Chapter 35
Enid
Iran as fast as my legs could carry me. I had no destination in mind. I just knew that I needed to get as far away from Nevan as possible before he said something he couldn’t take back. Because if I was right and he was about to profess his love for me, I wouldn’t survive it.
I’d crumble and sink into that love, even though it could only ever end in heartbreak. I wasn’t destined to be loved by anyone. The only man who knew my true identity had spent years sleeping with me, but he didn’t love me. I wasn’t even sure Ambrose liked me. He liked my body.
Nevan might have thought he loved me, but you couldn’t love someone you didn’t truly know, and Nevan definitely didn’t know me. That was what made this all so painful. I couldn’t even tell him the truth of why I was rejecting him, why I was ending things.
I hadn’t planned that outburst tonight, but his family had made me so angry.
Couldn’t they see how they were suffocating him?
Couldn’t they see all he’d sacrificed for them?
They took him for granted, and I couldn’t stand it.
But when I was saying all those words, giving my impassioned speech, Nevan’s mother had been staring at me with this soft look on her face I hadn’t expected.
Not anger or judgment . . . but approval. I hadn’t realized how much I’d wanted that approval until I had it—and then I knew.
I loved him. Of course I did. How could I not love a man so kind, so brilliant, so stunning? And it broke my heart. This was never supposed to happen, so I needed to end it.
I’d hoped he wouldn’t chase after me, but I knew in my heart that he loved me too. The thought made my bones turn leaden.
“Enid!” Nevan called from behind me. “Please wait!”
I ran faster, boots sinking into the wet land and slowing me. I yanked my foot up when it plunged into a deep muddy spot, then glanced behind me, not seeing Nevan anywhere.
I stopped, straightening as dread curled around my spine. He’d disappeared into thin air.
My body went cold. “Nevan?” I called.
No response.
“Nevan if you’re out there, say something, please,” I said, hearing the panic in my voice.
Nothing.
Nevan wouldn’t trick me. He’d never play games and pretend to be hurt just to lure me back to him, which meant something must have happened to him.
A thought struck me: maybe those damn humans were back again and had hurt him or taken him for some reason, thinking he was connected to me.
I walked back toward where I last saw him, then broke into a run, panic filling me.
“Nevan!” I yelled again and heard the faintest rustling sound.
I stopped and whipped around to face the direction the sound had come from. It was silent again, the only noise crickets and the faint swish of cattails and reeds in the breeze.
A strangled gurgle came from somewhere in front of me. I lurched forward, panic now completely seizing me.
Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Moonlight dimly lit the bog, and I had to strain to see in the dark.
I wished Vine were here. It could find Nevan.
It could slither about and navigate this damp land much easier than I could.
I took another step forward, glass crunching underfoot.
I froze, then slowly lifted my boot to reveal Nevan’s spectacles now crushed against the thick sole.
My blood turned to ice. “Nevan!” I screamed.
That same gurgling sound responded, and this time, I was close enough that I could pick up on where it had come from. I took a few more steps forward as my boot sank into the mud, stuck.
I cursed, not having time for this, but when I tried to pull my foot up, it wouldn’t give.
A mud pit. I’d gotten trapped in enough of these to know exactly what to do.
I wasted no time, bending over to untie the laces of my boot and free my foot. I scrambled backward and watched as the mud devoured my boot. But that was the least of my worries.
My gaze caught on a slash of pale skin. A hand. A single hand sticking out of the mud.
“Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.” I lurched forward but stopped myself before I got sucked into the mud again.
Nevan. Nevan had stepped right into that mud pit trying to chase me, trying to tell me he loved me.
This was all my fault, and if he died, I’d never forgive myself.
My hands clenched into fists. No.
I wouldn’t let him die. I looked down at the amulet hanging from my neck. It had been so, so long since I’d used my magic, but if there was any time it would be worth it, it was now. Using it wouldn’t drain all my magic, but even if it did, I didn’t care.
All I cared about was saving Nevan. I would give up all the magic in the world to save him.
I stretched out my arm, that familiar zing that made me feel so alive shooting through my blood.
I’d always thought this must be how humans felt when they talked about adrenaline rushes—something I never experienced unless I used my magic .
. . until I’d met Nevan. Every time his eyes turned dark and heated, I felt that same zing my magic gave me, my whole body thrumming with it.
Every time his ears turned red, I felt it.
Every time he smiled or laughed, I felt it.
Every time he grabbed my hand, I felt it.
It was Nevan. Everything about this man made me feel alive for the first time in centuries.
I swallowed thickly as I pointed my hands at the mud and commanded my magic toward it.
Sparkling green swirls careened in the mud’s direction, tunneling into it and forming a funnel.
I twisted my hands, and the mud slowly traveled up the funnel until it looked like a tornado of green and brown swirling in circles.
Slowly the mud traveled upward from the pit, sucked into the tornado. It revealed more and more of Nevan’s arm, his head, his neck, until I could see the entire upper half of his body. His eyes were caked closed, his form limp and motionless.
I shoved both hands to the side, and the tornado flew away from the mud pit and over the bog, dissipating as the heavy mud fell with a splat.
“Nevan!” My legs were wobbly and my head was throbbing from that small use of my powers.
Spots dotted my vision, and I blinked until they disappeared. I hadn’t even used that much magic, but I supposed that was what happened when you barely touched your powers. It was like exercising. You lost the strength and stamina you’d built up.
Despite my weakness, I had to get to Nevan, to pull him out and to know he was okay.
I crawled forward into the mud. I’d removed enough water with my tornado that it was no longer like a vortex, sucking us in, but it was still sticky and hard to navigate with my weakened muscles.
The spots returned to my vision, making Nevan a blurry mess, but I finally reached him. I looped my arms under his armpits and heaved him up, using all my strength. He hardly moved. If he was awake and conscious, he could possibly get himself out, but I wasn’t strong enough to pull him.
I let out a sob of frustration and pounded a fist on the mud.
“Nevan,” I croaked. “Nevan, you have to wake up.”
My vision went sideways, and I fell to my side, head lolling as I clung desperately to consciousness.
“Nevan,” I said again as my vision blurred. “I’m so sorry for failing you.”
And that was the last thing I remembered before I fell into darkness.