Page 28

The prince glared between me and Solas as we took our seats, the small wooden chair creaking beneath my weight.

Chatter resumed around us and the stable hand placed steaming bowls of stew down in front of us with a shaky hand.

He would not dare to say anything about the destruction we caused to their tavern, though I would send someone to fix it once we returned to the castle.

We ate in silence, presumably so no one would trigger me.

My shadows clawed beneath my skin as the unsettled feeling in my chest grew uncomfortable.

Something was happening to Lyra.

Something I knew I would not like.

The storm broke sometime before dawn.

I had not slept a single moment, and I wouldn’t until Lyra was in my arms.

I opened the door to the tavern, stepping out into the crisp air.

Mildew and fresh air filled my lungs as rainwater dripped from the eaves above me in slow, hollow taps.

The sky above Lumireth was a washed-out grey, orange and pink glowing with the promise of sunrise.

It was the kind of beauty that made the world feel like it was holding its breath.

But all it did was remind me that more fucking time had passed.

My breath bloomed in front of my face with the heavy sigh I let out, the suffocating sadness creeping back into me that I had tried to burn out with anger.

After all these years, I had finally felt a glimpse of love just for it to be taken away.

It left the sort of debilitating hopelessness I had felt after the first time I had killed Maraveth.

My boots squelched against the ground, but my shadows tore into me mid-step.

They clawed through my chest, a vicious reminder of what waited at the end of this path.

Of what I was becoming.

I bared my teeth and forced them back. I would not die before I got to her.

“What is wrong with you?” Aldric said as he leant against the stone wall of the tavern, tucking his brown leather bag back over his shoulder.

I had not noticed him when I had walked out, and I wondered why he was not still asleep with the others.

“That seems like an impolite question to ask for a prince, does it not?” I said, keeping my eyes on the pressing clouds.

Vulnerability was a weakness. One I would not hand him.

“Fair,” Aldric said after a moment. “Though I am willing to bet you killed my father. Which would make me a king. Your equal.”

I did not respond, nor did I plan to, but he kept talking anyway.

Like a fly buzzing too close to something that could crush it without thought.

He did not seem as afraid of me as he should have been.

Annoyance prickled across my skin, making my teeth ache with the urge to tear through flesh.