32. The Fleeing
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
THE FLEEING
A hand gripped my shoulder, ripping me from my dreams with a jolt of adrenaline. My eyes shot open, but only blackness greeted me. Disoriented in the dark room, all I could tell was that someone hovered by my bed. Every muscle in my body tensed. Riel…? No, he would have said something. I sucked in a breath, preparing to scream. If I can get to the bathroom, maybe I can barricade myself inside ? —?
“Avery?” a hushed female voice spoke up. “It is Luenki. Are you awake?”
The air gushed out of me.
“Oh my god, Luenki,” I hissed. “You scared the living… I almost screamed. Jesus.”
A finger met my lips.
“I’m sorry to wake you, but we must go now.”
Still half asleep, it took me a moment to realize what she was saying. Once my brain caught up, I bolted upright, fear chasing away any drowsiness in an instant.
“What is it? Is Riel okay?” In my haste to get the question out, I almost forgot to whisper.
“For now,” Luenki answered.
I didn’t like the sound of that .
Fabric rustled from somewhere down below, where my suitcases were stowed. “Dress yourself,” Luenki ordered. “We need to get you to The Rift. I have already sent word so that your people will be ready to receive you.” A soft bundle was thrust into my hands. I blinked down at it, wondering how the heck I was supposed to get dressed in pitch darkness.
“Uh, can you do that thing to make light?” I asked sheepishly.
A muted, warm light illuminated our immediate area in reply. With no time to worry about modesty, I stripped out of my nightgown and pulled on the dress in my hands. It wasn’t what I would have picked to flee for my life, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. Rolling out of bed, I tugged the dress down over my thighs and then went to search for my sneakers.
The light winked out not even a full second after I slipped them on, and my hand was snatched up. It was all I could do to stumble along as I was pulled to my feet and led across the room to the door. Luenki let go of my hand so that she could crack open the door and survey the hallway, her figure briefly silhouetted by the lights.
Seeing nothing, she signaled me forward, and I fell into step behind her. The hallway was empty, with no sign of Riel or any soldiers. Raised voices filtered through the air from the direction of the throne room, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. She turned back to me with a somber expression and grasped both my hands this time.
“We will keep going,” she said firmly, “no matter what. You will not stop.”
Her ominous words barely had time to land before we were moving again. I was dragged along the maroon carpet, struggling to keep up with her long strides.
“Luenki—” I began, only to shut my mouth with an audible snap when Luenki shushed me.
We made our way down the stairs in silence. As we rounded the corner into the throne room, Luenki came to an abrupt halt, and I nearly crashed into her. Craning my neck to see, my eyes landed on two tall, blond men on the opposite side. They circled each other slowly, like predators sizing each other up before a territorial skirmish. I could only see the back of the one nearest me, but as we watched, the one opposite him came into view. A wall of panic hit me all at once.
I’d recognize that heart-shaped face and those kissable lips anywhere.
As if sensing my intentions, Luenki whirled about and clapped a hand over my mouth. My eyes widened in alarm as they met Riel’s from across the room. His expression turned stony. He’d stopped moving, which meant that Solois’s back remained to us. Their voices carried to us, harsh and argumentative. I wish I knew what they were saying.
Luenki caught my gaze and nodded once. I wanted to protest, but I knew that would be foolish. He’ll be fine , I told myself firmly. His brother wouldn’t hurt him.
We started across the room, trying to move quickly and keep our steps light at the same time. Luenki succeeded easily, gliding across the floor like a dancer; I didn’t have the same luck. We made it about twenty feet before my sneakers squeaked against the marble. I looked up in horror as Solois swiveled around. His eyes narrowed on me.
Then he smiled. But it wasn’t the same smile he’d given me last night, the one that bordered on friendly. No, it wasn’t even close. This one was filled with dark promises, like he was glad to see me, and that was not a good thing.
Three things happened at once: Solois stepped forward. Riel lunged for his brother. Luenki caught my hand again, and she yanked me into her arms.
Someone shrieked. It might have been me.
The next thing I knew, everything was in motion. Luenki and I hurtled toward the door. Solois and Riel were on top of each other, grappling at clothing and limbs and hair too fast for my eyes to follow. One of them went flying, hitting one of the pillars with a sickening crack that echoed across the expanse between us. Terrified, I breathed in to scream Riel’s name, to call for help, something —but a heartbeat later, Luenki and I were already outside.
She didn’t let me go until we were in front of two waiting avida . My fear multiplied when I realized that the one Luenki bustled me toward was Oyanni.
“Wait, wait,” I cried, struggling to speak past the confusion and panic that choked me. “What about Riel? I can’t just—can’t he come with us? I don’t understand what’s happening.”
Strong arms wrapped around me and squeezed like a vise, pressing my face into a floral-smelling armpit. Luenki whispered soothing words into my hair and stroked my back while I fought to get my thoughts straight. Every instinct screamed that this wasn’t right, that I couldn’t leave like this, even as logic tried to convince me there was nothing I could do.
“We need to go. Solois will not be stopped for long.”
Luenki’s cool voice broke through the hysteria. Without any more warning, she moved her hands to my hips and lifted me up. I swung my leg over the avida ’s back, the motion ingrained in me by now, and picked up the handhold. Luenki was mounted on her yellow avida in front of me before I could blink. She urged her steed into motion with a squeeze of her legs, and Oyanni followed without prompting.
As we rode for the open portcullis, tears fell in a downpour that mimicked the deluge inside me. Even swallowing great gulps of air, my lungs heaved like I was drowning. Everything felt like it was on fire and somehow numb at the same time.
My vision was blurry, but the post with the slight figure tied to the base still caught my eye on the way out. Neyes stared straight at me, no sign of sympathy or regret in their piercing gaze. In fact, a hint of a smirk teased their mouth, like they were pleased to see me fleeing for my life, like they were glad everything was falling apart .
“A pity the manaviri didn’t kill you,” they called as I passed by.
In my panic, their words didn’t make any sense to me. All I could think was that they watched us go and felt nothing for the lives they had ruined.
I buried my face in Oyanni’s neck and cursed their Goddess with every fiber of my being.
We rode for what felt like hours. My tears had stopped, lulled by the swaying motion and rhythmic pounding of hooves striking the earth, but the ache in my heart remained. The sky was beginning to pinken with the first signs of daybreak.
Luenki still rode in front of me, though we’d slowed from a frantic pace to a more sustainable speed some time ago. She sat tall and directed her avida with confidence, a natural rider. I stared at her proud back and the tears threatened again.
I knew I should just be grateful to her. I knew that, but keeping my emotions in check was another matter. At that moment, I resented her. I was angry that she forced me to leave Riel behind, and angry that she had abandoned him herself. I was upset and confused and tired , goddammit. The lack of sleep certainly wasn’t helping things.
Now, after all that, I was supposed to go back home with my head held high and a smile on my face and… and what? Yeah, there was an army coming, and my boyfriend and his brother started fighting each other for some reason, so I had to peace out. Hope that’s okay. Anyway, that’s that. It’s good to be back home. When’s the next healing session?
I exhaled a forceful breath and turned my face upward. Branches formed a dark, imposing ceiling above us, only a sliver of sky visible between the twisting shadows. I was struck with a sense of claustrophobia. It was unexpected, given the open air surrounding me—I wasn’t physically trapped in any way, but still, something held me in its grip.
My hands tightened on the rein strap. Every step we took was a step farther away from everything that mattered to me. Riel could be dead already, for all I knew. If Neyes convinced his family that we were both enemies, it wasn’t impossible. The other House’s army could be storming the castle and burning everything to the ground right now. How could I just leave? Then again, what could I do if I stayed? I’d only get in the way.
The turmoil was torture.
“Luenki,” I called, my voice hoarse and weak.
Luenki angled her head to show that she had heard me but didn’t slow down.
I struggled to find the right words. “I don’t think I can leave things like this.” It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to say, but it was the best I could come up with.
“There’s nothing you can do,” Luenki responded, firmly but not unkindly.
“We don’t know that,” I protested. “I’m a healer. At the very least, I could be another set of hands, couldn’t I?”
“Believe me, Avery, I understand your feelings.”
With a slight shift of her body, Luenki pulled her avida alongside mine. She met my eyes, and I saw my pain reflected there. “I am not unaffected by this,” she told me. “But choices had to be made, and Astonriel wants you safe. I intend to make that happen. Your people are expecting you, and I need to settle their concerns before we have another mess on our hands.”
“Could you go tell them what happened?” I pleaded. “Maybe they can send reinforcements.” Luenki opened her mouth to reply, but I cut her off, infusing my words with a little more determination. “No, I’m grateful to you and Riel, but I’m tired of having decisions made for me. I know it’s dangerous, but I’m a healer. If Riel is in trouble… if he’s hurt, I can help him. I can help when the army comes too. ”
“I understand that,” Luenki began, but I forged forward, too committed to stop.
“I have to do something. I can’t just run and go back to the life I had before, it’s not going to work for me anymore. And I can’t shake the feeling that if I leave now, I might never see you or Riel again, and I… I need him, Luenki, I know it’s stupid and dumb, but I can’t just let him sacrifice himself so that I can get away, not when I lo?—”
The next word caught in my throat.
I tried desperately to think of something else. To reconsider and choose a word that was less emotionally charged. Nothing came to mind, and the silence became deafening. I’d backed myself into a corner. To hell with it all . It was the truth. Even if it was too soon, even if we were from different worlds, even if we were never supposed to be together…
“I love him!” I finished, more loudly than was necessary.
My proclamation was followed by another bout of unnerving silence. Oyanni had stopped moving at some point during my speech, and we stood still in the woods. Luenki gave me an assessing look—I’d seen the same one on George whenever I was being difficult and he was trying to think of the best way to shut me up and get me to go along with what he wanted.
In the past, he always won. But that was the past.
“I’m sorry,” I gasped, breaking eye contact to turn my body away from Luenki. I yanked on the rein strap with all my strength and dug in my heels at the same time. With a charged snort, Oyanni made a beautiful about-face and took off back the way we’d come. Luenki shouted after me, but I didn’t turn back—I’d made my decision.
I could only hope it was the right one.
Oyanni ran like the wind, leaving Luenki far behind us. Maybe she sensed my urgency and wanted to get back to her master as much as I did. It was also easier to see now that the sun had risen. I held on with every muscle I possessed, gritting my teeth so tightly that I thought something might crack.
Riel needs me , I thought. I need him . I won’t lose another friend. I won’t lose him.
I repeated it in my head like a mantra. We raced through undergrowth and dodged trees.
Riel needs me . I need him. I won’t lose him.
It was going to be okay. He had to be okay. Hang on until I get there .
Would I make it? As we covered more and more ground, the sounds of the forest changed. Gone were the merry chirping of songbirds, the buzzing of working kainna , the rustling of eseri seeking their breakfasts. In their place were the braying of horns, faint whistles, and ululating war cries that echoed through the woods.
Fear gripped me with the realization that the battle had begun. How long have we been gone? Are we too late? The closer we got, the louder the sounds became. Dread began to cripple my thought process. I had no idea what to expect.
I’m on my way… Riel… please, be okay!