Chapter 7
OFFER US LUCK, OR I’LL BITE YOUR NIPPLE OFF
Seryn
Arush of life-giving air filled my lungs. My body arched, every muscle shuddering, heels digging into the cold ground. Our khorda bond trembled, stretched taut, and then went blessedly slack.
I crumbled back to the earth, gulping down another breath. The taste was metallic, like a mouthful of coins. My throat burned with it, and my vision swam with fractured light.
“Ryn-Ryn!” Breena’s voice cracked through the haze, sharp and furious.
I blinked at her scowling face hovering over mine, every line of her expression carved with worry she’d deny to her dying day. “If ya gi’ me a scare like that a’gen, Ryn-Ryn, I’ll kill ya.”
Her accent alone almost made me laugh. Almost.
It always thickened when she was feeling big things.
Shakily, I sat up, ribs aching. She grabbed my arms, holding me steady. “Ancient’s taint,” she huffed. “You went limp like a corpse. I thought—”
I pressed my palm over her hand. “I know. Sorry.”
Her nostrils flared. “Sorry? Bloody sorry?” She shook me off, muttering under her breath as she scrubbed a hand through her dark hair. “You’re a fecking menace.”
She was more rattled than I’d ever seen her. But when I reached for her again, she let me wrap my arms around her. She huffed into my messy curls and hugged me before helping me stand. She kept her grip on my waist as my legs wobbled.
“Our … Gavrel was in some sort of trouble.” The words shook something loose in me that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding back. A sharp ache behind my sternum, an echo of his pain still lodged in my ribs.
Breena’s thumb traced an idle circle against my waist. “By the looks of ya, I’d say he’s all right now. Do you feel anything?” She tapped the spot above my heart.
I closed my eyes, searching inward, following the golden tether that had become my compass. It glimmered faintly and hummed against my bones. His presence was like a phantom at the other end of a long, unseen corridor. I could’ve sworn I smelled grymwood and leather—his scent.
I sighed. “Yes. He’s alive.”
She slipped her arm around my shoulders. “Brilliant. Let’s find a place to get some shut-eye. Maybe not get eaten on the way.”
That earned her a nervous laugh from me, and she grinned in return.
We stumbled along the riverbank, the current splashing orange-red and reflecting the inverted sky, the dark moon a splintered stain on its surface.
Mist curled over the water, thick and low. Each breath seemed weighted, like inhaling smog. My skin prickled. The trees beyond leaned, their pale limbs swaying without wind, as though they were watching us.
“Don’t look at ’em too long,” Breena muttered, glancing over her shoulder. “You’ll start seeing faces.”
“Comforting.”
“Wasn’t trying to be.”
We walked for what felt like hours, but it hadn’t been nearly that long. Time was sluggish and sharp all at once. My limbs grew heavier, and Breena limped slightly, favoring her left side, but she didn’t complain. She never did. Maybe she would if she were dying.
“Tyche’s tit,” Breena groused. “I swear if that celestial wench doesn’t give us a lick of luck soon, I’ll bite her nipple off and feed it to the Nether fish.”
I winced, snorting a half-laugh despite myself. “That’s a very specific image.”
“Motivation. Ancients like gratitude, right? Maybe they’ll take fear instead.”
“Or pity.”
“I’d take that myself.”
Nearby, something rustled, a slithering sound like vines dragging through damp leaves. Both of us froze. The sound came again, closer this time. My pulse stuttered.
“Don’t,” Breena whispered.
I had already drawn my dagger.
The movement came from the tree line—a squat shape, its outline shivering as if it were trying to decide what form to take. A cluster of glowing eyes blinked open across its surface, too many of them to count. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it receded, melting back into the dark.
We stood there, barely breathing.
“I really hate this place,” Breena complained.
“Same.”
We didn’t speak again until we saw the hollow ahead. It was a shallow cave half-hidden by black reeds and dark, hanging vines.
I pointed. “Over there.”
She squinted, mouth curling. “Maybe Tyche finally felt bad for us. I take it back!” she shouted her apology to the sky.
“She heard you threaten her nipple, most likely.”
“Effective, though, wasn’t it?”
Our laughter echoed strangely, swallowed too fast by the small, damp cave. Beads of glowing fungi lined the walls, casting a ghostly light. A few jagged stones jutted up from the ground, slick with some oily residue that smelled like rotting fruit.
I scanned the shadows with narrowed eyes, senses straining. The hum of mine and Gavrel’s connection flickered again, brushing static along my veins. For an instant, warmth filled my chest, and I felt his breath against my ear, the weight of his hand against the place between my breasts.
Stay alive.
I gasped, but the warmth faded, leaving only my pounding heart.
Breena’s eyebrow cocked. “You okay?”
“Just … felt something.”
“Don’t go swooning again. I can only haul ya so far before I leave ya for the trees.”
I gave a weak laugh. “Understood.”
We collapsed near the back wall, our arms propped beneath our heads. The cave’s glow painted my friend in a pale blue radiance, sharpening her cheekbones and softening the rest.
“Sleep,” she ordered. “Before something decides we’re tasty.”
I tried. Ancients, I tried. But my thoughts were a storm cloud. Every time my eyes drifted closed, the void pressed closer, whispering half-formed dreams of drowning in black water.
Somewhere in the darkness, a droplet fell. The sound rippled through the cave.
Plink.
Plink.
Plink.
I focused on the metronomic rhythm.
And I listened to my heartbeat and its echo. Gavrel’s pulse synced with mine for three beats. The warmth of his hand ghosted over my shoulder.
Tears stung my eyes. I turned my head toward Breena. She was already snoring, with one dagger clutched loosely against her chest. I smiled.
The air grew thick, shadows blanketed us, and my eyelids grew heavy.
Before sleep took me, I whispered a prayer—not to Tyche, but to whoever still listened in this Ancient-forsaken place. “Keep him safe.”
The shadows deepened, and my pulse steadied. For the first time since we’d fallen through the portal, I let myself drift into the fragile quiet between dreams.
And somewhere, far beyond the dark, my heart beat in time with his.