Chapter 27 #2
I tucked a loose strand behind her ear, smiling as she shivered at my touch. ‘Raine. I signed to them. Told them to tell Mother about Ifan. I should have known she’d fly up there to reach…’
Sorrow placed her finger over my lips.
‘Maybe we both need to realise she is… was a grown woman. Strong, dignified, but also a tad stubborn.’
I huffed out a laugh.
‘And there was nothing we could have done.’ She held my face and I leaned into her touch. ‘You were with her, Matthias. You were with her at the end. She wasn’t alone.’
I closed my eyes, gripped her tighter. Would I ever scour those images of Mother from my mind?
‘Matthias Elmswood.’ The wolf stood, sniffed down the pathway, his head cocked.
‘I won’t lie and say you’re no idiot, but you’re my idiot.
’ Her forehead rested against mine. A kiss, soft, filled with love, landed on the corner of my mouth.
Was the damned wolf growling? ‘We’re all disasters, we’re all a mass of mistakes, but if you tell me, we can work—’
We broke apart, eyes narrowed as the ground rocked. Pablo snarled as a pained cry – a diafol cry – broke the calm.
‘Evella hates us,’ I said, grabbing her hand and tugging her towards the cliffs. If we were lucky, the diafol wouldn’t be one of the climbing or flying variety. But the way fortune scorned me lately…
Hours had passed and still we hadn’t shaken the diafol on our tail.
Unless, as I was increasingly believing, we were so bloody blessed, more than one diafol had decided to hunt us.
I decided once this was over, I’d never climb again.
The sandstone cliff offered a new level of challenge as footholds and grips crumbled, Sorrow turning the air blue with each creative curse from her mouth.
The wolf had given up, scrambled away in a different direction.
I still kept trying to find some sign of him, but Sorrow didn’t seem worried.
She was, however, rather concerned I’d not thought this idea through.
In all fairness, I hadn’t.
And as she grabbed my elbow, swearing loudly as her own footing slipped, I was having concerns of my own.
I reached up, dug my fingers in tight. ‘I just thought—’
‘I’ll stop you there, Elmswood,’ she hissed, and I twisted back to check she was fine. ‘Thinking is the one thing you didn’t do.’
My heart jolted as I found a ledge on my next stretch upward, almost letting go as a wet tongue licked my fingers. I scrambled up, turning to drag a rather dusty Sorrow behind me. We landed on our backs, chests heaving as her wolf nuzzled her face, sneezing as she scratched behind his ear.
‘I thought—’
She snorted and I grinned. Gods, this woman.
‘I thought, if it was a particularly quick diafol, it’d catch up with us on the path. If we went up, we’d avoid it.’
Sorrow sat up, crossed her arms and narrowed her gaze at me. ‘But we’re back on the path.’
My grin faded as I sat up and found we were indeed back on the path, albeit a bit higher up.
‘Only now, we’re on the same path and bloody exhausted from climbing.’
I jumped up, dusting myself down as Sorrow collapsed back.
I side-eyed her. How easy it would be to lie across her, carry on kissing that little spot she loved under her ear.
A smile hooked up the corner of my mouth as I watched her.
I stepped forward, halting as the growling wolf placed his paw on her stomach, ears twitching forward, a dire warning in his amber eyes.
The smile became a grimace as I returned to brushing the dust off my clothes, imagining what a fine cloak the creature would make.
Gripping the wolf, she stood, turning away from the direction I’d set my sight on.
‘Are you sure that’s the right way?’ I asked, squinting down the other path. Something in my gut warned me Sorrow was heading away from the rebels.
She snorted. ‘As if Pablo’s ever been wrong?’
I ran my hand down my face before jogging after her and lacing our fingers together. I glanced down at the wolf as she squeezed my hand.
‘What happened with…’ Her voice broke. ‘With your mother…’
I squeezed her hand. Sorrow kept her gaze ahead, refusing to look my way, and my heart twisted. Something weighed her down, dragged her under.
‘Sorrow,’ I said as the silence stretched between us. ‘We’ve just been over this. We’ll go mad if we blame ourselves.’
She shook her head. Dark tendrils of hair framed her delicate face as she heaved in a deep breath. A twist gripped my heart. I knew something was going on in that pretty head. I just needed to give her time.
‘What my gift did, to her, to you. It happened… before.’
The breeze blew a stray lock across her mouth. I stopped, gently tucking it behind her ear. Waited for her words.
‘I lost control and I’m sorry, Matthias. They could have killed you. They almost did.’
They? I knew better than to ask. She needed to sort her own thoughts. I rubbed my thumb against her thundering pulse.
‘Do you remember when Mama died?’
‘Of course.’
She nodded. ‘Do…’ Gods, how she trembled. ‘Do you recall the day Enfys and I went to see her? Her body?’