Page 31 of Voices in the Stars
I lunged toward Atlas, my hands reaching out before I was ripped back. The ember smothered into burning coal as I was thrust back to the freezing cold as the creature dragged me backward. Atlas’ gaze was stuck to a charred line in the ground. He shook his head before he marching toward us, matching the pace of the creature.
“I am the son of King Eris Laetus.”
Everything was still. There was no breathing. No movements once the words left Atlas’ mouth. Until I saw a twisted face peer over my shoulder. Their skin was twisted like the knots in a tree. Deep groves ran through their skin. If they were standing next to a tree, it would’ve been difficult to tell the two apart.
“You say that as if it’s important,” it growled back at him.
I could feel their unease in their hold. Their claws faltered, loosening and tightening as they flexed. The body I was pressed against shifted as they rocked their weight.
“I promise you now. If you don’t return her, I will be back. I will burn everything you know and love. I will hunt down every last one of your kind until you have nothing. You will be nothing. Just a sad being left to roam ashes for the rest of their pathetic lives. I will show you the true meaning of being alone.”
I froze as he spoke. The creature dragging me suddenly stopped. The way he spoke left no room for doubt. With what little I knew ofhim, he meant every word. Atlas showed little emotion aside from pure power. He was a cold statue that refused to break.
The hands holding me tightened. I winced with the few muscles I still had control over. We were stuck in their stare down before I was thrown. I braced myself for the impact that didn’t come. Instead, I was surrounded by warmth. The smell of leather and citrus embraced me.
Atlas wrapped his arms around me, rubbing the warmth back into my body as we kneeled on the ground. I closed my eyes, accepting the safety that was blanketing over me. It was going to be short lived. Any moment now, he was going to take that dagger and plunge it into my back.
As I regained control, Atlas pulled away from me. I opened my mouth to apologize, but was stopped short by the smoldering rage in his brown eyes.
“Are you really this much of an idiot, or do you want to die?”
“What?” I questioned, taken aback by him.
“One thing!” he yelled, holding one finger up to my face. “I told you to do one thing and you couldn’t even manage that.”
I pushed away from him, standing above him. My hands shook at my sides as the ember in my chest sparked to life alongside the anger coursing through me.
“You left me!” I yelled down at where he was still sitting. “For hours, might I add. What did you expect me to do? Slowly freeze while I prayed to the stars that my murderous kidnapper would find a shred of kindness in his small heart to come back for me?”
Satisfaction filled me as I watched the hurt radiate across his face as he then stood in front of me. I hated the fact that my heart clenched at the anguish that twisted his features. My fingers tightly gripped the edge of my shirt so I didn’t do something foolish like reach out to him.
“I never planned on leaving you.” His words were kinder than I expected.
That did little to extinguish the fire I felt burning throughout my body. If anything, it just made it burn hotter. I wanted to fight now. It didn’t matter that he had come back to me. That he saved me from the Fae. My words were fueled by the burning heat that was causing sweatto break across my forehead. This felt like my moment to strike back at him.
“How was I supposed to know that?” I kept yelling, even as Atlas cursed at me. “All I know is that I’ve been ripped away from my home and almost killed several times. Several times just from you alone, and you expect trust? That is not?—”
“Calm down!” Atlas finally yelled, reaching out a hand to tug me closer to him.
The movement felt like a bucket of water was thrown over me. My anger sputtered out as I watched Atlas rush past me, stomping out the small flames that had started to spread across the grass.
That was the second time a fire had started in the meadow. Did the Fae have control over the elements like they did over my mind? That was a sad attempt at scaring us after what Atlas had said to them.
Silence stretched between us now. Our ragged breaths broke the quiet of the meadow. Even the animals I had grown so accustomed to had vanished. I rubbed my chest. The ember hadn’t fully vanished like it did before. Instead, it felt like smoldering coals sitting like bricks in my chest, waiting for the smallest thing to set them ablaze again.
“We were being followed.” Atlas broke the silence, for once avoiding my gaze. “I thought it was a coincidence, but they never left. They were hunting us. You were already freaked out. So, I figured it would just be easier to leave you and take care of it myself. I know you don’t trust me, and you have every right not to. I still never planned on leaving you.”
I watched him as he walked over to our things before glancing over to the blackened grass. The more things here that tried to kill me, the realer everything was starting to feel. Atlas handed my cloak over to me without another word. As soon as I grabbed it, he turned, walking back into the forest.
It turned out I did end up going the right way. Mostly. I was sure whatever path Atlas had planned would’ve completely avoided the Fae. After only a few hours of walking, we were faced with the ocean. Ouractual destination was the wooden dock stretched out in front of us. I couldn’t have cared less about it. My only focus was the endless water spread out in front of us.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Other side of Feycrest.”
“Where?” I questioned again, not seeing any other land between us.
“This is just a river separating the land in two. We’ll take a boat to a dock closer to Kilrest.”
