Page 102 of Omen of ice
He pales, and for a moment, surprise filters down the link. Surprise—and anger. It’s gone within moments, replaced by a cool void of indifference. “I see.”
“If they try to stop me, I will cut them all down.”
“And what of me?”
“You?” I lean close, bringing my face inches from his. We’re breathing the same air, sharing the same space. There’s a vulnerability to it, but also a danger. Either of us could slit the other’s throat with ease. “If you get in my way, I will do the same to you.”
The lie rolls effortlessly off my tongue. It’s so convincing that Valen winces and backs away several steps.
Good.
“If you return that tear to the druids, you’ll start a war.” His voice is hollow. Empty. It’s like he’s reciting some script he’s memorized. “The remaining bits of the human race will be wiped from existence.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a fact, Tania. What’s left of you is no match for the Winter Guard.”
Dropping to my knees, I roll my linens and collect my pack. Tying it all together, I take one last look at Benj and Delkin, who are miraculously still asleep on the other side of the camp. Daroose is gone, and though I wish I could ditch him, he’ll find me eventually. The bridle will see to that. “I can’t stay here. Not with you. Being tied to you might destroy me, Valen, but one good thing will come from it. My people will come back from the brink.”
“Destroy you? A bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
“I’m going on ahead. I’ll meet you in Ventin. Levina will fix this, and then we’ll see where it leads.”
I wait for him to stop me. To say something—anything—to keep me from walking off into the darkness alone. But he doesn’t. And why would he? I just threatened to kill him. Him and his family. His people. Anyone who got in my way.
Whatever is blossoming between us withers in that moment. I feel it die just as plainly as I can now feel the animals and trees around me. The forest takes a collective breath, like it feels the pain as fiercely as I do.
With each step away from camp, my insides grow colder and colder. The farther from Valen I get, the heavier the weight inside my chest becomes. I might think it was guilt eating away at me after all the horrible things I said to him, but deep down, I know it’s the link. While it may have helped bringustogether, it’s tearingmeapart. He’s using his magic. Maybe it’s unintentional. His emotions tend to be a trigger, and if he feels betrayed by the things I said, I might not survive long enough to get to Ventin, much less long enough to get the tear back.
I walk for miles. Navigating the woods in the dark is trickier than it should be, and even with the forest animals’ help, I still manage to fall twice and get my pack caught in a tree.
Has it only been a few months since Levina sent me to the Winter Lands? My entire world has been turned upside down.
The longer I walk, the clearer my head becomes. Valen was wrong. He should have told me the truth right away. But the villain of this story isn’t the Fae with magic—it’s the long-dead Fae without it. I can’t hold him responsible for something a long-dead ancestor did. And all those things I said? I could never hurt him.
I do intend to get the tear back, but what happens if Valen fights me? How far could I really go to take back what belongs to my people? It might get complicated.
I place a hand over my heart. Just thinking about him makes it beat faster. I can’t love him, but my feelings for him are strong. Far stronger than they’ve ever been for another. I want him safe and happy. If love is much more than that, then I don’t know how people survive it. Simply caring about someone pulls you in too many directions.
I make it several miles from our camp by the time the sun starts to break through the cloud cover. With a little distance, I hate that I left things the way I did. After all the things I said, I’m not sure he’ll talk to me when we arrive in Ventin.
Do I even want to talk to him?
“You’ve been impossible to track,” Daroose shouts, emerging a few feet away. I jump, so absorbed in my own thoughts that I never heard him stomping through the brush. “It’s like you’ve been hiking in circles.”
“What are you doing here, Daroose?” Though the question is pointless. I knew he’d follow eventually.
“Might I inquire as to why you left camp in the middle of the night?”
“Didn’t you ask Valen?”
He nods. “I did. He said to scurry off and ask you.”
“Valen made a mistake.”
Daroose opens his mouth—no doubt to insert some sort of snarky anecdote—but I stop him.
“I reacted…badly.”
