Chapter Twenty-Two
Dante
“Are we lost?” Ophelia asks. “Because it feels like we’re lost.”
“We’re not lost,” Grant mutters. He doesn’t sound annoyed, just confused. “We can’t be lost.”
We’re definitely lost. I turn in a circle, but all I see are pine trees in every direction, and even when I reach out with my magic, I can’t sense any familiar plants to help.
Not that they don’t want to; they all react eagerly to the little I can sense from them.
But they don’t know where we’re supposed to be either.
“I mean, I guess the witch did give us a shortcut,” Grant offers.
“You think she’d help us out again,” I reply.
We’ve been walking for much of the day. Ophelia brought a bag of supplies with her, so we’re not without water and some food, but it’s not going to last that long. I lean against a tree and sigh.
“We could head back?” Ophelia offers. I know how frustrated she is. All this way, to fall at the final hurdle? “At least Lark might be able to show us where to go now.”
Now that he’s crowned. Will Ophelia’s disappearance have been noticed? I suppose the fae might not care right this second. Tomorrow, maybe. Once it’s sunk in that their realm isn’t going to fall apart.
I glance up at the sky. The suns are still up, though they’re beginning to lower. Will I see more stars tonight?
“Try the mirror again,” Ophelia says.
I take it from my pocket, but try as I might, I can’t make it work.
More worryingly, neither can Grant nor Ophelia, and they’ve both got more magic than me.
I rub a hand over my tired face. Maybe I should have slept last night, but I can’t regret what Lark and I did.
It wasn’t just about the sex. He opened up to me, and we spent a lot of time after cleaning up just… talking.
My chest aches. I don’t know if it’s the bond or simple heartbreak. Probably a little of both. Not worth dwelling on right now, either way. We need to get out of here.
Grant lifts his head, expression determined. “This way,” he says, then strides off between the trees.
I exchange an amused glance with Ophelia before we both fall into step behind him.
“Thank fuck he’s more chill about this than Felix would be,” Ophelia mutters, and I swallow a laugh.
“Yeah, he’d have us climbing trees, looking for a way out.”
“Remember when he said he could drive us across Europe?”
“I remember him forcing me out of the car in the south of France because he didn’t want to ask for directions, even though he speaks French and I don’t.”
“And then he was so astonished when you got chased out of a field by that farmer!” Ophelia laughs, shaking her head.
“And what were you doing at the time, I wonder?”
“Enjoying the show.” She shakes her head. “He really came down to London?”
“Of course he did.”
We walk a few steps in silence. Grant doesn’t appear to be listening to either of us. He’s muttering to himself, mostly, face turning this way and that. I feel the ebb and flow of his magic as he tries to find the right path.
“I’m sorry,” Ophelia says suddenly.
“For what?”
“For the—For not telling you about the bond.”
I almost come up short, and that makes me stumble, but I catch myself quickly. “Why didn’t you?” It’s not that we don’t have secrets from each other, though off the top of my head I can’t imagine a single thing she doesn’t know about me. But something as important as this…
“It’s not done,” she says, then looks at me and sighs. “I can’t explain it. I wasn’t supposed to know. I can’t just see a bond, not unless I’m using my magic at the time. I mean, sometimes it’s obvious, but that doesn’t mean I can see the bond itself, just—”
“Fee.”
“Sorry. I just—it’s something wolf witches can do sometimes. But we don’t talk about it. Not ever. If my parents ever found out I’d seen a bond and then told someone about it?” She pales. “You get exiled from a pack for that.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
“No, but… You’re right. I didn’t know, like, when we first met Lark or anything like that. I saw it by accident a couple of years ago. And I figured, I dunno, that he’d make a move eventually. Or you would.”
“Fat chance of that.”
“Still. I don’t know. I tried not to think about it, but it’s been tricky the past few years, and I know how much you like him and I knew you were never going to make a move and—” She shakes her head. “I thought if I got you on the apps at the café, he might finally fucking say something.”
“Really?” My voice is dry.
“I didn’t know what else to do. It’s not like there’s anyone else to talk to about it. None of the witches from the packs in London can see bonds, or at least none I’ve managed to ask. Most of them aren’t wolf witches anyway. And I can’t—Can you imagine if I’d asked my dad?”
“You could have spoken to me. Not told me, but you could have said something. Or, Jesus, even Felix.”
“Felix would have called you immediately.”
“Not if you said it was serious and related to wolves. You know that.”
She glares at me for a moment, then sighs and looks away. “I know. I just… I wanted you to have your happy ending, too.”
“What about yours?”
“What?”
“I’m not actually an idiot. You and Oisin—”
“I don’t want to talk about that.”
“But you get to interfere in my life?”
She comes to a quick stop, and I’m not sure if she’s more astonished by my tone of voice or angry because she really doesn’t want to talk about Oisin.
I don’t really want her to. The further we get from the castle, the more everything hurts, and it might be better that things never worked out between me and Lark, like he said, because that would make things worse now, but all I feel is that we never got a chance to be together at all.
“I—” Ophelia’s expression crumples. “I didn’t know what to do,” she says. “I fucked up. I know I did.”
And she’s hurting too, of course. She’s been fucking kidnapped, and here I am, making this about me.
“Yeah, I—I’m sorry,” I mutter. “I am. I shouldn’t have—” My breath hitches and Ophelia hugs me faster than I expect. I wrap my arms around her and swallow my tears.
Now is not the time. I can dwell when I get home.
“We’ll find a way to get you back to him,” she says fiercely, leaning back to look in my face. “I mean it. We’ll get Drew on it.”
I sniff. “Drew?”
She shrugs. “He’s going to want Lark back too, you know. I think they’re friends, even if they don’t ever really talk to each other. And what Drew wants…”
I huff a faint laugh, my eyes still stinging. “Drew gets.”
“Hey, guys?” Grant comes stomping back over, and when he sees we’re hugging, he joins in. “So, I think we’re lost,” he mumbles into my shoulder.
“Um, okay?” Ophelia’s eyes are as red as mine feel, but there’s no sound of it in her voice.
“Best bet is probably to head back to the castle,” Grant says.
He detaches himself from the hug and steps back.
“I can keep us hidden. We’ll get to Lark and see if he knows a better way to get back through, or at least we can try scrying Cassian again.
I’m not quite sure how his magic works, but they must be able to move where the gateway lands, right? ”
I shrug. I don’t know.
“If that fails…” Grant shoves his hands into his pockets and chews on his lower lip contemplatively for a minute. “Yeah, if that doesn’t work, I’ll try to cut through the veil like he did. At least I can get to them and tell them to open the gate and come looking for you?”
Ophelia nods. I know she’s disappointed we won’t get back tonight, but there’s not much else we can do.
The suns are dipping even lower, and I don’t fancy tramping around these woods in the dark again.
I’ve no doubt that Grant can do a good job protecting us, but he’s got to be running on fumes too, right?
He leads us in the direction back to the castle, though I think if I nudged the plants, they’d show me the way. They seem excited by the direction we’re going, gently shaking their leaves when I glance at them.
“Is that… normal?” Ophelia asks.
I shrug. “For here. Not at home, obviously. I think you’d have noticed.”
She nods, but she still looks vaguely freaked out by the whole thing. I get it. I wonder if Lark and Oisin have bonded already, if the forest feels more alive or if that’s just my imagination.
It takes a few hours for us to traverse the trees—we didn’t head away in a direct straight line, it turns out—and when the town and the castle come into view, I let out a sigh of relief. Lark will be surprised to see us, for sure, but I’m certain he won’t turn us away. He wants us to get home.
I’ve got the worst headache, too. We can have a sit-down, maybe rest a little more before we head out again.
The wildflowers are faintly closing up now that the suns are down. The town seems livelier than it did when we arrived; voices rise and fall, and I hear music.
“Guess they’re celebrating the coronation,” Grant says. He tilts his head to one side. “There’s a lot of power in the centre of town. It didn’t feel like that before.”
“The oak?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Doesn’t matter. We’re going to have to be careful getting up there. Stick close. If we keep to the shadows, I can make them surround us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be seen.”
“Can we help?” Ophelia asks.
“If you find a chance to, feel free. But I can do this. I’ve done it before.”
We both nod and crowd a little closer to him as we cross the field. It’s not so bad out here; the revelry seems to be all up in the town, and when I gently probe with my magic, I can’t sense anyone else.
“We’ll be able to sneak back into the castle through one of the doors,” Grant whispers as we walk. “I found… a servants’ entrance, I guess. It’s a bit early, though. We’ll have to keep our eyes out for any fae.”
“It’ll be fine,” Ophelia replies. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Grant nod. I reach for the mirror in my pocket. Maybe it will work here? That would save us walking up there.
I want to see Lark again desperately. I just don’t know if I can let him go a second time.