I breathed deeply, my hand in his pocket trembling. “All the power of this world,” I decided, my words breathy. “Power over you, and Helki, and Vale, and Fjor, and Andel. Control of all the people you have control over. Command of all the guards and Sentinels in uniform. The resources you have. The food, the ships. Everything that’s yours.”
“Lofty.” He chuckled, his thumb shifting again.
“So that I won’t ever need you for anything again,” I finished, my breath hiccupping as he brushed my soul mark.
“Here is a good enough place to camp,” he decided, pulling away from me.
He dropped the chain, extracting his pocket from my grip. I felt him move away and I quickly unwrapped my lead, bundling it in my hand as I heard them walking away from me. I took a step, and then another. Hesitant. Slow.
Damn him.
I held my arms out, the chain dangling from my hand. Something rough brushed my fingertips and I jumped, before realising it was only a tree. I moved around it. I could sense them near, Vidrol’s power still caressing the air. I took another step, and then another, but something wrapped around my ankle, yanking me to the ground. I fell across two long legs.
They were lying down, or at least sitting down, with their backs to the trunks of trees.
“Sleep,” Andel ordered. “Your body will never arrive at Hearthenge if you don’t rest it and allow your feet to heal.”
“I need shoes.”
“There are no cobblers in Forsjaether,” he informed me—unnecessarily. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t get you some. What will you trade, Tempest?”
I shut my mouth, curling onto my side, the sticks of the forest floor scratching against the skin of my waist left bare by the dress. I pressed my back against Andel’s legs, reaching a hand behind me to grasp the material of his pants. If he moved, or tried to leave me here, I would know.
Except that I didn’t.
I woke up an uncertain amount of time later, flat on my back, the air neither warm nor cold, the forest floor considerably more comfortable beneath me. I passed my hands over myself, unsettled by the blank darkness that permeated my vision. I wore leather riding pants. Boots to my knees. My feet were wrapped in bandages. I touched the silken vest buttoned to my waist, pulling the collar aside to run my fingers across the strap of a luxurious, sectorian bodysuit.
Someone changed my underwear.
I jolted up, my head spinning, panic taking hold of me. I tossed my arms out but felt no legs or limbs. I crawled forward, on hands and knees, my hands searching through the leaves. The wind whipped through my hair, blowing it over my face, turning my head to the left. I glanced that way, my eyes blindly seeking.
I stood, drawn to my feet by an invisible force. The wind was sweet. It whispered to me of a beast named Dragur and a woman with stars in her eyes. I stepped toward the song, hearing the echoes of it drip through me like little droplets of wine, sweet on my tongue, sweeter as they wet my parched throat.
There is a beast in the water,
Talons of lead, death in his eyes.
There is a monster in the mist …
My steps quickened, gliding over the ground, no longer concerned with rocks or sticks.
There is a girl by the water.
I could taste it in the wind—damp, cloying mist. It crawled along my bare arms, sinking through my layers of clothing to whisper along my skin.
There is death in the water.
The mist sank in deeper, drawing me further, slipping beneath my skin until we were one—me and the mist. We floated forwards, our heartbeat doubling, tripling, roaring like a waterfall.
There is a whisper in the water.
I only needed one more step … but an arm wrapped around my waist, drawing me backwards, the words of the prophecy fading away from me, the call of a dying bird, dashed to the wind.
“The water calls to you.”
It was Vale, repeating the very first words he had ever uttered to me. His other arm wrapped around me, and my remaining senses rushed back to me, suddenly flooded with painful sensation.
The simpering wind.
The roaring of the waterfall.
The sound of Edelsten bay … far, far below me.
I inched my boot forward, still held in Vale’s arms, feeling the rough dip of rock, hearing the pebbles beneath the toe of my boot loosen and cascade down … down. I jerked back, pressing myself closer to him, but he suddenly switched his grip, turning me around, his hand fisted in my vest. He shoved me backwards, and I gripped his arms, a cry flying out my throat as he held me over the edge of the cliff. I felt a tear as the delicate silk in his hand gave way, and I wrapped my arms tighter around his.
His fingers loosened, and a horrible realisation crashed into me.
He was going to kill me.
“That’s enough, Vale.”
The command had come from Fjor, standing nearby.
A tear slipped down my cheek, my nails digging into his skin. I could beg, but I wouldn’t.
“I say do it.” This came from Helki, who was standing considerably closer. “All this walking is annoying.”
I released one of his arms, my hand lifting to the air, the word lotte on the tip of my tongue. Vale yanked me back, grabbing my hand and crushing it between us.
“You made a deal, Tempest,” he warned. “You spend five days with us without any distraction and then you choose. You don’t get to run away from that. If you do, you’ll face a much higher price.”
“If you can think about killing me, I can think about running away,” I yelled back, unable to control the panic rising through my voice.
“It’s time,” he replied, still holding me hostage at the edge of the cliff. “I’m done playing by this little girl’s rules. It’s time to make our second wish.”
“We need to be careful,” Andel argued, surprising me. “The more we push her, the more she pushes back. If we enslave her again, she may start trying in vain to kill herself.”
I stilled, my brows drawing tightly together. They thought I was about to deliberately jump off a cliff?
“Do you five just follow me around waiting for everything to align exactly the way you want it? Have you ever thought of cutting out all that bullshit and just asking for what you want?” I shook my head before they could answer. “Never mind, I already know the answer to that. The real question is—why is me deciding who to marry more important than anything else?”
“No, you’re right,” Andel said. “It’s time for the second wish.” He was talking to the others, conveniently skipping over the part of our recent interaction in which I spoke.
I didn’t even bother arguing that they’d already made their wish for me to choose one of them. I no longer cared if they knew I had been eavesdropping.
“How about you move, stop crowding me on the edge of a cliff, and then we talk,” I said, squeezing where I still gripped Vale’s arms.
He grunted, pulling me back in. I thought he would walk away, but he looped the chain back around my neck and I had barely a second to grab hold of his coat before he was walking away. I stumbled after him.
“Who dressed me?” I asked.
“Me.”
It took me a moment to place the grunt. Helki.
“Where did you get the clothes from?”
“No,” he growled out. “I’m done. No more questions. Everyone else in the foreworld is too terrified to look at me, and this twig thinks she can question everything I do? Use the second wish before I cut out her tongue.”