Page 29 of Soul of Thorns
The next thing I realize is that I’m alone. I jerk upright, causing a wave of nausea to wash over me. Where is Rev? I scramble out of the cave, muscles roaring in protest.
“Rev?” I croak through cracked lips. “Rev!” I say louder, risking exposing our hiding place, but I don’t care.
I look up and down the valley we fled to. Ciffsides rise a few hundred feet into the sky, jagged grey stones jutting out here and there, and on the gentle slope of the valley floor, there are a few patches of grey grass. No paths, no sign of life. I don’t even remember getting here. I press my eyes closed. Rev isn’t here. Not at all.
He left me.
Panic rises in my throat.
He asked me to stay behind, and I explained how I couldn’t do that. How it would kill me. But he went anyway. He went to try to save me from the Night Terror. Or maybe it was to take the glory for himself. To say he did it by himself.
I shake my head. It doesn’t matter what his motives are. It doesn’t matter what he feels about me, about the world outside these scarred lands. What matters is that he left, and I am going to find him.
My mind settles enough for me to think things through a tad longer, and I realize my forearm is aching. Throbbing. Burning.
I rip up my sleeve and find an open wound where the wolf clawed me. In my very non-physical panic, I’d forgotten about the injury. I don’t even think it bled, but... my flesh hangs open, blotches of red skin sagging and grey. That’s not a trick of the light, right? It’s not a natural color.
I quickly pull the sleeve back down and push the sick feeling away, a sour taste in my mouth. Rev brought me here then left me behind. Determination swirls in my gut. I’m going to figure this out.
The sky is a scattering of shades of grey with a red tinge. To my right, the sky glows the brightest. Bright red. The flame wall. That’s where he would have headed. I don’t let myself dwell on the what-ifs. If Rev tries and fails to cross the wall. If he’s found by wraiths or worse, that horned creature. I shiver.
No, I focus on the anger. I focus on what I must do.
I sprint in the direction of the red glow.
I will find him, and then I’ll kick his ass for daring to leave me behind.
***
“TELL ME WHY I SHOULDN’Tkill you now, foolish child.” The voice trembles in simmering rage.
I follow voices that mutter angrily just around the corner...
“Do you think she’ll just turn back and do as you wish because my heart has stopped?” Rev asks. “If so, you do not know her very well.”
“Oh, but you do? The mate that rejected her?”
Deep black smoke forming the shape of a man in a wafting cloak comes into view. Anger fuels my magic, swirling in my palm. Ancestor or not, I am ready to destroy him for threatening my mate.
“Move away now, wraith,” I roar, lip curling.
The wraith spins as I pull my arm back to attack. He hisses and twists away from us both, stopping feet away.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, seething.
“Helping,” he says, his eyes narrowed, watching my hand still poised to shoot him with my shadow magic.
“You’ve made it very clear that you are not our ally. So, sorry if I’m hesitant to believe you.”
“I am your ally, Caelynn of the Shadow Court. I am simply not his.” He points to Rev.
“Which makes you my enemy. Now, leave before I kill you.”
“He was just taunting me, Cae.” Rev steps forward, hands up in surrender. “He didn’t—”
“I don’t care what he did or didn’t do.” I bare my teeth at Rev, feeling wild. Hot rage thunders through my veins.Destroy. “And don’t you dare think I’m not also pissed at you.”
“Me?”
