Page 8 of Fractured
“Yes,” I said, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to speak, but my voice came out. Dry and small and cracking, but it was there.
“Are you?—”
“Put me down, Rune,” I said, and I tried to push at his chest to convince him that I had strength in these limbs. I did. I could stand on my own, damn it. I didn’t need to be a burden, not now.
Not while we were running.
Rune let go, eyes wide and unblinking, his hands on my shoulders still as he looked at me and waited, like he wasexpecting me to collapse to the ground any second. By some miracle, I didn’t.
“I’m fine,” I told him, even if I wasn't entirely sure of the fact. “Where…where is…?”
Helid.
The memory of his face, his beard, his bewildered eyes—find the mirror.
My breath caught and my heart skipped beats, too many to count.
“Listen to me, Wildcat. We need to move. Can you move?”
Rune was there, hands on my shoulders, eyes full of concern locked on mine. He breathed as heavily as I did, and he didn’t look exactly afraid, but he was urging me to get my shit together fast.
I nodded. “I can. I can.” I’d move all night if I had to—just as long as we got the hell away from this place.
“We—”
A sharp whistle cut through the air, and we both whipped our heads to the side to see where it came from.
Hessa, who’d discarded her white dress and now wore brown leggings and a white shirt.
Hessa, who was standing in front of these huge dark trees.
Where the hell are we?
“Time’s running out!” she shouted.
She was no longer crying.
“Let’s go,” Rune said, and with my hand in his, he ran toward Hessa. My legs followed. I searched my surroundings, trying to see where we were, and I saw the golden palace of the Seelie Court just beyond these smaller buildings I could have sworn we were where the help lived that I’d passed once in search for Rune’s forge.
No queen. No soldiers. No Lyall.
So much didn’t make sense to me right now, yet I was getting calmer by the minute because Rune was with me. My hand was in his and we were together, and whatever the fuck just happened in that cursed place, it was over. We were running away.
Then there was Hessa.
Her eyes were glossy even though her cheeks were dry. There was blood on her skin, over cuts that had long healed, and her hair was a mess, but she looked focused. She looked…loaded.
And when we were close enough, she turned around and slipped into the tree line.
Silence around us. I strained my ears as we went through the dense forest, but I couldn’t even pick up the sound of animals or leaves rustling, like I did once. Like I did when I was with Maera.
I could have sworn that that was a lifetime ago. I could have sworn that I wasnotthe same person tonight.
A carriage surrounded by trees on a gravel path that barely fit the large wooden wheels.
A single white horse was attached to it.
Hessa was looking at Rune, her voice unwavering, her eyes unblinking. “Will you take the reins?”
