Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
Kaius
Even in the quiet, even in the hush of leaves above and the illusion of stillness, the Blackwood breathes. Its lungs are long-rotted, but patient. It watches from between the trees with eyes made of shadow.
Adelasia shifts beside me in the makeshift bedding we’ve fashioned from padded moss. As I told Rowan, she’s always been restless in sleep, but this is different. Her brow furrows and smooths again, lips moving like she’s arguing with something in her dreams.
Or someone. Most likely Rowan or myself, if I had to guess.
I reach out, touch the curve of her wrist where it rests against her chest. Even in sleep, her magic pulses faintly beneath her skin, a living heartbeat under the surface.
I glance at Rowan. He hasn’t slept in days, and I can see where the lack of…feeding is weighing on him.
He sits with his back against a twisted root, his head tilted back, silver eyes reflecting the fire’s embers. The veins in his throat have darkened, and his jaw’s clenched just tightly enough to betray his exhaustion. He’s hiding it—barely—but I see it now. He’s weak.
But then he glances my way, and that damned smirk curls at the edge of his mouth. It’s not mocking tonight. It’s tired. Hollow. Knowing.
Like he sees straight through me.
And maybe he does.
I lie back against the hard ground, staring up at the crooked canopy above; black, gnarled limbs stretching across the sky like scars.
The Well is calling her again. I can feel it in my bones.
But the three of us? We’re not strong enough to face it.