Page 76 of Beneath the Flames
Rhydian was still asleep, his head resting against the rough wall of the cabin, mouth slightly agape.My eyes were just starting to slip closed again when he jerked awake, his fingers momentarily tightening in my hair.Muscles tensing, I waited for the moment that he got angry that I had slept in his lap, waiting for him to yank me off him.But that moment never came.That strange warmth bubbled hotter when I felt him relax, his fingers beginning to stroke my hair instead.
What is happening?
I pretended to still be asleep, not ready to let go of this unfamiliar feeling.
“I know you’re awake,” his deep voice rumbled quietly a few minutes later.“Even with depleted magic, I can feel your emotions are far too chaotic for you to be truly asleep.”There was a trace of amusement in his voice.
Holding back a groan, I pushed off his lap and sat up, unable to meet his gaze.
“Sorry,” I said, though I wasn’t exactly sure what I was apologizing for.
Rhydian’s face twisted in confusion, staring at me as if he were trying to decipher the wild things happening in my head thatIdidn’t even understand.I did my best to put space between us, but with the way the cot sank in the middle, it wasimpossible.
Finally, he cleared his throat and got to his feet, stretching his limbs.“We should get going.It’s a long journey back to the castle.”
I didn’t feel nearly rested enough to climb back down a mountain, but what choice did we have?
“You really can’t just Flash us back to the castle?”I asked, hoping his magic had somehow returned to full strength after that measly amount of rest.My legs were still wobbly noodles, and my stomach felt like it was eating itself from how hungry I was.I hadn’t eaten in at least a day—it was hard to say for sure since I still couldn’t read the moons—and if I didn’t get something in my stomach soon, it felt like I might pass out, and then he’d have to carry me back.
Rhydian’s eyes glanced at me for a split second before he held his palms out to me.Nothing happened.“I really can’t.”His magic still hadn’t replenished.
“But you turned the monster into confetti.”The memory of watching the gold specks flutter to the ground was ingrained in my brain.I saw it every time I closed my eyes, like it was burned to the back of my eyelids.If I had thought his magic was terrifying before, it was nothing compared to now.
“Yes, well,turning the monster to confettitook all I had left.More than I had left.I haven’t used magic like that since…before.”
“Before?”
“Before the curse was placed on me.”
“Then how did you do it?”
He scowled, the expression clear even in the dark cabin.“I don’t know.”His shoulders were bunched by his ears, and he stalked back and forth in the tiny space, radiating frustration.
“For living here your entire life, you sure don’t know muchabout this place.”
He jerked to a halt, turning to face me.“Not everything has an explanation, Maren.At least not one I can give you.Accept it.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
We glared at each other for a few long seconds until Rhydian let out a sigh.
“We need to go.”He rummaged in his bag before he slung it over his shoulder and headed for the door.Something caught the light of the moons as he tossed it at me.I barely caught it before it hit the floor.It was a small roll of bread.“Once we get to the bottom, the cave we sheltered in on the way here is about an hour’s walk.”He slid knowing eyes to my stomach.“We’ll eat more then.”
As if in answer, my stomach growled so loud that my cheeks heated.Rhydian quirked a brow, the barest twitch to his lips, and he left the cabin.
I worried that I had officially lost all feeling in my body as I stepped outside, because the cold no longer seemed quite so bitter or frigid.While it was still freezing, I wasn’t violently shivering like I used to be.Rhydian led the way back the way we came.The path was rocky and narrow, crunching beneath my boots as we worked our way back to the edge of the mountain before we had to climb down.
The diamond-shaped relic was heavy in my pocket, and I fiddled with it inside my coat, fingers roving over the cold metal and the strange small wings sticking off either side.What was it anyway?Rhydian had made it sound like it would help in breaking the curse, but how?
I still didn’t know what to do with it.Did I hand it over to Rhydian and forget everything Carrow had said?Or did I try toget rid of it, hide it somewhere, and pretend to fail like Carrow had asked of me?Rhydian already knew it was in my pocket, so it wasn’t like I could act like I never found it.
Surely if Rhydian was the cruel, terrible Fae that Carrow had suggested, he never would have saved me from the Lavawraith.
But did that mean I trusted him?
I was confused over who to believe, but Rhydian had saved my life on Mount Kharos.If nothing else, he’d earned the relic, the truth.
