Page 97 of A Thief to Die For

I bury my face in his bare chest, and we stay like that until our fast breaths slow down and begin to sync. I don’t want to let him go. Ever. Soren almost – ‘Wait. Are you okay?’ I ask. ‘Did he cut you? I saw him hit your head.’

‘No stab wounds,’ he says, looking like he wants to pull me back to him.

Do it.

But then something shutters over his eyes. He backs up and rises to his feet. I watch as his muscles stiffen, first his fists, then the planes of his face. Now he won’t look at me, seemingly fascinated by the ground.

Really? Even after that? My face heats, then cools as rejection comes swiftly.

Rufus strides to the edge of the cliff and peers over. ‘Well, he’s dead.’

I glance at the forest, feeling like I’m bleeding, haemorrhaging from somewhere important – my broken heart. I slip on a stoic mask, like a piece of armour. Even my next words come out as if reporting for duty. ‘The whip snapped. It shouldn’t have, but Soren cut it when he attacked me.’

‘He deserved it,’ Ryland says. ‘He was trying to kill us so we can’t report it to Atlas.’

That’s the first time I’ve heard Ryland not call him the Commander. I nod and swallow back the sickness twisting my guts at Soren’s betrayal. His death. ‘Speaking of Atlas – Agatha is with him.’

At the mention of my sister, a muscle twitches in Ryland’s cheek – what does that mean?

‘You said they’re marching on Kingsland?’ he prompts.

‘Yes.’ I take a breath. ‘When you … bonded with Agatha, she saw how to get there.’

‘I didn’t –’ His head rears back. Slowly, his eyes shutter. ‘She was touching me when I woke. She must have seen the memory of what I was thinking. Dreaming. Somehow. But I didn’t show her anything. Not on purpose. I wouldn’t have …’

Why not? I hate how desperate I am to know the answer. How I hold my breath at the thought of him changing his mind about me, about Agatha.

Stop it. He’s made his choice.

I study Halkirk Tower as it smoulders beside us. The bed of rock it’s built on should keep the fire contained. ‘The Commander wants your coal-powered machinery. Electricity. Magic. And anything else he can get his hands on. He has Agatha’s bombs, all our catapults, and unless you have the same kind of weapons, bows and arrows won’t stand a chance against them. He’ll annihilate the people in Kingsland, then capture it. Our best chance is to stop him before he gets there.’

‘You’ll come with me?’ Ryland asks. ‘To stop them?’

‘I’m in,’ says Rufus.

‘No, you’re not,’ Ryland says to him. His steady gaze doesn’t waver from me, waiting for my answer.

‘Yes, I’ll come’ I say. ‘Me confronting Atlas is long overdue.’

After checking the Northeast point cliff and finding no sign of Lucky, dead or alive, I collect our horses and Ryland’s gear, then lead him through one of my secret raiding paths – though I’m not sure the secrecy was needed. I saw almost no guards left on duty. Atlas must have taken nearly all of them with him, leaving Notting with barely a defence.

With extreme caution, Ryland and I search for Samuel and Levi’s camp, hidden somewhere on the outskirts of militia territory. Ryland whistles and soon the sound is returned.

For the first time in a while, Ryland and I make eye contact, the message clear: be alert. Our already nocked bows take aim in the direction of the sound as our horses walk closer.

‘About time you made it out here,’ Samuel grumbles. He appears slowly from behind a bush. But instead of lowering his bow and arrow, he scans the horizon with it, looking for anyone who followed us. ‘The kid thought you’d show up yesterday. Tell me you won that contest.’

The tension on Ryland’s face doesn’t break at being united with his friend, which surprises me.

‘Long story, and yes,’ he says, as he steps down from his horse.

I do the same but stop when I see the dim outline of not one but two men sitting around the pit of an unlit fire. The first man is tall. And he looks a lot like –

‘Lucky?’ I ask.

The man stands, and – by saints – it is my friend. We collide in a painful hug, his wiry frame wrapping around me. ‘H-how did you –?’ I sputter. ‘I thought … I looked …’

‘You thought I was dead and dragged away by an animal?’ He smirks, looking over at Levi beside him. ‘Nah. But I did hurt my arm, trying to catch myself on a root. Twisted my ankle too.’