The water closed over our heads, but he fought his way to the surface. I spluttered and blinked damp bits of mane from my eyes. For all his boasting that a Unicorn could swim anything, it hit us like a ton of bricks, and I sensed his physical struggle to keep us afloat.
The water was filled with debris, everything from uprooted trees to boulders and many other things I didn’t look at too closely. A tree rose over us like a giant club, and I raised my hand, as though that would save us...
There was a surge ofsomethingfrom Sebastian, and the massive trunk hesitated before veering away at the last moment.
My heart raced. Was he using energy to divert the worst of the debris away from us? But there was so much of it—and the river spat it rapidly from darkness. Fractions of a second were all he had to keep us from being pulverized.
I remembered how I’d pushed energy to Matt and to Aaron. I freed one hand from his mane and laid it on his soaked neck. And concentrated.
His ears flicked forward and back, and he snorted. The glow of his horn expanded until it lit the surging water for many feet. But I had a sudden sense of things diverting around us, the branches poking from the swirling waves ahead and behind, as the boulders rolled by deep beneath us.
Anna...
The word came out of nowhere, filled with awe. It hadn’t been spoken, but rather, fell into my mind like a caress. Had I imagined it?
He shook his head, and then his hooves hit ground. He lunged through the shallows, dodging the river’s last attempts to take us. With a final leap, he mounted the bank.
We’d been carried far downstream, and now he ducked through trees, searching for the road we’d left behind.
Other than the rhythmic pounding of his hooves and his rapid exhalations, Sebastian ran silent, ears focused on what lay ahead. The twins. My gut twisted at the thought that we were likely going to be too late. That they might vanish into the underworld, and we’d never find them.
I buried my face in the Unicorn’s mane and clung to the mirage of my name whispered into my mind. Surely it had been my imagination. But it had been laced with wonder, awe, and the warmth of an emotion that filled my heart and soul.
And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t match it with the cold and often cranky Bellati that galloped beneath me.
* * *
We followed the tributary into Eras.
Sebastian slowed down to a jog, melting us into the riverbank foliage whenever we came across a midnight stroller. Or more like a staggerer—the vast majority were in a drunken state, searching for a place beneath the trees to sleep it off. The last thing we needed was someone exclaiming they’d seen a Unicorn before we’d even had a chance to figure out where things stood.
Eventually, however, to reach the hotel, we’d have to turn into the city. He stopped, and I slid off.
His slower pace had helped my breathing recover, but my legs were wobbly as hell. I leaned on a tree as Sebastian writhed his way back to human, trying to not ogle.
And not entirely succeeding... His equine form was seriously hung. The human side wasn’t much less impressive.
I ripped my mind out of the gutter in which it seemed determined to permanently reside. As he straightened and grew his silvery hair clothing, I wondered if he would acknowledge what had passed between us during this whirlwind journey.
I blushed. Part of it was pretty embarrassing. But during the river crossing—unless that voice in my head had been my imagination?
Then his eyes met mine, and I was sucked into his pale silver orbs. They were often cold and distant, but now they flared with the inner fire I’d glimpsed in the past. And a pulse of pure energy surged between us, along with a heat that stopped my heart.
I think I also stopped breathing.
Then he blinked, and bent to retrieve his horn from where he’d dropped it. He shoved it into a loop of hair that he grew from his hip, and I handed him his cloak. He slipped it on before gesturing up the street.
“It should be the seventh building from the river.” The familiar, hard-edged voice had me doubting what I’d seen. “If Grievan is here, he’ll have his henchmen everywhere.”
I nodded, my mind racing. Every move we made now counted. As we walked along the dimly lit street, I calculated it must be early morning. I searched the sky for signs of dawn, but the single moon still shone brightly.
Sebastian’s hood was pulled up, as was my own. But it was impossible to disguise his height. A cloaked form loitered in the doorway of a building, and I sensed eyes on us.
The Bellati moved to hug the shadows, but I grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him into me.
He stiffened as I pulled his arm over my shoulders and slung mine around his waist. Then I swayed into him and giggled.
His arm tightened as his hood tilted toward me. But he was no fool—he stagger-stepped a bit and even managed a huffed sound resembling a laugh.
