Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
W e didn’t speak as we made our way back through the woods and mounted Kaden’s horse. We rode until golden threads of dusk shone through the trees and my ass was completely numb.
All the while, I kept replaying his story in my head, watching my mother through his eyes. It was so strange to think of Kaden standing outside my childhood home, watching the younger version of me play in the yard.
Had he planned on coming for me, even then? Or had he forgotten about me for sixteen years until I’d attracted his father’s attention?
That was one question I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
The part he’d played in my mother’s death must have been what he and Sorsha had been arguing about when I’d overheard them fighting at Cragsmuir.
Kaden hadn’t wanted to tell me the truth. Or he’d thought the truth wouldn’t matter. But it did.
While my mother’s murder had been violent and unjust, she’d been at peace when she died.
She hadn’t been tortured and used by the demon king.
She’d passed on to the Otherworld and found solace in the Valley of Light, where her magic would live forever as part of the land — if we managed to stop the Ravaging.
Though the demon prince could never undo what he’d done, that knowledge was a small comfort.
When we reached the shadow of a quiet canyon, Kaden announced that we’d stop and make camp. I understood at once why he’d chosen this spot.
A small stream wound through the tall ravine.
On one side was a grassy clearing sheltered by tall trees.
On the other, a steep embankment. Camping beside the stream with the hill rising sharply at our backs meant that it would be more difficult for anyone or anything to sneak up on us during the night.
As Sorsha went to water the horses, I opened our rucksacks and started sorting through what remained of our food. I found a handful of potatoes and one shriveled carrot.
I sighed. If we wanted to go to bed with full bellies tonight, it looked as though someone would need to hunt.
“Don’t touch me,” Sorsha snapped at Adriel, who was setting up snares along the bank.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, princess,” the royal guard rumbled, somehow managing to make her title sound like an insult.
“You just did.”
“No, I di?—”
A bloodcurdling scream cut off his reply, and I jerked my head up in time to see a flash of brilliant golden hair as Sorsha was yanked to the ground.
I leapt to my feet, sending the potatoes rolling. The princess shrieked, arms flailing, but a monstrous force I could not see was dragging her along the bank.
Half a heartbeat later, I was moving, unsheathing my daggers as I ran. I glimpsed Sorsha’s terrified face as she dug her fingernails into the dirt, trying and failing to stop her momentum.
A thunderous crunch broke through her screams, and another figure appeared in my periphery.
“No!” Kaden shouted, his body little more than a blur as he raced for his sister.
Something huge and dark swung toward me, and I threw myself to the ground without thinking. The impact stole the air from my lungs an instant before a giant tree root flung itself over me, the end thrashing like a whip.
Another crunch of roots ripping free from the earth, and a second one lashed at my ankle. A spike of white-hot pain flared through me, but I moved before the thing could twist itself around my leg.
The trees were trying to kill us.
The realization clanged through me just as a third root tore itself from the soil, smashing into Adriel’s chest. The royal guard went flying, landing in the stream. Dirt flew as another ripped free, nearly decapitating Kaden as he chased after his sister.
Sorsha’s golden head had disappeared from view, but I kept army-crawling across the clearing, waiting for the next attack.
Just then, the hollow at the base of an enormous yew tree yawned, crackling with rock and loose dirt. A black hole opened in the earth, the roots dragging Sorsha toward it like a ravenous ocean beast.
The princess screamed and thrashed as more roots uncoiled, wrapping around her ankles and wrists. They forced her arms behind her back, rendering her completely helpless. Blood ran down her cheeks as she was dragged over dirt and rocks, but still the princess fought.
I was so focused on reaching Sorsha that I didn’t register the giant root flying toward me. It whipped across my neck with such speed and power that it took my feet out from under me.
I hit the ground hard, my body trembling as I struggled to draw breath through my injured windpipe.
An uneven rasp rattled from my throat as I clumsily regained my footing. Kaden and Adriel were already waging war against the tree, hacking at the roots with their swords.
But it was no use. The tree was hundreds, if not thousands, of years old, with roots as thick as my waist.
Abandoning his sword, Adriel flung himself to the ground and grabbed hold of Sorsha’s wrists.
The princess’s terrified gaze locked on his, those turquoise eyes shimmering with unshed tears.
Still struggling to breathe, I lurched forward, but another root flew out of nowhere and smacked me so hard I saw stars. I staggered back, elbows smarting as they hit the ground, and the roar of fury that echoed through the canyon told me Kaden had met a similar end.
A rush of dark magic fanned out across the clearing, humming over my skin with a vicious wrath that sent a shudder through my whole body. My teeth rattled in my skull, and every hair stood on end as those magnificent shadows blanketed the ravine.
I ducked my head, horrified and enthralled, as wave after wave of that ominous magic spread up the sides of the canyon. It was pure power and destruction — strong enough to obliterate everything in its wake.
When I looked up, I saw that Kaden’s shadows had wrapped themselves around the tree.
The branches shuddered, dropping great swaths of leaves, and I watched in stunned amazement as the bark grew gray and brittle. Lifeless.
Seasons seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Great chunks of wood fell away as the tree desiccated before my eyes.
And then those ominous shadows were gone, dissipating like morning mist burned away by the sun. A chill breeze whipped across the canyon, and I turned to see Kaden staring up at the tree, a steely vengeance blazing in his eyes.
Sorsha was lying facedown in the dirt, her body half submerged in the earth.
Shaking off the dizziness that still rattled my skull, I stumbled toward the dark chasm between the roots. I dropped to my knees beside the princess, carefully turning her over.
Scratches marred her beautiful face, and her clothing was torn and dirty. Dirt caked her golden hair and the skin beneath her fingernails.
Sorsha’s eyelids fluttered as I moved her, but she didn’t open them.
A second later, a sopping-wet Adriel appeared beside me, staring down at the princess with a stony expression.
“Sorsha,” I rasped, giving her shoulders a gentle shake.
Come on . . .
With what seemed like great effort, Sorsha peeled her eyes open. She groaned and raised a hand to her head, hissing when the movement pulled at the gash along her wrist.
“Fucking tree,” she croaked, gingerly feeling her swollen cheek, where another laceration was dripping blood into the delicate curve of her nose.
Then her gaze drifted over my shoulder, and her face went slack with horror. “No!”
My heart gave a jolt as I whipped around, my body instantly on alert. But there wasn’t an enemy in sight.
Kaden lay sprawled on the ground, his limbs stiff and shaking.
I scrambled through the dirt to reach him, fresh panic welling in my chest. I grabbed hold of his arm and hissed. His skin was cold as ice, and his eyes . . .
His eyes were not the stormy silver-gray that haunted my dreams. No. The whites of his eyes had vanished completely, consumed by shimmering black pools.
“Kaden?” I choked, tightening my grip on his arm.
He blinked, but I couldn’t tell if he recognized me. Those beetle-black eyes were utterly expressionless.
Then his head jerked back, exposing the long column of his throat. His brows knitted together as he let out an anguished cry, beads of sweat dotting his forehead as he dug his nails into the dirt.
“What’s the matter with him?” I demanded, looking to the others for help.
The royal guard’s expression was grim, and Sorsha looked close to tears.
“I-I don’t know,” she stammered.
Maybe she’d never seen him like this. I certainly hadn’t. I’d always thought the silver irises were a trait he’d inherited from his mother, but perhaps it was only a glamour that allowed him to keep the demon black of his eyes at bay.
One thing was certain: Kaden was no longer in control.
Another howl of pain echoed through the ravine as his chest heaved toward the sky. His muscles clenched as he clawed at the soil, fighting whatever held him in its thrall.
“Kaden!” I yelled, giving him a hard shake.
Those horrible black eyes flew open again, darting back and forth. It was as if he were having some sort of fit, though I sensed that he could hear me.
I glanced over at the desiccated tree, which stood like so many that had been destroyed in the Ravaging.
Dead. Lifeless. Drained of its magic.
I’d seen that dark power wrap around the tree — felt it hum over my skin. It was his magic. His power.
Had he used too much?
My heart was hammering behind my ribs, and I couldn’t seem to draw a full breath. Kaden was the demon prince. He was wicked and deceitful. I was supposed to hate him, and yet . . . I was scared for him.
That realization had a sobering effect, and something inside me settled.
A beefy shoulder shoved me to the side, and Adriel hovered over the prince.
“He’s still in there,” he rumbled, his gold-and-green eyes roving over Kaden. “He’s fighting it.”
“Fighting what?” I demanded.