“Where are we going?” I ask anxiously as Jossie leads Hendrik and I deeper into the forest. “Where are you taking us?”
“Just follow me,” she replies curtly, which doesn’t help my nerves at all.
“That’s not reassuring,” Hendrik mutters, still with his sword drawn. “I’m telling you, one wrong step and I will—”
“Poke me with that sword? I’m telling you, I can break that shit in half. Now shut up.”
Hendrik looks at me with a “let’s get out of here” expression, but I’m too in my head to take notice.
The forest of Corrin is not much different from those I’ve seen, but the beginning of fall is already making a mark on the leaves, turning their edges orange and yellow. The glow of the afternoon is setting them ablaze, but I can’t see any kind of beauty. I’m nervous. My heartbeat is a wreck and so is my head, even though there’s only one thing that’s been inside my mind since I saw Jossie.
“Will I. . . .” I falter, taking a deep breath. “Will I
Hendrik and I exchange glances. He looks terrified and scared because of the threat, which I didn’t expect at all. Still, it’s not something I can blame him for. I myself am scared to the bone.I’ve been dreaming of seeing Alistair again. I’ve been longing, yearning, and praying for this moment. And now that I’m here, now that he saw me, all he wanted to do was to get me out of his sight.Tears start to form in my eyes. I blink them away, my throat tight.“Elora. . . .” Jossie touches my shoulder with a sympathetic look on her face. “I’m so sorry. I don’t want to obey him but. . . .”She trails off. I can tell she means it, that she really doesn’t want us to go. I don’t want her to receive Alistair’s wrath, but at the same time, I can’t lose him again. Never again. Not until he hears me out, until he realizes that I’ve never betrayed him.Without giving
⇼ E L O R A ⇼“No way!” Hendrik yells, stepping back and toppling his chair in the process. He pats around his hip for his sword, but it was confiscated from him. Instead he picks up one of the knives and points it at Jossie as well. “You are not touching us! Come on, Elora, we’re leaving!”He tries to take my hand, but I don’t move from my seat. I just watch as Jossie’s lips twitch. “Hendrik, I don’t think she’s serious.”At that, Jossie lets out a huge cackle. “Relax, I’m not going to slice your faces open. Jeez. I’ll just give you both a trim and a little bit of face dirt to make you truly one of us. Also, those clothes have to go. They kind of give away that you’re not from around here.”I look at Hendrik, who is sporting an expression of a mixture of relief, anger, and grudging respect, and tell him, “See?”He goes back
⇼ E L O R A ⇼The heavy footsteps behind me makes me lift my head from Hendrik’s shoulder and look around. There I see Alistair, who’s approaching with his hands clenched. Hendrik and I jump to our feet out of sheer surprise.“Alistair,” I mumble. “Why are you—?”Smack.The sound of his fist hitting Hendrik’s face rings in my ear, unnaturally loud and alarming. I let out a strangled scream which I hurriedly suppress with my hand. Hendrik stumbles back, stares at Alistair who’s glaring at him and breathing hard, and lunges at him in full speed with punches of his own.Hendrik delivers a blow to Alistair’s nose, which immediately starts to bleed. Another scream escapes me. Even now I’m not sure what I’m looking at and how it came to be exactly, and at this point I don’t really wish to find out. All I know is that I want them to stop whatever this is, because I don&rsq
⇼ A L I S T A I R ⇼“No,” I manage to croak at last. Dread is flowing through my veins like a deadly poison, corroding my veins with each passing second. “Don’t tell me she really thought that. I don’t know why I said it. My wolf just took over and I—”“Cut the excuses, will you?” Jossie interjects. “What happened happened. It’s done. It’s over.”“No,” I say again, this time with more conviction. I cross the room and stand in front of her, taking her shoulders. “You have to convince her not to go.”She scoffs and swats my hands off of her. “You don’t think I didn’t do that? Of course I tried to talk her out of it! She’s determined to leave.”“But if so. . . .” I trail off, deeply pained about the things I’m about to say. “Why can’t she just go with Hendrik peacefully? Why does she need to
⇼ E L O R A ⇼My whole body freezes. For a second I don’t know if I’m being tricked into thinking that this is indeed Briar who’s in front of me, but the silence of everyone around me proves me right.It’s him, the one who really betrayed us. The one whose sins I’m paying for.In a wicked moment of anger, I reach inside the pocket of the uniform and pull out a dagger. I’m about to charge when Briar snatches Jossie by the hair and puts his massive hand around her neck.“Make no mistake, princess,” he croons, tightening his grip around her and making her gasp. He smiles at the sound of pain she’s making. “I’m not here to play around. One wrong move and your friend here goes bye bye.”One man in a mask and a uniform similar to mine steps out from behind me and quickly snatches the knife out of my hand. Gynith tries to protest but another man intercepts her.“Take thei
⇼ A L I S T A I R ⇼ “Elora!” Jossie screams, limping towards Elora with a scared look on her face. She tries to reach Elora, but she’s still wrapped in this small tornado of lightning that’s making the air hum with energy. I hold my hand up for Jossie. “Don’t!” Gynith appears from nowhere with blood streaked across her face. I can see from a distance that she just detached herself from a dead man and is now looking at Elora too. “But she’s in danger! Briar did this—” “No,” I say, loud enough over the crackle of energy. “She’s not in danger.” As soon as I say these words, I immediately know that they’re no lies. Elora really isn’t in danger right now. Hendrik tries to protest and just marches up to Elora, but thankfully I manage to stop him in his tracks and push him back in his place. “Let her be,” I tell him, then I turn to everyone. “Let her be!” I know what I saw. I know what I’m seeing. All this lighting and the danger hang
⇼ A L I S T A I R ⇼ “That can’t be true,” I whisper, but deep in my heart I can already see the big possibility of it being true. I can see the facts. Things are making sense, connecting in a way that they haven’t done before. But still, there are loose ends, and these loose ends are what I’m holding onto right now. “It just can’t be true.” My dismissive tone makes Jossie stand and open her mouth to retort, but a quick knock on the door makes her stop. She grits her teeth and wheels around to rant, but then Candor’s voice comes through from the other side. “Sir Alistair, we need to go now. You need to lead the way.” “Tell him he can lead,” I say to Gynith in a low voice, and I meant it. Candor can lead, not only because I can’t, but because he has a good head on his shoulders and I trust him. “Tell him that I need to be . . . alone with her.” That again is true. I feel like I have to stay with Elora on my own so I can test their theor
⇼ E L O R A ⇼ I’m frozen in my spot. I had no idea that we arrived in the camp and we’re surrounded by all the allies. I try to unstick myself from the wall to see what exactly is going on, but Alistair motions me to stay in my spot. “No,” he whispers before turning back to Candor. “Show her now!” the old man is yelling. “We will not tolerate this any longer.” The anger in his voice causes a wave of shame to overwhelm my body. It’s cutting through the thick layer of confusion wrapped around my head. I don’t know if it’s the kiss or what happened in the watchtower, but warmth is still simmering on my skin. I also have no idea if it’s just my imagination or not, but the inexplicable warmth seems to be getting worse. “Why