon die after having tea and biscuits. I stumble forward, toward where I’m pretty sure Rowan was last standing. A hand closes around my arm, gripping me through the cloak, and my breath catches in my throat. He can see in the dark, then. Of course he can.

“Let me know if I’m about to trip,” I say, and I try to sound as haughty as possible.

“Heh. Of course, my lady.”

The sound of ice hitting my hood tells me we’ve left the barn behind, but we might as well be trapped at the bottom of a well for all I can see. I twist my hand around, grabbing Rowan's arm through the cloak.

“Rowan?” I ask, and my voice comes out trembling.

“Mmmmm?” he replies, not quite a word.

“What happened to that barn?”

He’s silent for a few moments, and then his answer drifts down out of the darkness.

“A monster,” he says.