Chapter Twenty-Two
We avoid the roads and artfully weave between the trees, the horse’s hooves a drum beat to the dance of my heart against Will’s back.
He knows this forest and has more than enough experience eluding the guards.
Mum was right, though. There are glimpses of blue and silver lurking among the greenery that we bypass carefully, and just when I don’t think my anxiety can take any more close calls, Will pulls back on the reins and slows Jeremy to a quiet walk.
“What is it?” I ask, hushed.
“The fastest way to the Library is over that bridge.”
From our position within the bark and branches, I peer around Will.
Past the scatterings of leaves, the tree line gives way to a wide, fast-flowing river and a sturdy gray-stone bridge with waist-high walls.
At first, it looks empty, until the midday sun catches a flash of metal. There are guards ahead.
“They’ve set up a checkpoint here,” Will mutters.
My instinct is to try to ride past them as fast as possible, but my mistakes have been made plain recently. I’ve been rushing in too fast, charging forward and hoping for the best. Each time, someone’s been hurt. I’ve been hurt.
“We should scout it out,” I say, and Will agrees. He slides off the saddle and helps me down before tying Jeremy around a nearby tree. The horse happily munches on some patchy grass near the roots. If only we could be so easily satisfied.
“I can do a silencing spell, just in case,” Will says. “It’ll hide our footsteps and voices, but we won’t be able to talk to each other until I lift it.”
“Good idea.”
Safe and quiet. That’s how we should approach this.
Will swipes his hand between us like there’s a pane of glass and a tinny high-pitched buzz washes past my ears.
Magic shivers down my spine, but my startled gasp is silent, not even a breath of sound.
I test it, try to speak, but no noise comes.
Weirdly, it feels similar to how the curse locks my throat up.
Will must see that in my frown as he gives me a thumbs-up in question.
I calm his worries with a nod and motion him mutely toward the river.
When we reach the final row of trees, Will presses his back to a wide trunk and I tiptoe to the next one over, no crunch of leaves under my feet. With my palms against the rough bark, I risk a glance at the bridge.
Thank the gods for Will’s foresight.
I whip back behind the tree, balling my hands into fists.
I clench them with all my might and scream.
Because I can. Because no noise will come from my mouth to alert the two guards at the base of that bridge.
Because, gods, it feels good to do so. My soundless scream is as silent as the fury in my chest. Why is it always him?
In the bliss of being with Will, I—oh my gods. I’d actually forgotten about him.
I didn’t think that was possible.
“He did this on purpose, sending me all the way out here,” Lark says with a huff I know all too well.
“Good. Hopefully you’ll learn something,” Howell replies.
There’s a short march of metal footsteps and each step closer is a stab of fear. Please don’t find us.
“About what? How many trees this forest has?” Lark shoots back.
“Just be grateful the prince lifted your suspension after the way you acted.”
As always, Howell is levelheaded and calm. And also incredibly skilled and experienced. There’s no way we can fight past him.
A brush of wind against my cheek brings my face in the direction of Will. He’s staring at me, wide-eyed.
You okay? he mouths.
I shudder a breath. How can I explain? I gesture to myself, then Lark, then cross my forearms to make an X in hope that it gets the message across.
“I should be out there looking for Fliss, not babysitting a bridge,” Lark complains.
“We all have our part to do, and as a Guard of Alrick, no job is unworthy if it protects our people. It’s your duty to be here, Lark,” Howell says.
“We must trust our colleagues are doing their best to search for Felicity. Besides, it was good for you when your relationship ended. This situation has you slipping back into bad habits.”
Will quickly drops my gaze to spy on the guards.
I watch him study Lark up and down, and when he turns back to me, he tilts his head to the side with a pinch of smugness.
The edges of his mouth tug and he hovers his hand side to side, as if to say not bad.
He points a finger to himself then to the sky, and mouths I’m better.
Stop, I reply, but he’s cracked my anger, drawn out a laugh, and when Lark speaks again, his voice is a blunt edge.
“How was it good for me?”
“You were such an arrogant ass when you were in training,” Howell says.
I peek around the tree again to see him pace to the edge of the bridge, alert even when conversing.
“A rookie from a small southern village thinking you knew best. Having an in with the prince through Felicity made your ego even worse.”
Lark faces his senior, arms folded. “I wasn’t that bad.”
“You were. That’s why I was so hard on you.
You needed to learn that teamwork and loyalty would take you further than pride.
It was only after you and Felicity broke up that you knuckled down and threw yourself into training seriously.
You proved yourself with hard work. That’s the only reason you became a full-fledged guard.
The captain wouldn’t have passed you otherwise. ”
“Well, what else was I supposed to do? Everyone knew what happened at the party. I saw the looks I got. People hated me.”
It’s been almost a year since our attempt to talk about what happened, and we’d both been so emotional, so angry and hurt, that predictably, it had ended in tears.
In all the months since then, I’ve been doing my best to avoid him.
But it’s a lie that I haven’t been curious about how much it impacted his life.
I’d noticed the side-eyes and whispers in my direction.
The gossip that the truths I’d yelled at the party had been too harsh, too disrespectful, and Poor Lark for even giving her a chance, what a scene she’d made.
He thought everyone hated him too? Maybe, but none more than me.
I wonder where that hatred went.
I wonder when it softened from a blaze to a breeze.
Howell’s gruff face turns stern. “You learned the hard way that prioritizing reputation and status—personal gain—won’t do you any good in this line of work.
It’s a lesson you sometimes forget, which is why the prince and captain give you jobs like this, in the far corners of the kingdom ‘babysitting’ bridges.
There is more to being a guard than being best friends with royalty. ”
“Prince Bastion hardly talks to me these days anyway.”
“You have no one to blame but yourself.”
Lark falls silent.
“Take that frown off your face,” Howell says.
“What more can I do, Howell?”
“You can shut up and do your job with dignity. Do you see me complaining about being here? No. Because I do not look down upon it. It’s an honor to serve.”
A short birdcall echoes three times from farther within the forest, something I wouldn’t have noticed if Will hadn’t straightened so suddenly.
He waves a hand to get my attention and points back the way we came.
I push off the tree and follow him, my shoulders curled inward.
Am I glad I heard all that? I don’t know…
I never thought I’d move on from the pain Lark caused.
I thought it would be a thorn in my chest forevermore.
A hand catches mine and Will interlocks our fingers. I never thought I’d be able to love again. Love someone more. Gods, I’d been so very wrong.
When we get back to Jeremy, someone is feeding him a carrot. Will snaps a finger and the tingle of magic leaves my skin.
“How did you find us?” he asks, able to speak again.
Pigeon whips around with a wild grin, her bow slung across a shoulder. Across the right side of her jaw and creeping up her cheek is a faded pink burn mark that licks her skin like fire.
“I’ve been following your tracks for about an hour. You’ve gotten sloppy,” she says.
I break away from Will to march over and yank her into a pine-scented hug. She freezes in my arms and chokes out a short laugh.
“What did I do?” she asks.
I let her go, then jab my knuckles into her arm.
“Ow!”
“Last I heard,” I scold, “you’d hurt Prince Merit on his way back from Dreah and got caught in an accidental explosion! What on earth were you thinking? He almost died! You’re lucky I gave you the benefit of the doubt and kept my mouth shut!”
Pigeon laughs and taps a light finger to her scarred skin.
“Oh yeah, it was a shocker. Didn’t know there would be extremely flammable alcohol inside that particular wagon. I got a cool battle wound out of it, though.”
“Pigeon, it’s not a joke! I told you to be careful!”
“Ah, sorry. Everyone is on the mend on our side. How about the prince? Was he okay? He ran off before we could check, and to be honest, it was pretty chaotic.”
“He collapsed in front of us! Bleeding!”
“Yikes, sorry about ruining your date like that….”
I stutter a wordless reply. Moments later, Will’s hand brushes my lower back.
“I told Will he should go for it,” Pigeon explains coolly. “I assume that happened? Considering you’re now on the run together with a crazy number of guards hunting you?”
“It took a while longer,” Will says, “but I appreciate your attempt to meddle.”
Pigeon winks. “Anytime. Now you can talk to a human being instead of always talking to your cats.”
“Thank you, Pigeon,” Will drawls, a tinge of embarrassment slipping through.
“I imagine you’re wanting to get past those guards?” Pigeon says. Jeremy prods his nose into her shoulder, and she digs around in one of her pouches for another carrot.
“Yeah, we’re trying to get to the Library,” Will says. “There’s some information that might come in handy before the prince’s wedding tomorrow.”