I reach for my wrist, grabbing the area where the bloodstone threads Hector gave me should sit. They’re gone.
No.
My mind races as I scramble to remember when I could have lost them. I know I had them this afternoon. The fight. I must have dropped them in the alehouse, or maybe outside.
Rain raps against the roof and pours through that damn hole as I lean back against the icy wall and consider whether I could find the threads tomorrow if I retrace my steps. But the likelihood of finding something so small, especially after this storm, is slim. Maybe I should be glad that it has been taken from me, and I will not be able to give in to the temptation to cast that cursed magic. Instead, it feels like I’m missing something important.
None of this would matter if I had stolen a horse and provisions and attempted a journey to the pool without Everly. Knowing that people kill horse thieves has kept me from acting on it. And well, I still believe I will find Everly.
Besides, I stillneedEverly. Without her, I’ll never be able to return to the present…or to Hector.
With every day that passes, I worry more and more that something terrible may have happened to my friend or that she is in trouble and needs my help. If any harm has come to her, I will never forgive myself. Cenric would never forgive me either.
Tightness wraps around my chest and squeezes as I stare down at my black hands, wondering again why all of this is happening. Why the high gods would finally grant me the ability to heal with Kyanite magic only to have that light extinguished by my Bloodstone magic.
Though my bloodstone-infused threads are gone, the darkness is not.
It is as alive as ever.
Every day, another piece of me fades, and the darkness claims more space in my heart.
If I do not get to the pool soon, there will be nothing left of me to renew. And by then, I fear I may no longer care.
ChapterThree
When I was a child, Mother would often wear a shawl instead of a cloak. Today, as I walk through the streets, wearing one like hers, I think about Mother. Remember Mother. The sound of her voice. The way she always smelled like jasmine. I would do nearly anything to have her near me right now.
After last night’s fight inside—and outside—the alehouse, I was forced to alter my disguise. I wrapped my hands with strips of cloth and donned a shawl that someone forgot on a bench.
Even with my hands covered, I keep them close to my body. They are my curse, my darkness, the shadows stealing more and more of my light.
As I make my way through the busy streets, my heart beats faster with every step. Maybe today is the day I finally find Everly.
Guide me, Olah.
Take me to my friend, please.
I ask every person I come across if they have seen a young woman with brown hair and blue eyes, but no one gives me a satisfying answer.
Desperation needles into my skin as I glare at the sky, hating that I still haven’t found her.
I lean against a stone building, allowing its shadow to embrace me.
Everly, where are you?
The thunderous clatter of horses’ hooves carries to where I stand. Drawn by the rhythmic clamor, I move away from the building’s edge and watch the warriors riding by. Elation fills my chest when I see their gray surcoats with the serpent coat of arms stamped in the center.
They are all Bloodstone.
My heart quickens as I scan their faces, searching, needing to set eyes on Hector. Near the front of the group, I recognize Cenric’s long dark hair and the set of his shoulders. My gaze jerks to the man to his immediate right.
Hector!
My pulse throbs in my ears as I take in his black hair, his hard jaw, the sternness of his brow. He looks like he did when we first met after Luc kidnapped me. Serious. Unapproachable.
My skin tingles with the urge to stroke the side of his face, to watch the seriousness melt away, to see his blue eyes change from cold to warm.
I trail the warriors until they stop outside an alehouse—thankfully, not the one where my former self is likely hard at work, nor the establishment from last night—and go inside. Everything in me screams to follow them and approach Hector, to renew my bond with him, to lessen the growing darkness.
