Page 8 of Treasured
Several more minutes passed before Luna turned around. “We’re a few hours from the Second Order, right?”
Another shooting pain. “I think so.” I clenched my fists and winced, hating the next words that came out of my mouth. “But I can’t fly.”
It physically pained me to admit such a weakness, but with the agony of the summons, I was moments away from exploding. There was a very real chance I would fall from the sky. My next landing probably wouldn’t be as clean as this one was.
Luna chewed on her lip. “I’d go get help, but…” She glanced at her wrist.
“The Tether,” I said.
It always came back to that. Ciro, the priest who had married us, had tied us together unbeknownst to either of us. For the most part, Luna and I were used to how the Tether worked. It was our life now, and we adapted.
The curse reared its ugly head and complicated matters every so often.
Like it was right now.
Luna stared at me for a long moment before she bent, picking up her bag from where she’d discarded it earlier. Slinging it over one shoulder, she offered me her hand. “Well then, Sebastian, it sounds like we only have one hope. We’ll have to run.”
Why did those words sound like a death sentence?
* * *
On a good day, I enjoyed running. I found solace in it, even. Not as much as flying—that was my favorite activity. But usually, I liked it.
Right now, I despised it with every fiber of my being. This exercise was infinitely more difficult with a pounding, shooting, pulsing pain running through one’s head.
Every time my feet met the snow-covered forest floor, a responding burning ache came from the summons. It took everything I had to focus on moving one foot in front of the other. My lungs tightened, my heart raced, and my muscles protested every movement.
This wasn’t normal. This wasn’t me. I was the strong one. The one who pushed through everything. The rock.
Now, I was the one holding us back.
I’d promised Luna I would keep her safe. I’d vowed to protect her from the dangers of this world, but now I was endangering her. I was the reason we were here, in the wilds, instead of flying. It wasn’t safe.
The land was eerily silent, without the occasional bird’s call or wolf’s howl. Something was wrong. I felt it in my bones. Over three hundred years, I roamed these lands of snow and ice. Until now, I had never encountered something like this.
The queen’s Fortune Elves were right: darkness had fallen on Eleyta.
I had no idea where it came from, but it was dangerous. The whisper of my shadows was darker than ever, and a heaviness fell upon me. I’d never been one to put much stock in Fortune Elves, but that would change.
Come back to me, the summons called once again.
I darted around a thorny black bush, shaking my head to clear the pain.
Something was very, very wrong in Eleyta.
Another dagger to my head. This one was stronger than the last. I cried out, stumbling over a blackened root.
Worry pounded through the Binding Mark. Luna slowed to a jog until we were side-by-side. She reached out, putting her hand on my arm. “Are you okay, Sebastian?”
I breathed in through my mouth. “Fine,” I lied.
No mind reading was necessary to know Luna didn’t believe me. Her brows came together, and she glanced sideways at me, her mouth pinching in a firm line.
Still, I wouldn’t be the reason we stopped. Not here, where the monsters roaming these woods could stumble upon us.
I was the damned prince of this realm. Shadows bowed to me. People quaked when they heard I was near. Death was my calling. They called me the Prince of Darkness for a reason. A summons would not take me down, especially not when my wife’s safety was on the line.
I couldn’t forget what Phyrra, my spymaster, had told me before the fight. Someone was causing chaos in Eleyta by Making Fledglings and releasing them in the wild. Perhaps some of the People of the Night hadn’t been in the temple that night, or maybe someone else was the root of this trouble. Either way, whoever was doing it needed to be stopped. Few things were more dangerous than a newly Made vampire who lost control.