Page 26 of Frost Like Night
Jesse shook his head. “No. We have no reason to return.” He paused. “For now.”
Giselle bobbed her head. “Excellent. Shall we?”
She pressed on to the dock, leaving a few of her men to make sure no one useful to her tried to scamper off into Rintiero. Ceridwen would have spared a few more scowls for her if not for Jesse, on this road,here.
The darkness of night and the appearance of storm clouds made it difficult for her to grasp his image, so she could almost dismiss him as a dream. His hair swung untamed and the sleeves of his black shirt were rolled to his elbows, showing the way his forearms clenched the bow.
He cleared his throat and slid the arrow back into his quiver.
The soldiers around them bore the usual Yakimian air of detachment and Lekan stood silent against her, which made Ceridwen feel suddenly as though she and Jesse were alone. Heat throbbed in her head, dizzying and unnameable.Anger? Relief? She didn’t know what she felt.
She just knew he looked . . . different.
Jesse cleared his throat again. “I found the wagon. I didn’t think Giselle would be bold enough to dock where she always does when she visits, but I had to try. I had to . . . save you.”
Ceridwen shifted Lekan’s weight. “I don’t need saving.”
Jesse swung forward to hook Lekan’s other arm around his neck, taking some of his weight.
“No, you don’t need to help me,” Lekan protested, leaning into Ceridwen more.
“Please,” Jesse cut him off. “Let me.”
But his eyes were on Ceridwen.
She couldn’t breathe.
“Your . . . your children?” she dared ask. Her voice grew in strength. “And the Winterians? Did you hear anything of them? How did you even escape?”
She and Jesse started hobbling Lekan toward the dock, slow work that gnawed at Ceridwen’s spine. The sooner they got onto Giselle’s boat, the sooner she could find a place to be alone, away from Jesse.
She had ended her relationship with him. And the only reason she had intended to go back for him was to right Raelyn’s injustices. Ceridwen had been prepared to see him under those circumstances, when she would have been the savior and he the one who needed her.
She was not prepared for . . . this.
Jesse winced at the mention of his children but seemed to physically force back his worry for them. “They’re fine. The Winterians too, actually. They helped me escape. We all split apart, but we’re to meet at your refugee camp.”
The tension around his mouth lifted into his eyes.
Ceridwen choked.
That was why he looked different. He wasn’t wearing a mask.
When he saw her studying him, the corners of his eyes lifted.
“I broke it,” he whispered. “My mask. It’s over, with Raelyn.”
Ceridwen couldn’t remember when she had last taken a full breath. Before Jesse had shown up, most likely, and she wheezed now, flashes of light spinning in her vision.
He had broken his mask. He had ended his relationship with Raelyn.
He did it. He finally did what she had wanted him to do for so long that the wish had become a permanent knot inside her heart.
But he hadn’t done it untilnow. After Ceridwen had left him. After Raelyn had revealed herself to be dangerous.
They reached the boat, a plank of wood leading them from the dock to the ship’s deck. A pile of empty sacks sat in a corner, and as they lowered Lekan onto it, Jesse squatted next to him, his eyes boring into Ceridwen’s.
She couldn’t look at him. Not now, while Lekan neededher, while Angra’s war still raged—while she wanted to hate Jesse. Flame and heat, she wanted to hate him so much—and as soon as she recognized that need, it roared strong and aching through her body.
