54

A Tear in the Veil

“Stop here.” Reven puts a hand out, taking me by the arm, his touch utterly impersonal.

His Shadows may not let him take me to Tabra, but they don’t seem to have a problem with zipping through the Shadowood. The thought that maybe this is what they want tickles again at the back of my mind.

Regardless, we’re here already. We stand at the border suddenly, inside the tree line by a solid thirty feet, the veil of Reven’s shroud between us and what’s out there.

Through the haze and layers of trees, I can make out the glitter of fires. Many fires.

“Mother goddess,” I breathe. “Seems like overkill. There’s only a hundred of us. How many soldiers do they need to wipe out one village?”

“We’re three hundred strong, not counting the children,” Reven says.

That many? I hadn’t realized.

“The shadows are their own deterrent, and Quinten is no fool.” His lips form into a silent snarl. “No doubt he has orders to take me alive.” Without turning his gaze from the camp, Reven says, “Unless I tell you to, do not move past this point, or the veil can’t hide you. Understand?”

An order? Really?

I’d argue, but it strikes me in the next second that he is about to risk his life in the enemy’s camp. He doesn’t need other distractions or worries right now. Including me. “I won’t move unless you call me out.”

He finally faces me then and brings a hand around the back of my neck in an unexpected, possessive move that shoots molten, silken heat straight through me. I don’t want to react like that, though—not after the way he’s shut me off.

He tips my chin up with his thumb. “Definitely trouble,” he mutters. His voice is a knife’s edge, like he doesn’t like that he touched me at all.

“You’d miss me if I left.”

His fingers curl into my skin before he places a hard and fast kiss on my lips, then steps back and suddenly disappears into the night. Shadows don’t curl up around him. His body doesn’t disintegrate or melt into the dark like a mountain blanketed in mist. He’s just…gone.

“I’d love to have that trick,” I mutter.

At least I can still feel him in the darkness inside me—though fainter when he’s not solid. My scar feels like it pulls tighter with each passing second, the drag on the skin around it stretching to the point of discomfort.

I search the camp for any sign of him out there, wishing that I could see more than the vague shapes of the tents and the flickering flames of the campfires. How am I helping by hiding back here?

I listen, waiting for a shout of warning. Waiting for the frenzied sounds of a struggle. But maybe the shadows are muffling the outside world, because silence surrounds me. Almost like the forest is aware that danger lurks nearby and has stilled to avoid notice.

Reven’s suddenly beside me again, forming out of darkness. “They’re not here.”

“Not here?” I snap my gaze from him back to the camp, not comprehending because what he’s saying makes no sense. “What do you mean?”

Hands on his hips, he drops his head forward in thought. “The camp is empty. Not a single man in sight and tents all a wreck. It’s like they left in a hurry.”

I’m shaking my head. “But where could they possibly—”

The blast of a horn echoes through the woods. Only this time, I know what it means, and it sends the fear of the goddesses straight through me. Another breach. Then another horn sounds. And another. Until they are echoing in the trees and in my head.

Reven doesn’t wait. He grabs my hand, and we’re engulfed in shadow only to land right in front of our friends as they rush out of the meeting room.

“Cain isn’t the only one who got through,” Reven snaps. “Get to your posts. Eidolon’s army is inside the Shadowood.”