Page 89 of Heart of Night
Forty-Three
Ayna
In the twilight between the throbbing in my skull and the sounds that could be someone calling my name or simply a side effect of hitting my head, Myron’s ocean eyes appear in my field of vision.
“Remind me never to let you save me again,” Astorian retorts from somewhere nearby, Kaira humming her agreement from the other direction.
“I’ll heal her,” Clio offers, but Myron’s hand is already cradling my cheek, familiar, tingling warmth seeping into my tissues from where his skin brushes mine. “Or not…” She appears behind Myron’s shoulder, concern edged into her young forehead.
“Can you stand up?” Myron’s hand winds beneath my shoulder as he gently offers his support, and I nod, head clearing as his magic seals my wounds and what could have been a light concussion.
“Thanks to your powers.” I let him guide me into an upright position simply because I’m too selfish to pull away from him just yet and he’s about to send me out of the dungeon with Silas and Astorian. I’m not ready to leave. Not when he’s staying to get Royad out.
“Thanks to my powers, you were just injured.” The frown on his beautiful face hurts more than the guilt in his eyes.
“You can fight about whether or not he’s useful later. Now, let’s grab the Crow and go.” Clio claps her hand, gesturing at Astorian to slide through the wide opening Myron’s magic broke into the wall. I feel the stream of cool fresh air a heartbeat before I realize the reason everything is tinted in starlight is because the hole reaches all the way to the outer wall, opening a view of earth and rocks—and the open sky behind the dust rising from a pile of rubble where thick stone used to block out the world.
“Shit—”
“You could say so,” Kaira echoes my sentiment, already climbing through the opening behind the bars where Astorian is carefully lifting Silas into his arms. The male is still unstable on his legs, but he’s ready to carry one of his former enemies to safety.
I don’t know what happened between the Crows and the fairy, but it has to be more than just the days of sharing the same fate down here in the dungeon.
Clio is at his side in an instant, arguing that she can carry Silas instead, but Astorian is either too proud or too stubborn to let her help. When he nods at the sword on her hip, I realize he is too smart.
“We need you to fight if we’re stopped. I can carry a hulk like Silas, but I sure don’t have any magic at my disposal to fend off an attack, and you’re as good with a sword as me.”
The look they share pierces through my heart. The silent understanding in Clio’s eyes informs me this is not the first time they have escaped danger and death together.
Myron’s hand glides down my arm in a soothing gesture. “Time to go, Ayna.”
That takes all the heartfelt sympathy and wonder right out of me, and I spin around to face him, his ocean eyes full of conflict as he glances between the escape he created for us, the door on the other side of the room, and me.
“I’m not leaving without you.”
His teeth cut into his lower lip as he sorts through his thoughts. “We don’t have much time. There is no way no one noticed the tremble my magic just caused, and it’s a matter of moments before someone will come to check on the prisoners.”
Who will be gone by then. But he will stay to save Royad, and hopefully, Herinor will be there to help.
“If we all go, that leaves only Herinor and you to fight Ephegos, Katrijanov, and however many soldiers they send your way.” I swallow. “That’s two against an unknown number, and even if you have parts of your magic back, it doesn’t mean Herinor will be allowed to fight at your side. Ephegos could order him to do anything.”
Myron’s eyes close for a brief moment as he inhales through his nose. His throat bobs, his fingers lacing with mine. “That’s not how bargains work. He can’t help you because it is part of the bargain. But he still has a mind of his own. Ephegos can order him plenty of things, and he doesn’t need to obey as long as it doesn’t touch the original bargain.”
His explanation is not even half satisfying.
“I’m coming with you.”
Eyes flaring like tossing waves, Myron pins me with a look. “Please, Ayna. For your own sake and for mine, leave. I can’t live with myself if something happens to you.”
And if I stay, it will. He doesn’t need to add that.
“Can you please make up your mind over there? Because I’d like to set down this colossus sometime soon, somewhere safe.” Astorian’s strained grumble reaches us through the dust-filled air as he nearly staggers under the Crow’s weight. It’s hard to breathe, but that has more to do with the thought of the dangers Myron is willing to shoulder to save his cousin.
“Leave without me,” I say to the others, eager for them to make it out and get Silas to safety.
Myron sighs, but he doesn’t object.
“See you at the shed,” Kaira calls over her shoulder before stalking through the rubble toward the hole. They’ll need to climb up the seven feet of earth and rock before they can slip through the gap, but they’ll make it.