Chapter 18
Ben ducks beneath the low threshold, followed by Bastian, who has me in his arms again. The first thing I notice about the cottage is the pungent, earthy smell of herbs and ointments. A low fire burns in the hearth, providing limited heat to the small space. Muffled daylight comes in through the windows, illuminating the shelf with glass containers of strange concoctions.
After Bastian sets me on the small bed, Ben comes over to embrace him. “Bastian Hale. It’s good to see you.”
“Sorry I haven’t visited.” Bastian pulls away. “Training members of an army is no simple task.” He furrows his brow as he lifts a bone from the table to inspect it. “The days grow near, Benny.”
Benny? He knows this man better than I thought he did.
“Miscrete attacks on the southern border are more numerous. My brothers and sisters in Cina say they can no longer protect all the civilians. The First City’s building their army again.” Ben is younger than I thought a healer would be—only a year or two older than Bastian. In Avren, the healers are older and wiser Citizens, capable of performing miracles of medicine. Except for healing the sickness that took my mother. “The Supes and Redeemed need to band together and stop fighting each other.” He crouches and lifts my leg, resting my ankle on his knee. “And what do we have here?”
Bastian lowers himself to our level and holds a hand out to me. “Ben Finch, meet Maribel Windsong, the newest member of the Kindred Few.”
Hearing Bastian identify me as a member of the family warms something deep inside. With Levi, and even Grayson, acceptance is easier. To have the commander come around bolsters my confidence.
Ben’s brown eyes take me in, probing and seeking as if he can see into the very depths of my soul. He turns to Bastian. “Does she know?”
“I’m right here.” I brush my hair over my shoulder in frustration. “If this is about the prophecy, then yes, I’m well aware.”
“You can see why I brought her to you.” Bastian sits on the bed beside me. “Can’t save the world on a bum ankle.”
“I can see that.” Ben’s gaze is on me again, his brow furrowing as if he’s trying to figure out a complicated puzzle. “It’s only that I thought you’d be bigger and more… male.”
Of all the chauvinistic, pig-headed things to say. I can understand why an ordinary person from Avren might not make the perfect savior of the wilderness. But to say I can’t fulfill the prophecy because I’m a woman? My hands ball into fists as I dig my fingernails into my palms. “You get what you get, phaloc.”
Bastian covers his mouth to hide his smirk. From what I’ve garnered, the derogatory term is as about as welcome as the sound of a werewolf’s howl.
“You have the spitfire.” Ben touches my lower leg, and I wince. When he removes my sock, I see my ankle has grown to the size of a large rock. “With your mettle, this shouldn’t hurt too bad. But just in case.” He opens a drawer and pulls out a stick. “Bite down on this. Don’t want to lose that sharp tongue of yours.”
I do as he says, but not before glaring at him. Their friendship makes sense to me in a weird, twisted way. Ben’s not afraid to say what Bastian’s thinking. It doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Bastian takes my hand as my nerves ramp up. How will a magician healer set my broken ankle?
“What are you going to do?” It’s a legitimate question. In the city, healers used salt baths, massages, and gentle creams. They used casts to set a broken bone and ordered you to rest in bed for weeks.
Ben purses his lips as his eyes flick to mine. “I’m going to meld the bone back together with magic. It will hurt like hell.”
Pain wasn’t something I ever really experienced in Avren. The intent of the city is to avoid adverse experiences—avoiding childbirth, matching your ideal partner to limit heartbreak, and outlawing dangerous pastimes. Avren didn’t use sharp edges in its construction and made the roads and sidewalks with a cushioned material. The real pain in my life came from my father leaving and my mother’s death.
“Are you ready, Maribel?” Ben’s long fingers circle my ankle, causing a tingle of pain along my swollen skin.
I look at Bastian beside me. He gives me a slight nod, his hand gripping mine tighter. He won’t leave me to face this alone. It’s a rite of passage. If I can make it through this pain, I’m ready to move on to what the future has in store for me.
“Let’s get this over with.” I lean my head against Bastian’s shoulder, place the stick between my teeth, and close my eyes, unsure of what to expect.
It begins as a gentle heat, moving along my skin and prickling the nerve endings. If this is all I need to endure, it won’t be so hard. But then, it morphs into an ache deep within my ankle. I bite into my stick, closing my eyes tighter. At the sound of a crack, Bastian wraps his arms around me and holds me close to his chest. It’s no longer an ache but an excruciating pain running up and down my leg. Tears stream down my cheeks as my head spins, so I concentrate on the feeling of Bastian’s arms instead of the pain threatening to rip me apart. My whole body shakes with the magician’s touch, but if I make him stop now, I’ll never go through with it.
And as quickly as the intensity builds to an unbearable crescendo, it falls, and Ben’s warm fingers soothe my skin again in a gentle massage.
“You did it, Mari.” His voice floats outside of me somewhere as I come back down from the other place I took myself to endure the pain.
My skin is clammy, making me shiver. Bastian smooths back my hair and kisses the top of my head, my champion in the pits of hell.
The two men talk as I dwell in the space between this world and the one I inhabited to escape. I try to focus on their words—next steps, communication with the Seelie Court and reaching out to a vampire queen. It’s all a blur. The plans involve me, so I should concentrate on it, but I can’t. My body’s trying desperately to recover from the trauma it just went through.
“And what about the Northern Duke?” Ben snaps me out of my dream state. “His relations with the Supes in the north will prove invaluable if we want to present a united front.”
I bite into my lip, not ready to reveal anything to this man I met a half hour ago.
“It might prove beneficial if he’ll listen to us.” Bastian places his hands on his knees and stands before digging my other boot out of his bag. He kneels before me, placing it on my foot, and working the laces. The intentional swipe of his fingers over the bare skin above my sock has me squeezing my thighs together and hoping his friend doesn’t notice. His constant reminders of our connection make me wonder if either of us can hold out much longer. He takes my hands in his and pulls me up from the bed. My weight settles on my broken ankle, but it is no longer painful. I wobble and stumble into his arms as if I had I bit too much to drink.
“Let’s get you home,” he says, holding onto my arm to steady me.
I turn around and hold my hand out to Ben, the closed-minded magician. “It was nice to meet you. Thanks for your help.”
“And you.” Ben takes my hand. “You’re going to need all the magic of this world behind you.” He smiles at me and then at Bastian. “Take care of this one.”
“I will,” I say with a lot more confidence than I feel inside. Bastian is more there for me than the other way around. I’ve already faced one of Avren’s soldiers and come up short, relying on Bastian’s dagger to finish the deed.
About a mile out of the village, I break out of my daze, finally feeling like my old self again. Bastian walks beside me in silence. It’s a respectful way to honor my healing process.
“Do you think we could decorate with bones when we get back to the cabin?” I keep my mouth set in a straight line, looking up at him to catch his reaction.
He stares straight ahead. “Only if they’re the bones of Avren’s soldiers.”
I shake my head, unsure if he’s serious or joking like me until he sweeps me up in his arms, spins me around, and pins me against a tree.
He brings his mouth close to mine. “What you did back there—going through all that pain to fulfill your destiny…” His lips dance along my jawline like they had in his bedroom. “That made me want you even more.”
“So, pain turns you on?” It’s a warped mindset if it’s true.
“You turn me on, Mari. The way you stood up to Ben’s narrow-mindedness. The way you endured pain to heal. The way your lip quirks slightly when you’re ticked off.” He leans in to tug on my lower lip with his teeth. “Everything about you has my world spinning, and I don’t know how to slow it down.” He rests his arm beside my head on the tree. “When Gray said the Council had two more orphans for him, I wasn’t happy. The four of us were fine without you. But you got into my head, and I can’t shake it. Whenever I’m around you, I feel like the universe has us together for a reason. And this magnetic attraction might kill me.” His face is inches from mine as his gaze drops to my lips. “But I can’t imagine my life without it now.”
Several howls break out in the woods. Dusk is falling around us, and we still have an hour to the cabin. Fighting werewolves was not how I intended to spend my evening.
Bastian slips a dagger into my hand, the bone handle smooth though awkward. “Silver. We’ve got to keep moving. Based on their howls, they’ve smelled your Avrenian blood.” He opens his sack, removes a tunic, and tosses it to me. “Put this on. It might mask a bit of the scent.”
I pull his tunic over my head, trying not to get lost in its woodsy smell. The focus needs to be on survival, not him—though the two go together. If I survive the next hour, my reward is a night alone with him in the cabin. The idea invigorates me.
As we rush through the forest on a narrow trail, it takes all my concentration not to trip and injure my ankle again. The howls are closer, ringing through the canopy and sweeping over the pine-needle-carpeted floor.
Panic sets in as a warm breeze rustles the leaves and sets pinpricks dancing along my skin. It’s as if a werewolf’s breath is hot on the back of my neck, threatening to rip it out before devouring the rest of my body. I stop to catch my breath. Images of Tanner lying on the ground helpless fill my head.
That won’t be my fate. Bastian won’t allow it.
A low growl comes from behind me on the trail. I see the wolf’s yellow eyes reflected in the moonlight before I see the rest of its massive frame padding toward me. I hold my breath, daring to glance up the trail at Bastian. He’s about a hundred yards away with his back to us, climbing over a wall of boulders.
“Looks like I’m closer, little one.” It pads toward me as I back into a tree.
Never in my life have I taken the life of another being. My hand holding the dagger shakes because I know what I must do. “Do you know who my travel companion is?”
“Yes.” Saliva drips from its mouth, anticipating the kill.
I grip the knife tighter and swallow back the bile rising in my throat. “Then you know if you kill me, he’ll hunt you to the ends of this world, making you endure a slow and painful death.”
“We do not fear the Kindred Few.” There’s defiance in the creature’s voice. “One of yours killed one of ours. It’s time to return the favor.”
The time is imminent. I root my feet, ready for its attack. As the wolf lunges at me, I crouch so it can’t knock me to the ground and drive the dagger into its chest. With the force of the wolf’s hind legs hitting my shoulders, I still get barreled over and hit my head on the tree.
I lie there, my head spinning, ready for the wolf to finish me. With my skills, it couldn’t have more than a flesh wound, enough to tick him off.
A deep voice says something above me, but I can’t decipher it. Large, soft hands cradle my head and carefully lift my body. I’m in Bastian’s lap.
“You did it” His voice is low, reverberating through his chest. “You killed your first monster.”
I slowly open my eyes and look at him before resting them on the massive heap of hair about ten feet away. Blood covers my hands.
“It wanted revenge for the other wolf’s death.” I don’t know why I say it. There’s importance in its motives, but I’m too drained to think about it. “That’s all.”
“Supes are and will always be our enemies. The sooner you learn that the better.” He doesn’t expound any further, only picks me up and carries me down the trail once again. “We need to get out of here. There are other wolves in the area. I think I found us a quicker way home.” He stops at the boulder field and sets me down. “Do you think you’ve recovered enough to climb?”
“I can do it.” The wall of boulders stands like a bulwark before me, but I set my hand on the first rock, carefully placing each foot to make sure I don’t slip. I’ve had enough falls for today.
“When you’re almost at the top, wait for me.” Bastian begins his climb. Although he can likely climb much faster than me, he stays behind, probably expecting me to fall.
It doesn’t take too long to get there. I scoot to the side to let him pass. From the ledge, he reaches down and holds out a hand for me to clasp. I scramble to the top with his help and rest on my hands and knees. The smell is what I notice first—like a forest fire mixed with methane gas.
When I look up, a massive beast lies in the meadow, eyeing me. Without getting up, I wrap my arms around Bastian’s leg. Glimmering blue, green, and brown scales cover the creature. It releases a burst of fire into the air from its mouth. “What the hell is that?”
“I believe ‘dragon’ is the appropriate term.” He smirks. “But I’m sure you could butter him up if you called him Oh, Great Caspian, Lord of the Sky.”
“I thought you just told me all Supes are our enemies.” I scale Bastian’s body like a ladder, refusing to let go. “If he turns on me, I don’t think I can kill him with a dagger.”
“And why would you do that?” He wraps an arm around me and pulls me in close to his side. “Caspian’s a beautiful creature.”
“Maybe because he can incinerate an entire stand of trees in a single breath?” I relax a little. The dragon doesn’t seem too interested in killing us.
Bastian laughs, releasing me and stomping through the tall grass toward the beast. “Now you’re offending him.” He pats the dragon on its side, garnering what appears to be a slight smile on the creature’s mouth. “He can incinerate entire forests in a single breath. Get over here. Caspian says he’ll take us home.”
My legs shake thinking about getting on top of a dragon. Riding a wolf was too much for me. “How do you know that? Can you speak telepathically?”
Bastian shakes his head and raises an eyebrow at Caspian. “Humans and dragons can’t speak telepathically. He’s lowered his shoulder. That’s how I know.”
Silly me to assume in this new world of supernatural creatures, powers I don’t understand exist.
I stand beside Bastian, looking up the massive wall of scales leading to the top of the dragon’s back. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“Of course you can.” He scrambles up Caspian’s side to the top, firmly placing one leg on either side of the creature’s enormous back. Leaning down, he holds a hand out to me. “Come on. At this rate, the sun will rise before we make it home.”
I back up slightly to take a running start. When I reach the side of the dragon, I leap into the air and take hold of Bastian’s hand, slamming into Caspian’s scales. An annoyed grumbling comes from the creature. With Bastian’s help, I struggle to the top. I sit in front of him, my legs barely reaching each side of the dragon’s back, but the commander wraps an arm around me, using his other hand and his legs to hold on.
When Bastian gives the dragon the word, the creature lifts off, using its incredible wings to rise above the meadow into the night sky. We can see for miles. Glowing villages dot the landscape surrounded by vast swaths of darkened forest. I look to the north and see the glowing beacon of Avren rising like a guardian over the land. The lights of the luminescent forest appear dim next to the city’s bright grandeur. Reluctantly, I rip my eyes away from my birthplace and gaze to the south. The dark spires of the First City glow in the moonlight—an antithesis to the brilliance of the city in the north. But most in the wilderness know better.
All places hold their dark secrets.