Chapter Thirty-Two
Fallyn
“Idon’t understand.” I shook my head, blinking my eyes and willing the paper out of reality.
Stubbornly, it remained in my hands. In this depiction of me, my lips twisted upwards into a cruel, smug smile.
A smile I’d never made in my existence. I hastily pulled my cowl up over my head and tried to disappear into it.
Why in all the realms would anyone, much less the king, think I had something to do with the chasms?
I was betrothed to his son when the attacks happened.
How did he even know I didn’t perish in the attack?
That was supposed to be the only silver lining in this completely fucked up scenario.
I was free from him. Beyond that, the chasms aren't new.
They've plagued the realm for far longer than I've been alive, so how could anyone believe they were my doing? “You can’t possibly believe I had anything to do with the chasms? How could a mortal open such a thing?”
The woman didn’t respond.
“She lost everything because of the monsters in those chasms!” Ash hissed, stepping up to tower over me, protecting me from my back. “You’re wrong about her.”
The woman’s eyes flared, the first real thing I’d seen crack the mask of her face. “That’s why I’m telling you to run. Before anyone else notices. And stay off the roads. Guards have been looking for you everywhere.”
Ash blinked, clearly not expecting help. Our canteens were full, even if our bellies weren’t. I sighed, wishing for a bath to soak the aches and pains away, a hot meal that I didn’t have to watch Ash skin, and a soft bed. And guards not looking for us.
Ash and I left the town behind us as quickly as we’d come across it, this time keeping off the road and to the trees and ditches that lined it, able to conceal ourselves at a moment’s notice.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re wanted?” Ash asked me with the town long behind us. What struck me wasn’t his question, but the neutral tone of it. The sidelong glance he gave wasn’t one of accusation, but genuine curiosity. “Or do I have to guess?”
“I’m not sure,” I whispered. “But think it’s revenge.”
“Revenge? On you? For what, a sharp word?” Ash’s eyes shone with a light humor that died when my face didn’t lift. “What happened, shadow? Don’t tell me that a sweet thing like you had skeletons in her closet?”
“You think I’m sweet?” I’d been horrible to him.
I’d had a knife to his throat, I’d threatened him.
I’d had my hackles up this entire time with him.
This might have been the first time I’d been genuinely relaxed with him, and that was only because something else threatened me more than he did.
The royal family is actually trying to pin the chasms on me, on my magic.
God cursed. They'd called me god cursed. My eyes flicked to Ash wondering how much more afraidthey'd be if they'd witnessed what he was capable of.
“I think you have a duality to you that I find fascinating.” Ash’s confession rolled off his tongue so easily, I scoured it for a punchline. “Are you going to tell me about the criminal I’m walking around with, or do I have to pry it from you?”
I turned to him in alarm, only to see his teasing grin appear in place of his usual scowl. His face was much softer, more relaxed than I’d seen before. He looked almost—open. Like a door with a thousand locks was suddenly down to a single one and I had the final key.
I sighed. “You’ve been under a spell a while. What do you know of the royal family of Inithilia?”
Ash didn’t scoff, not quite. But the sound he made in his throat was one of distaste, nonetheless. “I remember Kodiak the Second. A self-righteous prick, if there ever were one, but his son was a menace as I recall.”
A menace, indeed.
“King Kodiak the Third reigns currently,” I told him. I watched as his eyes darkened. “His son is looking for his second wife, as something apparently happened to his first one. Nobody knows what, but there are rumors of her death when she didn't bear him an heir. I was set to be that second wife.”
He looked surprised. “Did you want to be betrothed?”
I shook my already hanging head, curling in on myself. “No.”
Ash looked at me as if I’d spoken in tongues. “Forgive the question, but how would he even know of you? You live in a different city, you’re not a lady at court. How did that come to be?”
I grimaced at the memory of Prince Rylon’s eyes on me, the same way a child eyes a sweet treat with greed. But it was King Kodiak that saw me and looked at me like his prayers had been answered after decades of suffering. Like I was an oasis.
“My father was the greatest swordsmith in the realm. The king had a large order and I helped him deliver it, as did Thaddeus.” At the mention of my best friend’s name, at the mention of my father, my heart gave a pained squeeze but I didn’t stop.
“He saw me then. I remember the feel of him staring at me. I could feel it even when my back was turned.”
Ash looked away, his smirk fading to something softer. Less angled. Less blunt. And less aggressive. “I don’t blame him for that at least.”
I balked. “Was that a compliment?”
“Don’t sound so suspicious about it. Though, I guess I can’t blame you if the last man who told you you’re beautiful forced you into an engagement you clearly didn’t want and then blamed the chasms on you when you dared to run for your life.
Did I guess the rest of that correctly, Fallyn?
” My steps stuttered as my surprise sparked.
Fallyn. Not little shadow. Perhaps I was crazy.
Insane even, but a moment of lightness passed between us, lifting the corners of my mouth.
For the first time since I pulled the dagger from his chest, I felt as though he saw me.
The moment was so fleeting that the sun disappeared behind the clouds, taking the moment with it and leaving me hollow once again.
“How did you know?”
“I’ve met many a man like him. He’s not terribly original.
” He glanced back at me, holding his hand out to help me over a massive, moss-covered log.
“Man thinks girl is pretty, girl doesn’t reciprocate, man tries to trap her, when it fails, eliminate all other options to her. It’s a pretty common scenario.”
“I’m so sorry you got dragged into this,” I offered.
The curse was bad enough and was plenty on our plates.
Plus Ash was an ass at the best of times.
But if he’d be seen travelling with me while I had a bounty on my head by the king himself, he’d be in grave danger too.
“I know we have to end the curse, and I’m committed to that, but—”
Ash whirled around, stopping within a breath’s distance of me.
His midnight sky gaze barreled into mine, without his usual flippancy and fanfare.
“You’re a victim, Fallyn, not the offender.
You have nothing to apologize for.” With one final look that was almost reassuring, he turned again and kept walking.
“Though this does complicate a few things.” He huffed that last part more to himself than to me.
“Thank you.” The words soured after they left my mouth when I tripped, my hand catching a nearby tree. Seeing my ink-stained hand, now dipped as high as my wrist, I couldn’t help but suspect thanking him wasn’t what I should be doing. I should be running away from him, not running to him.
At least with Kodiak, I knew what he wanted.
A bride for his sniveling son. I knew Ash wanted to break the curse before it reaches our hearts, but this growing, persistent sense of safety with him was more unsettling than being constantly afraid.
Because at some point the walls would come down and he’d be in the best possible position to end me.
And my naive self wouldn’t even see it coming.
No. I could not let myself feel safe. I shoved down the warmth that had spread from my chest. I locked it behind the same mental door I closed over the demons, the nightmares that haunted my mind, and though it rattled and raged, it remained where I bade it.