Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Dahlia
She swallowed hard. The healer deserved the truth. “There are wanted posters in the town square with a likeness of myself down to the marks on my legs,” she choked out. “But they’re also looking for you. They’ve labeled you a traitor. I’m so sorry.”
Loshika blinked slowly before she became a flurry of motion. Lia watched helplessly as the giantess tossed the knitting into her bag and swung her packed bag onto her shoulder. “Then we must get away from this place.”
Guilt threatened to swallow Dahlia. She took a step away from the door. “You don’t have to run with us. Give us a five minute head start and then turn us in. I’m wanted for questioning, but they are seeking your life. Because of me,” she whispered, sick to her stomach.
Loshika moved across the room and grabbed Lia’s shoulders, giving her a little shake. “I’m not going anywhere. I meant my vows to you. We are family now, are we not?”
She nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. “We are.”
The giantess nodded and released Dahlia before stuffing a few candles in her bag. “Then it’s settled. Where you go, I go.”
Lia grabbed her brother’s bag and frowned when Loshika stuffed the rough-spun comforter into her bag.
The nonnae arched a brow. “Really? The innkeeper has been stealing from our wages ever since we started working here. I’m only reclaiming what he’s taken from us.”
Lia didn’t argue with her.
What right did she have when it came to morality? She’d murdered the king.
The room wavered, and she staggered to the door, trying to push out the pain.
Not now.
Lia leaned her forehead against the door and caught her breath.
Turn it off.
She imagined ice creeping through her veins until her body was numb.
Now she could function.
She cracked the door open just a sliver. No one was in the hallway. Lia swung the door open fully and stepped out into the hallway just as the innkeeper’s wife puffed up the stairs. Loshika hovered at Dahlia’s back as the innkeeper’s wife eyed them with a frown.
“Moving on?” she asked, her voice thin and annoyed.
“Yes, we are, ma’am,” Lia replied in a calm voice. “I thank you for your hospitality and the work.”
The giantess snorted. “It was not by my hand that you stayed here. Only because my sodding husband has a weakness for small vulnerable females. His eyes stray too much.” Her upper lip curled, showing her fangs.
“Be gone with you and never return.” She stepped aside, and they skirted past the grouchy giantess and jogged down the stairs.
The merry sounds of the inn reached them as they exited the servants’ stairs. Once again, they managed to avoid the attention of the innkeeper and made it to the scullery.
Cosmos stiffened when they entered but relaxed when he locked eyes on Lo. “What took you so long?” he asked as he pulled his rucksack off Dahlia’s shoulder, hardly sparing her a glance.
She knelt by a shelf that held pots and pans and fished out her own bag from beneath. She didn’t go anywhere without it these days.
“We unfortunately met with the innkeeper’s wife,” Loshika grumbled.
Lia crept to the door that led to the alley—when a large blue hand landed on her forearm. The healer nudged Dahlia out of the way gently.
“Let me go first,” she said softly.
The giantess opened the outer door and stepped into the alleyway.
Lia and Cosmos waited as she walked down the alley to the main road and then looked in both directions.
She waved them forward. The coast was clear.
Lia hugged her brother, fussed with his hood, and then stepped outside, Cosmos behind her.
Loshika tipped her head to the right. “The ice gatherers are leaving to trade. If we can get to their caravan, I’m sure they will take us. I don’t know which direction they’re going.”
“South and then east, I presume,” Lia murmured, eyes wandering the busy street as the sun sank low in the sky.
“And you know this how?”
Lia shrugged. “I listen.”
The healer gave her a hard look that said she knew about Dahlia’s late-night wanderings and didn’t approve.
“The question is if they will take humans,” Lia said, pursing her lips. “And what about Serenity?” She’d left the astrylle in the woods, only visiting once a week. The city was no place for the winged beastie. Plus, she garnered too much attention.
Loshika smiled, but it wasn’t kind. “They will if I ask nicely, but I don’t want it to come to that.
It will be easier if I pass you off as my children.
As for the astrylle, the caravan will be traveling through that part of the woods.
You can call her then. Now, follow me across the road. There are more alleys that way.”
Lia nodded and trailed after Loshika, crossing the busy road. They kept their steps slow and steady as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Her skin crawled as if everyone knew her secret. Hours seemed to pass as they made their way toward the ice merchants.
She lifted her head slightly as they neared the end of the road—when a ghost white horse rounded the corner. Lia froze as old memories from her childhood crashed over her.
Horses screaming.
Black eyes.
Her mum’s cries.
“Lia?” Cosmos murmured. He jostled her with his shoulder, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the horse and its rider.
A Haunt.
One of the king’s elite.
Not only that.
It was Flyka.
Lia began to shake at the sight of the warrior woman in white armor.
“Oh gods,” she whispered. Death was coming for her, and she had a feeling it would not be swift.
Run.
Loshika appeared on her right, blocking her from the street. “I see her, my lady. Stay to my left, and we’ll get you out. Keep calm. They are not here for us. I can hear many horses. It is part of the army. They’re on their way to the border. Grab her arm, Cos.”
Cosmos looped his arm with her left, and Loshika took her right. They managed to get Lia moving. It was as if she’d been disconnected from her body. She shook as Flyka’s harsh gaze passed over them. It was as if she could feel the warrior’s attention.
The sleds and merchants hovered near the tree line. They only had to make it that far.
The ring of hooves on cobbles cut through the din.
Dahlia lifted her head and glanced over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of a ghost.
Her legs crumpled beneath her, and only Cosmos and Loshika kept Lia upright. She gasped, not able to catch her breath. Her brother squeezed her arm as if begging her to stay silent.
It wasn’t possible.
Shiny indigo skin.
Black braids with silver trinkets.
Long tapered ears with onyx piercings. Lia reached up to touch her matching one and the mourning piercing she’d gotten in his honor. It twinged with pain.
She blinked hard at the mirage that sat regally atop a war horse with sharp teeth.
“Neve,” she whispered. Her husband. Her one secret love.
“Alive,” her mind screamed.
As if he heard her, his hard gaze turned their way, his silver armor flashing in the dwindling light.
Lia flinched, waiting for the order to seize them, but it never came. His attention just moved over them.
She swallowed back a cry and soaked in every strong line of his body and harsh cut of his face. He was terrifyingly beautiful.
He was alive.
“Keep moving,” Loshika practically growled.
Dahlia nodded her head and forced her feet to move forward, tearing her gaze from the only man she’d allowed herself to love.
They made it to the merchants, and Loshika procured them a ride.
He’d survived.
The monster that haunted her dreams were alive.
Run, his voice said.
A lone tear dripped down her cheek.
Dahlia did what he asked despite everything inside herself screaming to run toward him.