Page 39 of Soul of Thorns
Her breathing is deep and deliberate like she’s trying to keep herself calm.
“Is it okay?” I whisper. A strand of her hair bounces with my breath.
“Yes.” She adjusts, settling deeper into my arms.
The crackling of fire is faint in the distance, and the orange glow grows brighter. Soon, the calls of the dead begin.
Moans and groans and whoops swirl in the air around us long before we see any sign of them.
Caelynn’s hand on my forearm clenches and her nails dig into my skin.
“Shh,” I whisper. “Relax. Focus on the magic hiding us. We’ll be fine.”
She nods and relaxes her grip. I can’t let go of the concern that her heart or soul is growing dimmer. That light I saw when I last healed her was so small. A tiny flame in a raging storm.
It wasn’t long ago she promised not to leave me. But I suppose that doesn’t mean she sees any hope for herself. Prior to Reahgan’s attack, she implied living out the rest of her life in these lands wouldn’t be so bad. She said she didn’t have much to live for even outside these walls. I know that was an exaggeration, she had at least one friend outside of the fae world, but she was adamant there was no real future for her there.
But clearly, it’s affecting her.
After a while, her breathing evens out, and her body grows heavy against mine. The magic around the cave mouth flickers, and I wince. Is something wrong? Should I talk to her, shake her?
Her body slumps deeper into mine, muscles relaxed, and a gentle snore escapes her lips. A quiet joy rouses in my chest. She’s asleep. She fell asleep in my arms, and I can’t even express or begin to explain how good it feels.
The rippling over the cave mouth drops completely, leaving only a still blackness. It means we are not protected at all. We are only hidden by the natural darkness and stone walls cocooning us. I keep my gaze sharp, watching for anything out of the ordinary.
We want to remain unnoticed as much as possible. I have the ability to protect us if a wraith came wandering in here. I could even keep them out with a wall of light.
The problem is, I can’t fight them all. And the moment we’re exposed, they’ll all come charging. It’s probably reckless to let her sleep at all. At the very least, we should wait until nearly dawn before we allow our shield to drop, then she could sleep the last hour or two of the night and a few into the morning, leaving us plenty of time in the day to make our move on the spell book.
But I don’t dare rouse her. I justify my choice by the fact that I need her at full strength to fight by my side. Caelynn is impressively powerful and resilient and smart. She is a better ally than I could have hoped for.
I silently thank fate for the day she was thrust on me in the trials. I had no choice but to accept her. If it weren’t for that, I’d never have gotten to know her. I may have even killed her without knowing the truth.
The orb would have shown me, though. Assuming I’d survived the maze trial.
I can’t even imagine what that would have done to me—if I’d killed her like I’d wanted and then found out she was my mate.
It would have haunted me for the rest of my life. How? Why? I don’t think I could have come up with a reasonable answer, and certainly nothing close to the truth.
I take in a long breath. She is mine now. I didn’t complete my goal of killing her. Instead, I got to know her and my life was flipped upside down.
And now, I have her in my arms.
Things, obviously, are not ideal, but there is no way I’d go back and change anything about the trials. Maybe afterward, but that’s something else entirely.
Before my thoughts can go too far off the rails, I readjust my frame of mind to the now. Tomorrow, we could be done with this mission one way or another. Pass or fail. Live or die.
Moving quickly is likely our best course of action. Once we plan on crossing the fire, we should strike. Rush over the next obstacle—a swamp of unknown origin or purpose. Followed by a small forest, or maybe just a couple of trees, the map isn’t all that clear. Lastly, the single mountain in the middle. The spell book is said to be hidden inside. If we can cross the fire wall and then rush over the swamp, through the trees, and climb up the mountain quickly, we may be able to reach the book before the Night Terror is even aware.
My right arm begins to tingle, growing uncomfortable and numb. My back is growing sorer as time passes. It’s likely been an hour or two since she fell asleep. I shift awkwardly, not wanting to wake her but desperately needing to relieve my own discomfort.
Caelynn jerks in my arms. Dammit.
She leaps up, nearly knocking her head on the stone ceiling. She hisses and spins in a crouch with a feral expression. The shadow wall slams back into place over the cave mouth. “You let me sleep?”
I give her a guilty expression but then smile. “Sorry?” I shrug innocently.
“Don’t you realize how dangerous that is?”
