Page 31 of Storm of Shadows

Zephyr hides behind me.

“I thought you intend to torture my soul,” I reply, keeping my tone as indifferent as I can. “Not eat it.”

“I’ll torture it for a hundred years, perhaps two, and then I’ll eat it.”

“Charming,” I say and turn away. Mostly so he can’t see my expression, in case my face betrays my horror. Though we’ve been through what he intends to do to me a thousand times already, it still unsettles me. Especially after watching him eat a soul.

I hurry down the path, where our horse disappeared. I have no idea if she’s there, or whether she was captured by the goblins.

After a few paces, when our horse is still nowhere in sight, I glance back at Natharius. “Can you sense our horse anywhere nearby?” Since he doesn’t look ready to answer, I add: “Or else you’ll need to carry me all the way to Gerazad.”

He halts and inhales deeply. “Not far ahead.”

With that knowledge, I double my pace, hoping to reach her before she can flee again. But the world spins around me. Fatigue fills my limbs.

I force myself onward, even when nausea hits me. Our mare’s dappled coat emerges through the trees, and I hobble toward her with renewed effort. I stumble on a loose rock, and Zephyr goes flying off my shoulder. He looks up at me. I don’t know if the Void Prince notices, but he doesn’t comment on my stumble.

My sight blurs. Three identical horses stand ahead of me. I continue on with wobbly knees and manage to reach our mare. She doesn’t jolt away from me, and I clasp her saddle, using it to steady myself.

Pain shoots through my temples. I draw in a deep breath and press the back of my hand to my forehead. I’m burning up.

“What’s the matter?” Natharius asks. “Dying or something?”

I ignore him and grit my teeth. Then I tackle the saddle.

I manage to get one foot into the stirrup but then my leg gives way, and I lose balance. I fall but barely feel the impact. My entire body is so very numb. I try to push myself upright, but my limbs are too weary.

Natharius peers down at me. “Definitely dying,” he purrs. “You look as pale as a corpse.”

His voice sounds hollow and echoey. I rub my ears, trying to clear them.

Is it fatigue? Did I somehow use up more magic than I realized while fighting those goblins?

A sudden jolt of pain erupts down my left arm. I glance over at it, and my gaze snags on the tear through my robes where the arrow struck me. I’m no longer bleeding, but the cut has turned black. Then I remember the tar-like substance coating the arrowhead.

Poison.

My heart hammers.

I don’t know what poison the goblins used. Maybe it’s paralysis, or maybe it’s deadly. Since Natharius said I look like I’m dying, maybe it’s the latter.

“Healer,” I gasp. Forcing out words is becoming increasingly difficult. I don’t know how much longer I’ll remain conscious. “Take me to a healer. I command you to do everything in your power to save me.” My words grow quieter, and I’m not sure whether he hears me over the wind rustling through the trees. But he must, since he lets out a heavy sigh and grabs my waist and hauls me up onto the saddle. I barely feel him as he climbs on behind me, my senses almost completely dulled by the poison.

The last thing I hear is the sound of hooves beating furiously against the earth. And even that fades into silence as the poison claims me.

ten

“Reyna,”Arluinsays.I’mback in that meadow beneath a violet sky tinged by darkness: the place Natharius explained is my soul. “You’re hurt.” His gray eyes fix on the wound running across my arm. The cut is as black as night.

That’s right. I was poisoned. And then I fell unconscious. The fact my arm hurts even in this place means I’m alive.

I think.

Arluin holds out his hands. I step back.

“I told you to stay away,” I snarl. “I want nothing to do with you.”

His brows draw together. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”