Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Aelia waited in the garden as the baying of the Guard Dogs drew close again.
They’d been circling the area relentlessly and it was only a matter of time until they found her, but she had no idea how to escape with them so close.
The buildings that backed onto the garden were all secure, and she wasn’t a capable enough climber to shimmy up the narrow windowsills and drainpipes that led to the roof.
She was trapped. Panic gave way to despair as she whipped her gaze around the small garden, desperately looking for a way out.
She reached to touch her fingers to the bark of a nearby tree and tears welled in her eyes, spilling before she could stop them.
She collapsed against the tree, pressing her forehead into the trunk and closing her eyes.
She envisioned herself back in Callodosis, Otis in their treehouse, Fenrir and Mirra safe and bickering somewhere nearby.
She breathed in the scent of the bark, knowing it was likely the closest to seeing her home again she would ever get.
She shouldn’t have left, she shouldn’t have tried to save Fenrir. All she’d done was make things worse. If she’d just stayed home, Fenrir would still be alive, and Keeran wouldn’t have a target on his back.
Keeran. He’d saved her, again. Shame squeezed more tears from her eyes, her mouth hanging open with her silent cries as she banged her head against the bark. This was all her fault.
He’d been right about her. She was stubborn and selfish and wouldn’t listen, insisting on doing this on her own. If he’d have been there, he could probably have saved Fenrir, but she’d been too fucking stuck up to hear him out.
How dare she judge him, when she was ten times the monster he was?
How many had she killed back there? How many artemian prisoners had she seen lying mangled and broken after her outburst?
She had no idea what had happened, what kind of magic that had been, but right then, she loathed herself too much to care.
She guessed it was part of the pair bond, just another surreal twist of magic that she didn’t understand.
Like how he’d spoken to her in her mind, how she kept feeling these uncontrollable flashes of him, like how his blood healed her.
She huffed a humourless laugh. At least she knew what was in the suspiciously pink poultice now. And the tea.
“I know Callodosis is full of tree huggers, but I think you might be taking it a bit far.”
Aelia spun to face the low voice, blinking through her tears at the tall figure lurking in the darkness.
At first, she didn’t believe what she was seeing.
He was a ghost from her past, someone she thought she’d never see again.
She’d thought she’d never see anyone from home again.
Her eyes lingered on the uniform, the armour, the red royal insignia on his breastplate, and her lips pressed into a hard line.
“Shiva,” she gasped, stunned.
“Hello, Aelia,” Shiva said, quietly.
It only took her a second to remember what he’d done.
“You joined them,” Aelia snarled.
Shiva held his hands up imploringly. “I made a mistake.”
“You filthy, traitorous bastard,” she seethed, taking a step towards him. “They murdered everyone in cold blood, rounded them up like animals, and you joined them.”
“No. Yes,” he stammered. “No.”
She lunged at him with teeth bared and shoved him in the chest, hard. He staggered backwards.
“Aelia, listen!”
She had never liked him. He had always been arrogant and cocky, letting his apex predator get the better of him, but this?
She shoved him again, anger blurring her thoughts until she could only think in red; in the red of the flames feeding on the ones they’d burned, in the red of the blood they’d spilt in the clearing, in the red of the insignia he wore on his chest.
“Bastard,” she hissed and drew her dagger, swinging it at him with a snarl. He was quick enough to block her, but he didn’t attack back.
“Aelia, stop,” Shiva pleaded, but she barely heard him over the blood roaring in her ears.
Again, she swung, and again he blocked. Over and over, until she had him backed against the wall with her blade against his neck.
Rage boiled inside her; all she could see was Mirra’s face when he’d shouted at her. When he tainted her last day in this world with those vile words. Blood appeared at the tip of her blade as she snarled at the memory, the steel pricking his throat.
“They caught Keeran,” Shiva gasped, his hands held by his head in surrender. “I came to help you.”
Her eyes sliced to meet his, terror tainting the anger she was hiding behind. They’d caught Keeran. He’d tried to lead them away from her so she could escape, and here she was, just as trapped as he was.
“Why would you help me?”
“I can’t work for them anymore,” his voice cracked, the desperation breaking through. “I had no idea what they were capable of until it was too late.”
“Beserkir made it pretty fucking clear, Shiva. What part of his wanting to cleanse Demuto didn’t register?” she spat sardonically.
“I know.” Shiva gulped past the steel at his throat. “It was only after they started attacking everyone I knew how fucking stupid I’d been. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat… that night will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
“That makes two of us,” she sneered, but she pulled the dagger back an inch.
“I just want to go home,” Shiva choked out. “But how can I face my family with everything I’ve done? If I can get you out of here, at least there will have been some point to all of this.”
The cries of the Guard Dogs broke through the silence and Shiva twisted his head towards them.
“We have to leave. If they catch us, we’ll both be on the next boat out of here,” Shiva said, his pupils wide with fear.
“I don’t trust you,” Aelia snarled.
“I know,” Shiva bit his lip, gaze flicking between her and the street, the sound of barking getting steadily louder. “But you can’t get him out on your own.”
Aelia sucked in a breath. Keeran’s words echoing round her skull, mixing with Shiva’s.
All the times she’d refused his help, she’d failed.
Years of trying to be good enough, trying to prove herself just as capable as any artemian, and when it really mattered, she’d failed.
She was as useless as they’d all believed her to be.
She couldn’t let her stubbornness cost her Keeran, too, and Shiva was right, she couldn’t get him out on her own.
Aelia reluctantly stepped back, letting her dagger drop to her side.
“How do we get out of here?” she asked, her voice cold.
Shiva breathed a sigh of relief. “We need to make it to the sea.”
Aelia barked a humourless laugh. “And how do you propose we do that?”
The Dogs’ barking was almost on them.
“We run.” Shiva grabbed her wrist and broke into a sprint, dragging her with him through the iron gate and onto the lit street.
Aelia tore her arm free from his grip but kept pace beside him. Any trace of her earlier weakness had disappeared, her legs buzzing with energy from Keeran’s blood as she pounded after Shiva.
There was every chance he was leading her straight into a trap, but at least with him, she stood a chance.
Alone, she’d never make it, not least of which because she had no idea which was the quickest way to the sea.
Downhill, sure, but unless she made it to the docks, she’d just find herself trapped between the hounds and the sea wall.
So, she followed him as he took turn after twisting turn, gravity lending them speed as they ploughed down the steep streets, the scent of brine growing steadily stronger.
She began to recognise where she was and her heart skipped in her chest as hope lent her legs another burst of speed. Shiva was struggling next to her, his second form built for short bursts rather than endurance, so she grabbed his arm and half dragged him towards the docks.
The baying of Dogs picked up behind them, but she didn’t dare turn to look. Shiva cursed beside her, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
“Nearly there,” she panted, her lungs burning. Nearly there.
She chanted it to herself in time with her frantic breathing, willing them to make it.
They skidded round a bend and Aelia nearly whooped when she saw the fragmented light of the moon reflected in the sea, the skeletal masts of the great ships protruding from them like the emaciated limbs of great beasts.
“Where now?” Aelia wheezed, slowing slightly.
“We…jump,” Shiva managed to say past his desperate breathing.
“Gods, Shiva,” Aelia grumbled, tugging him towards the harbour. “If we survive this, you have to start doing some cardio.”
She turned as they made it to the water, just in time to see the shadows of the Hounds charging round the corner.
She jumped, her feet hitting the water a fraction of a second after Shiva's.
The water sucked her in, rushing over her head.
She resisted the urge to burst back up, instead swimming alongside the slimy stone harbour as far as her straining lungs would allow.
When they eventually threatened to take matters into their own hands, she slipped her head above water and took a deep gulp of air before submerging herself once more.
She could feel Shiva brushing against her as he followed.
At least she hoped it was Shiva. She suppressed a shiver, trying not to think of the creatures she’d seen in these waters just yesterday.
They kept swimming, coming up for air as quietly as possible as they navigated their way to the edge of the harbour, where the enormous wall sprang out of the sea to encircle the city.