30. Chace
The bells at the palace wall entrance chimed.
At the urging of the clanging song, several guards dashed to their posts and cracked the gears, swinging the gate open. No sooner was the path unobstructed than the glorified, gilded wagon crossed the boundary and progressed onto the citadel streets.
The carriage rolled past my location, carrying with it the scent I had been tracking―Earl. I jumped free from my hiding place and followed.
Too many days had passed since I’d located Earl in a warehouse filled with other afflicteds. Too many days since I’d lost sight of him when the Killian had accosted Raven.
Since that day, I hadn’t seen Raven nor talked to Winter. I’d received no updates on her condition, be it by crow or other means.
Although…earlier this morning, I spotted a large raven and a few crows tracking my movements. To my disappointment, none of the birds had delivered correspondence from Raven.
As for Earl, when I returned to the task of tracking, I followed the man’s scent to the palace compound where I couldn’t go…yet. I’d been circling the compound for days since, waiting and watching for anything that might lead me to Earl’s location. Anything.
The carriage rolling down the street was that anything. Earl’s thick scent wafted from the windows, slightly different, but still definitely Earl’s. Racing across rooftops, I followed the carriage straight to the Bridge Crossings Pub.
From my vantage point, I was unable to distinguish the carriage passengers or who exited at the pub stop.
By the time I jumped from a nearby rooftop and crossed the street, the wagon stood empty, and the travelers had gone inside Aoes’s establishment.
Roars and hollers leaped through the still-closing front door.
The transit was royal, and I was still a wanted man. Possibly more so after the incident with Raven and the warehouse full of afflicteds. The unwise move would be to follow Earl’s scent and storm straight through the door.
At least, that was my thought…until I heard her.
In a heartbeat, I crossed the distance and slipped into the cheer of the awaiting pub.
Aoes hollered, “Free drinks for everyone,” while Winter laughed and clapped his friend on the back.
Both males hugged Earl. A healthy, cured Earl.
If Earl was no longer afflicted, that only meant…
My searching gaze swept over the crowd, who danced and yipped with elation. Raven had to be here. I’d heard her name called and caught her voiced response. But where was…
The door to the toilet room opened, and out she stepped. Sweat dappled her brow, the hair around her face looked matted, cheek still bruised, hands bandaged, and her skin a sickly pale. She looked… Shit…she looked wholly unwell.
Her gaze locked on me, and her face lit up with a smile. Then she stumbled sideways, catching herself against a nearby table.
I shot forward, weaving through the crowd as if the patrons were nothing but wind. Stepping to her side, I grabbed her arm, adding my support, at almost the same moment Winter appeared on her other side.
Winter and I sneered at each other, Raven shrinking and swaying between us.
Her body, either too exhausted or making a choice, finally stilled and leaned into my chest. I wrapped a protective arm around her, holding her to me. With a scowl, Winter averted his gaze, his jaw tense, a muscle twitching.
I dipped my gaze to her. Her eyes were closed, and her body rose and fell with labored breaths. Needing to feel her presence more than I already could, I trailed my fingers over the curve of her cheek from her ear to her chin. Her eyes fluttered but didn’t open.
“She’s in no condition to be out like this.” That truth roared through me like a starved beast, and yet I spoke with a quiet calm.
“She is not a bird in a cage.” Winter turned back to me, his steely-blue glare full of knowing and challenge. “She chooses where to fly.”
The tendons in my neck pulled taut at the sound of my words to Raven slipping off Winter’s tongue. If the prince didn’t watch his step, I would pound the icy prick into snowy slush.
“She’s clearly in no condition to fly anywhere.” The memory of how she felt in my arms after I’d scooped her from the warehouse floor rushed back to me. Something hard and ungiving clamped down on my chest, wrapped like ice around my heart. “The warehouse was days ago. Has she not yet healed?”
Winter’s gaze dropped to Raven, and his expression softened.
“She was healing. I saw to it that she got plenty of rest,” he said, his voice soft, thoughtful.
Winter’s tenderness infuriated me further.
“Your suspicion is false. Her current condition has less to do with the warehouse and has been more heavily affected by events from earlier today.”
My fingers hovered a breath from Raven’s cheek as rage climbed through my chest at her drained condition. “What happened earlier today?”
Raven swayed as if to push away, but I tightened my grip, holding her to my side.
For her safety, I told myself, but I selfishly wanted her flesh pressed to mine. I needed to protect her. Needed to feel her alive in my arms.
Winter’s hand fluttered in the air as if he were winding the gears in his head to access speech and thought. But before he could pull a word forth, Earl bellied up to the confrontation.
“She bloody healed me this morning. That’s what happened.
I didn’t…” Earl raked over Raven with a sorrowful peer.
“Jobby. I didn’t realize the toll it would take on her.
She was already fragile and bloody exhausted before we began, but in my riddy bogged state, before now…
I was a wee tadger. Didn’t comprehend what her condition meant or how it might factor in at the end. ”
Aoes slipped in at Earl’s side and dropped a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Not your fault.”
“Oh. Kay.” I snapped my attention back to Winter. “Clearly she’s not well and shouldn’t be out of bed.”
“I couldn’t deny her this.” Winter threw his arms wide as if presenting the pub. “The reward for her hard work, Earl’s healing.”
I leaned in, bared my teeth, and lowered my voice. “It’s not safe for her out here. Beyond the palace walls. I told you that.”
“That’s why I’m here.” A smug smirk popped onto the prince’s lips. “To keep her safe.”
And clearly doing a piss-poor job at it.
“I’m not impressed with your efforts. I’ll be taking over from here.”
Winter stepped into my space, his muscles flexed and tight. “You think you can do a better job than me?”
An icy wind swirled to life around us, rising off the floor and creating a thin veil of white between us and everyone else.
I countered with a forward step of my own. “I’m quite sure I can.”
Dust born of darkness dropped out of nowhere, crashed into Winter’s magic whirlwind, and slammed it to the ground, leaving nothing but melting snow particles.
We stared and snarled; two opposing predators ready to pounce at any moment.
“Guys.” Raven’s voice cut through the chaotic static humming in my head.
Pulling away from my side, she stepped between us, placed a hand to each of our chests, and gently pushed us apart. At the soft press of her hand, my reaper’s magic evaporated.
“Let’s cut the territory bull. I can make my own decisions. I knew healing Earl would exact a toll, but I wanted to do it, so I did. I shall now deal with the consequences.”
She grabbed Earl’s shoulders and squeezed. “I’m so happy I was able to help.”
Earl tipped his head forward, and Raven did the same, pressing her forehead to his. She gave him a soft pat on the cheek, then pulled away and pushed free of the group. Leaving me, Winter, Earl, and Aoes ogling at her back, Raven made her way across the pub, angling for the bar.
“She should be in bed,” I mumbled.
“Definitely.” Aoes nodded and turned toward Winter. “You shouldn’t have let her come.”
Winter worked his tense jaw, but before he could respond, a crash boomed through the pub.
I sprang into action before I even processed what had happened.
Raven had collapsed, crumpled on the floor, and I needed to get to her.
My mind raced through an endless supply of scenarios—the causes and possible cures for her current state—and I came up empty.
Frost swept through my soul, helplessness igniting in every cell of my body.
Gathering Raven to me, I lifted her in my arms and made way for a room and bed on the upper floor.
I pressed my lips to the top of her head and whispered, “We’ll figure this out. Get you better.”
“Lucas told me not to come,” she said, her voice weak and garbled.
Lucas? Who the reaping hell was Lucas?
“She needs a healer.” I shifted, glancing back at Winter, Aoes, and Earl.
They stared after me with expressions projecting concern and sorrow. I wouldn’t give their doubts any leverage. Not long ago, I had been injured and worn, and I had pulled through. I’d been helped by…
“The girl,” I blurted. “The healer girl. We need her here now.”
“Kira?” Aoes blinked. “Yeah, she could—”
“Camilla’s youngin?” Earl questioned, talking over Aoes.
Winter stepped forward and commanded everyone’s attention. “I assume retrieval is tasked to me. I’ll have her here as quickly as possible.”
He pivoted and strode for the door.
I called after him, “When you get back with the girl, after Raven has been attended to, you’ll show me where you left that glove.”
Winter whirled around. “I dropped it on the table right in front of you. Are you saying you lost it?”
“I didn’t lose it,” I snapped. “You did.”
Winter snarled, then marched from the pub without another word.
I didn’t linger to judge Aoes and Earl’s reactions. Nor did I allow myself to entertain how satisfying I found Winter’s absence. I needed the prince to return quickly, with the child healer in tow.