Page 57 of Burdened Bonds
We follow what I think must be paths cut through the scrub by mountain goats. They weave up the hillsides, only wide enough for us to walk one behind the other and soon we’re trudging through snow, more of it blowing in our faces and catching in my eyelashes. To my surprise, despite the bitter conditions, our progress is fair, and before long we’re high above the land below. I stop to catch my breath and gaze down through the falling snow. The valley and the land – the few buildings that bedeck them – are small and tiny like pieces on a chessboard. As if I could reach out and pick them up with my hand.
Renzo places the sleeping Pip, wrapped in a bundle of blankets, on the ground, and comes to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my middle and resting his chin on my shoulder.
“You see all that, little rabbit, I think it could all be yours.” I frown, unclear what he means. “I think you could have it all if you wanted to.”
“I … I don’t understand.”
“It never occurred to you, little rabbit?”
“What?”
“You’re special. The black Prince’s daughter. Maybe you’re the one who should be ruling this country. Not thechancellor. Not the authorities. Not Lowsky or those jerks from the West. You, little rabbit.”
I frown harder and push him away. Is this why he wants me? The real reason?
“With you by my side, I suppose. Ruler of all the land.”
“Yes, little rabbit. We could rule it all,” he says, not hearing the sarcasm in my voice.
“And my other mates?”
“You’re angry?” He attempts to grab my hand.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say, with irritation, reaching down to pick up Pip. “Let’s keep moving. It’s freaking freezing out here.”
I hug my coat around Pip and hold him close to my body – partly to ensure he’s warm and partly because he’s acting like a mini hot-water bottle.
We climb some more. The terrain becoming steeper and more craggy, large, jagged rocks frame our path, the snow deeper, my breath hanging in clouds in front of my face. I can see the peak of this first mountain above us, the ridges of it sharp against the sky like the tooth of a predator piercing the silver clouds. It makes me shudder, but we don’t stop. Soon we’re scurrying over and down the other side, the valley and the land lost behind us, and we enter the heart of the mountains, more peaks rising up in front of us.
Renzo tugs a bottle of water from his bag and insists I drink, before taking a swig himself and then pouring a little into Pip’s mouth. Pip wriggles in my arms, his eyes screwed shut, but he gulps it down. I murmur some words of comfort to him, kissing his head, as that strange dream rumbles around my mind.
And it’s in that moment that a roar pierces the silent night, so loud, so fierce, it shakes the ground beneath our feet.
24
Stone
I know as soonas Winnie’s tin-can of a car screeches to a halt in the meadow that Rhi isn’t there and I flop forward and bury my head in my hands. This is fucking hopeless. We’re fucking hopeless. What kind of fucking useless fated mates are we if we can’t even find our girl?
“She’s not here,” I say to Winnie, because Azlan must already know.
“Okay,” Winnie says, nodding, her hands still poised on the steering wheel. “Okay. Well, we knew that was most likely going to be the case, but it was worth a try and I say we still search the place.”
I lift my head from my hands and attempt to peer out of the window. It’s covered in a layer of thick grime but through it I can just about make out Rhi’s house, the one she was living in when we found her. I only caught a glimpse ofit that day but it definitely didn’t look like this – the front door kicked in, the windows all smashed, the walls marked with soot. It looks like someone tried to burn the place down. Anger spirals through my veins. What bunch of fuckers did that to her home? I doubt they’ve left anything intact, anything behind.
“I think we’re going to find jack shit in there,” I say, but Winnie’s not to be deterred. She’s out of the driver’s seat and already striding to the house.
“Woah, there, Miss speedy pants,” I hiss, jogging to her side and grabbing her arm. “Less haste, more speed, okay? There may be some … unsavory types lurking inside.”
“In there?” she says with skepticism, pointing to the wreck of the house. She has a point. It isn’t exactly the ideal hang-out spot.
I probe for any whirring minds lurking inside and I find nothing. “I can’t hear anyone,” I tell my friend. “You wanna check?”
I keep a hold of Winnie’s arm and let Azlan pass through the doorway first. We hear his heavy boots stomping through the building and then he calls out, “All clear.”
Winnie yanks her arm from my grip and hurries inside and I shove my hands in my pockets and follow after her.
I’m intrigued to see where Rhi lived. The girl is still a goddamn mystery to me – so many things I don’t know about her. I’m sure this house will reveal all sorts of things to me. But I’m also reluctant to step inside. Someone has violated her home, and it’s like they’ve violated Rhi herself. It makes me feel sick.
