Chapter 31
Chapter thirty-one
Bridget
The Elder Woods hadn’t changed.
Even in the daylight, the trees seemed to whisper.
Gnarled branches twisted toward the path like skeletal fingers.
Fog clung to the mossy undergrowth in loose, shifting veils that made the world look more like a memory than a place that actually existed.
Bridget’s horse stepped carefully over a half-rotted log, hooves crunching in the silence.
It felt exactly as eerie as she remembered. Only this time, it wasn’t just the past creeping in around the edges. It was the present, too.
Her thoughts circled Nylah, over and over.
Every few minutes, she checked over her shoulder, half-expecting to see her sister curled up on a blanket behind her or riding beside Cade or Finn with her chin tucked into his back.
But the saddle behind Bridget remained painfully empty.
And Finn—no, Vega—had taken her. The fact churned in her gut.
Especially since the potion Stellan had brewed for Nylah to keep her well had been left behind.
Another fact she couldn’t forget. The longer they took to find her, the sicker her sister would become.
Suddenly, the group of soldiers surrounding the king veered to the left in front of her, moving toward the old path they’d taken to Cavamyne months ago.
But not the path they needed to take now. Not if they were going to catch up with Finn slash Vega before she made it to Cavamyne.
“We’re going the wrong way,” Bridget said, her voice more breath than sound.
In her past life, she’d traveled to Cavamyne more times than she could count and she had always taken the same route.
A narrow, hidden path favored by thieves and smugglers slipping across the border unnoticed.
It had been perfect for who she was back then. And Vega had known that.
“Yeah, in the 15th century,” Cassia shot back. “I would think a bit of the landscape has changed since then.”
Despite her scathing words, Bridget didn’t flinch. She was too tired.
“I’ve gone this way before,” Archer said from beside her, still intent on following the guards ahead of them. “And it’s the way we took last time.”
Bridget didn’t have to look to know Cade was watching her. She could feel his eyes searing into her like he was trying to climb inside her thoughts and claw out every memory she was still refusing to share with him.
“Vega wouldn’t go this way,” she stated, ignoring the twist in her chest. “This path didn’t exist when we lived here. There’s another one, further east through a valley. It’s rougher, but you don’t have to cut over the mountain. She’ll go that way.”
The steady crunch of hooves filled the silence that followed, echoing against the gnarled trees of the Elder Woods. She could feel their doubt prickling around her. Castor arched a skeptical brow toward Cade.
But Cade didn’t say anything. He just looked at her, gaze heavy with something unreadable. Trust, maybe. Or worry.
Then came the soft click of his heels. His horse surged forward.
“I’ll ride up ahead and tell my father,” Cade said, already pulling ahead.
Bridget watched him disappear around a bend, past Stellan, who kept to the front of the group like a shadow that didn’t belong.
He looked stiff in the saddle. But she understood why he stuck with them.
In Finn’s body, Vega couldn’t risk blood magic to teleport herself or Nylah.
She was trapped in this realm, on foot. Which meant they could encounter her before they even arrived at Cavamyne.
Or maybe that’s just what she hoped.
“Trouble in paradise?” Archer muttered under his breath, but not quietly enough.
Delphine, Cassia, and Castor’s gazes all shot to her.
Bridget knew the tension between her and Cade was obvious to them.
She’d avoided being alone with him since they’d discovered Nylah missing.
If she hadn’t been so distracted by trying to solve the past and their bond, her sister would still be with her.
After a moment, Bridget admitted, “I tried to break up with him.”
Cassia practically almost fell off her horse. “What?” she stuttered.
“Why?” Delphine asked, brows furrowed. She trotted her horse closer to Bridget’s.
Bridget didn’t have to look up to know every head turned toward her. The tension between her and Cade had been impossible to miss.
Her stomach flopped. If she told them about the bond, Cade would know. And most likely, they wouldn’t understand why it was so imperative that it be broken. Without the past, she probably wouldn’t understand it herself.
“It’s not important right now,” she mumbled, shifting her gaze to where Cade and his father were locked in a tense conversation.
Their voices started to rise, drawing uneasy glances from the soldiers in front of them.
With a resigned sigh, Stellan spurred his horse forward, trotting up to join them.
After a moment, Deckard snarled something unintelligible and yanked his reins to veer off the main path, turning east.
Relief coursed through Bridget. At least now they were on the right course and had a chance of finding Vega and Nylah before they reached Cavamyne. She patted the potion bottles in her saddle bag just to reassure herself they were still there.
Lowering her voice, Bridget turned to Delphine. “How strong are you feeling?”
Delphine’s throat bobbed. “Does it matter? I’m going to have to get over my fear whether I like it or not, if the past few hours are any indication.”
“Good.” Bridget cast a quick glance at the others, who were distracted adjusting their course behind Cade and his father. Her voice dropped even further. “If we get close to Cavamyne and we still haven’t found them, I want you to jump me there first.”
Delphine blinked, hesitation rippling across her face as her hands tightened around her reins. Guilt settled in Bridget's chest. It wasn’t fair to ask. But if they didn’t find Vega first, then it would be the only way to ensure no one else walked into a trap.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Delphine asked.
“It’s me that my sister wants.”
She’d revealed too much to Vega in her dreams. She’d let her see just how much Nylah meant to her. And if anything was Vega’s specialty, it was using the people you loved against you.
Delphine’s gaze moved past Bridget. Her mouth twitched slightly as she looked at Cade, who was already riding back toward them. “He asked me the same thing, you know,” she said softly.
Bridget’s chest tightened. Of course he had. Cade always had a plan. He always tried to stay one step ahead. But this wasn’t something he could control. Not this time.
Clearing her throat, she said, “It has to be me.”
The words hung in the air just long enough to feel like a vow before silence fell between them. Cade returned to her side, his expression unreadable. Bridget gave him a half-hearted smile, then turned back toward the trail ahead.
As they moved closer to the valley, the trees thinned.
Their bark silvered and cracked, as if the land had been drained of life.
The path narrowed, turning rocky and uneven, forcing their horses to slow to a careful walk.
Gray smoke clung low across the ground like mist, curling between jagged stones and skeletal trees.
It didn’t smell like fire. It smelled like something older. Forgotten.
No birds sang here. No branches rustled. Even the wind seemed hesitant to enter the valley.
It was exactly as Bridget remembered.
Only worse.
It was completely lifeless. Drained of everything beautiful, but dangerous, about it since the Sanguis had infiltrated Cavamyne so many years ago.
They had just passed a marker she remembered, one that indicated the tavern was ahead, when Cade saddled up beside her.
To her luck, the search party had fallen into silence as they traveled.
For a long time, the only sound Bridget had heard was her own heartbeat, and the occasional barked order from Deckard.
All morning, she’d been able to ignore Cade’s imploring gaze. Until now. He was so close, his leg brushed against hers, stealing her breath. Lowering his voice, he said, “We never finished our conversation.”
Bridget tightened her grip on the reins. Her horse instinctively slowed, and Cade matched her pace as they drifted behind the others.
“Now’s not the time,” she said.
“I think it is.”
Bridget’s jaw clenched. “You don’t understand what she’s like, Cade. This isn’t going to end well, no matter what you think you have planned.”
He hadn’t grown up with her. Vega was cold. Vega was ruthless. She was everything Bridget dreaded facing. She’d managed to find a scrap of softness buried inside her. Once. But that had been years ago. She wasn’t sure if it existed anymore.
“Maybe I would understand,” Cade said, the frustration bleeding through his voice, “if you’d just tell me about her. Or whatever it is about the past that’s making you push me away.”
The words hit harder than she expected.
Before Bridget could force an answer past the knot in her throat, Stellan appeared beside them with a quiet pop of displaced air. His horse snorted in protest.
“Is everything alright?” he asked, glancing between the two of them.
Bridget pulled her eyes from Cade and forced a tight nod. “It's fine.”
Lie.
“It’s not, actually,” Cade said. “There’s something Bridget remembers that she doesn’t want to tell me and I think you know exactly what it is.”
Stellan blinked.
“That’s why you just showed up back here, isn’t it?” Cade pushed. “She’s asked you to keep it from me too.”
Stellan stiffened. Just slightly. But Bridget saw it.