53

Bad Guys Close In

“What soldiers?” It’s the first thing Reven’s said since we walked in the room.

“Camped out all along the forest’s edge. I had to come into the woods from the north to avoid them,” Cain explains. “It added to what took me so long.”

We don’t even need to ask why. All the tents, the soldiers at the temple, the arrival of the general—none of this was accidental. Does that mean Vos had to skirt them, too? I don’t dare toss that in with the questions. Reven no doubt is thinking the same thing. However, the more immediate threat is the soldiers.

Are they coming for me? No. Eidolon already has the Enfernae princess who’ll manifest a soul power. No need to come for me. They must be coming for Reven. Or to clear out the Shadowood. Or both.

“How close are they?” Reven’s voice has dropped to a snarl now. Soft. Vicious. “They’re not touching the veil yet. I’d know.”

“You sure about that?” Vos snipes, only to close his mouth with a snap as Reven’s sharp-eyed glare cuts to him.

Cain watches the exchange with interest, his speculative gaze sliding to me. “They’re camped outside the forest. These trees back up to the channel between Tyndra and Savanah?”

I shouldn’t be surprised that he knows the layouts of the other dominions.

“Yes,” Vos confirms.

“Well, the army is positioned along your eastern border, not quite to the channel. I don’t know how far south they go.”

“They came from the south,” Reven says darkly.

In his voice, I can hear what he’s not saying. We’re surrounded with no way out.

No matter which way we go, we’re trapped. The Devourers wait in the ocean on one side, Eidolon’s soldiers on the other—many of whom now have a personal vendetta against me. After all, I killed a lot of them and sank their boats. But they were in Little Tyndra getting ready for something big long before we showed up to be captured.

“They’ve come for me,” Reven says, echoing my thoughts. He gives me a significant glance, and I know where he’s going with this. The king has figured out where his Shadows have been hiding. And he has Tabra.

Now we’re all out of time.

“What are they waiting on?” Vos mutters, more to himself than the rest of us.

Then his gaze slides to Cain and he’s frowning. “How did you get through the veil, anyway?”

Cain stares at the man, brows lowering as he thinks. “I don’t know. One minute, I was wandering in circles. The next, it was like a smoky mist cleared, and everything turned lighter with moonlight. I stepped through. Then I walked maybe ten minutes before being picked up by your sentries.”

Trying not to wince or look at Reven, I’m well aware that the timing lines up with what we were busy doing.

“Meren.” Reven’s voice is hard, but a sensation that is almost a gentle caress steals through my scar, and that’s what makes me look at him. He swallows, his face full of stony regret. “I can’t get you to your sister, not even the way I travel.”

My eyes go wide. He can’t? In other words, the Shadows won’t let him. Has he been standing here trying to get me away this entire time while I thought he was pouting?

“We have two more days—”

The look in his eyes cuts off that hope. “One day. It took me and Vos a whole day just to get you here.”

I was out that long? How did they even keep me alive? I close my eyes, breathing out slowly. Tabra. Her wedding to Eidolon is tomorrow. Even if we could somehow deal with what’s coming for us here, I’ve failed her. I didn’t keep her safe from the real danger.

Now the monster’s henchman is at our gates. It’s too late.

I open my eyes and nod my understanding. Omma’s voice sounds in my head with one of her many lessons. When there seems to be no other way, think of one thing you can do.

I set aside Tabra for now and focus on the immediate threat. “Are the soldiers close enough to the shadows that we could spy on them from safety?”

“No.” Reven’s face descends into a grim smile that makes the others in the room shift on their feet. “But they’re close enough for me to infiltrate.”

“What would that accomplish?”

“If I can see exactly where they are, where they’re trying to get in, I can try to bolster the veil there. Even better if I can hear their plans.”

No.

I grip the table, keeping the denial inside me. Of course he should do everything in his power to protect the people of the Shadowood. My sudden worry for him shouldn’t be a consideration. Except, if he’s weakened—by me or the way he’s been using his power tonight—can he do it? Assuming the things inside him allow it.

Maybe the Shadows want this, though. They want him captured, want invasion so they can return to Eidolon.

“We’ll go with you,” Horus says, already pushing to his feet, his chair scraping across the floor. “We can wait in the trees, behind the veil, in case you need help.”

Vos, despite still being visibly pissed, nods. Tziah takes her place at Vos’s side. And Cain straightens as well.

My gaze slides to the man beside me. My friend, who even after discovering my years of lies still risked his life to rescue me. Who wants me to stay with the Wanderers at his side. Maybe that would have worked. Once. Before. Even sitting here, the pull of familiarity, of home and someone I’ve always trusted and liked, tugs at me. Hard to resist.

But the way I feel about the Shadowraith with a savior complex who is standing across the room tugs harder. Now is not the time to address the situation with him. With either of them. So I stay quiet.

“I need you both here,” Reven finally says to Horus and Vos, the words heavy. “If I’m captured…” He doesn’t have to finish that thought. We all know what it means.

“You can’t go alone,” Vos insists.

“I won’t. Meren will come with me.”

I startle, and at the same time, pretty much every other person in the room erupts in some version of “the hells you say.” Cain maybe the loudest.

But I know Reven. Or at least I’ve come to realize that he never does anything without a reason. “Why me?” I ask through the jumble of protests.

I imagine, for a split second, his gaze softens. He softens. Only, in the next instant, that’s gone, replaced by bleak truth. “Because I may need you to pull me out.”

Oh.

Not for my glass spikes or the need to keep me near so he can protect me, but because of our scars and the shadows that bind us, anchor us to each other. He’s worried he won’t be able to hold back the Shadows.

I can see that he’s hating himself for having to ask, even though his expression doesn’t remotely shift. “I’ll come.”

“I don’t think that’s a good—”

“It’s done.” I cut both Vos and Cain off.

Maybe, just maybe, I catch a glint of surprise in Reven’s brooding gaze.

Doesn’t he realize I stopped fighting him days ago? We’re only stronger together. Even with what we both are.

“We need more of a plan than this,” Cain tries to insist.

“We already have one,” Reven says, then looks over my head at Vos, who nods, I guess, which tells me they’re prepared for something, at least, though I don’t know what.

“Ready?” Reven says to me.

But I have things that need taking care of, too. I spin back to Cain, my hand on his arm. “If something happens tonight— Actually, no matter what happens tonight, I need you to get to my sister and try to convince Tabra to get away from Eidolon. She needs to hide. With your father, in a different dominion, whatever. Just keep her out of the king’s hands.”

All the rest of it won’t matter a damn if Eidolon uses her for whatever he has planned. Goddess, I wish we knew for sure that it’s her he wants. Knew anything for sure at this point. Why did none of the previous twins do more to figure out his endgame? All they did was hide and react.

Cain steps into me, eyes as hard as onyx. A warrior’s eyes. “I didn’t come all this way to lose you again.”

“You are my best friend,” I whisper to him. “I will always love you. I hope you know that.”

I ignore both the clawing hole of silence behind me and the way Cain stiffens against me. “Don’t do this,” he says to me.

I pull back, gripping his arms to look him directly in the eyes. “I’m not the city waif you thought I was.”

“I know—”

I cut him off with a shake of my head. “You taught me so many things, especially how to survive. How to fight. As a princess of Aryd, even if I’m not the queen, it is my responsibility to fight now. Fight for these people. Fight to save my sister if it’s not too late. Fight for Aryd and against Eidolon. Don’t hold me back now. Not when your friendship is a large part of who I am. This is me. I have to go.”

The look in Cain’s eyes shifts and changes with his reactions—denial, pride, and eventually resignation.

“Promise me you’ll fight to keep yourself safe, too,” he says. “Don’t be a hero, Meren.”

It’s a promise I couldn’t make to Reven. I can’t make it to Cain now, either, and he knows it. Which is why I say nothing, and, after a moment, he nods.

Then looks over my head, gaze turning stony and jaw tight. “Keep her safe.”

I don’t know what Reven’s reaction is. He doesn’t say anything. I squeeze Cain one more time and step away, turning to face the man who, not even hours ago, I gave myself to. Who was just inside me. Who introduced me to the world of pleasure with tenderness in his eyes and his touch…and then shut me out.

“Let’s go,” he says.