Dividing Eden (Dividing Eden #1)(84)

And Andreus who had tried to send her crashing to her death. She had survived his anger once. Unless she could outthink him, she wouldn’t be able to survive another attack.

She wanted to lie down, to give in to whatever her fate would be if she did so. But the blue banners kept her standing. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, thinking about the Trials. Then she stiffly walked down the steps to where Errik stood waiting.

“Your brother tried to kill you,” he said, draping the cloak she’d discarded earlier around her shoulders. “If you follow him out of the city he’ll try again, and there will be no one there to stop him.”

“I know,” she said, marshaling her strength before looking deep into eyes that warmed her more than the cloak she now wore. Putting her hand over his, she leaned into his touch. “I have to go, but I need your help.”

He stared at her as if memorizing her face, then leaned close and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “Ask of me anything.”

The sounds of the crowd were all around her, but as the snow fell harder it felt like she and Errik were alone. She should be angry that he’d kissed her in the open, but she was glad for the moment. Because that moment might be the last bit of tenderness she ever had.

Stepping away from his touch, she looked out at the city and shivered. An image from her nightmares flashed before her eyes: a bloody face. Whose?

Quietly, she said, “If my brother comes back and I do not, there is something you need to know and there is something I need you to do.”





20


Wind whipped Andreus’s skin. The falling snow and setting sun painted streaks of pink and purple speckled with white. The crowd lining the road waved and bowed. Here and there he saw a banner of yellow, but the majority had turned blue.

For Carys.

It seemed impossible that she had reached the ground safely. He’d watched her lose her grip and plummet. She should be lying on the flagstones at the foot of the battlements—broken. Beaten.

But then the wind had—

What had it done, Andreus? he chided himself. Had the winds come to slow Carys’s fall? Had they protected her—come to her call?

No. It was preposterous.

No matter what had actually occurred his sister reached the bottom intact.

And part of him—a part he hated—had been glad.

It was a momentary weakness. One Imogen had worried about. Well, it was the last time he’d be that weak. After this trial, Andreus’s subjects wouldn’t raise Carys’s banner again. Imogen deserved justice and Andreus needed to prove that he was the man he’d promised her he could be.

He glanced back as he passed through the main entrance of the city. Carys wasn’t there. But she would get on her horse and ride to the tomb. His sister didn’t give up unless someone made her.

Tugging on the reins, Andreus turned his horse toward the mountains. The trek to the tomb of the Kingdom of Eden’s rulers had been a two-hour journey when they’d escorted his father and brother to their resting places. Without the wagons and the stately pace he should make it in half that time. Cole had been exercised by the grooms regularly. Andreus was sure he would be able to make the journey in good time. Unless, of course, the snow that was thickening with each passing minute slowed them down. The swirling white made it harder to see as the sun disappeared from the sky. And as the sun sank, the temperature dropped.

Andreus shivered and urged Cole to return to a gallop as they moved toward the mountains and away from the safety of the illuminated walls behind him. The faster he traveled, the faster he would get back to the lights.

A screech filled the air and Cole slowed his gait. Andreus held his breath and reached for the sword he’d taken from a member of the guard before riding out of the city.

There was another screech—like a rusty hinge being opened.

The Xhelozi were awake and coming down from the mountains to hunt. If he wasn’t careful, he would be their prey.

His horse’s pace slowed to a trot as he turned toward the southwest. Andreus looked behind him for a glimpse of his sister. The dark and the snow made it impossible to tell if she was back there. He would deal with her later. For now he would focus on completing this trial so his subjects would have something to cheer.

“Come on, Cole,” he said, blowing warm air onto his hands before clutching the reins. “We have to move.”

Cole’s hooves pounded the ground. Andreus ignored the tightening in his chest as he pulled the cloak snug around his body. Every few minutes, Andreus looked back to Eden’s orb shining like a beacon above the castle to make sure he was going the right way.

A gray fox darted out of a distant grove of trees. Normally the darkness would shield it from view, but against the white of the snow the fox was easy to spot. Just as Andreus would be if anything on the mountains was watching.

Cole was tiring. Andreus slowed him to a walk. If he didn’t the horse would be too spent to race back to the castle after Andreus succeeded in the trial.

The snow continued to fall. His breath turned to smoke in front of his face. The mountains grew larger as the ground under Cole’s feet shifted from grass to dirt and stone.

Almost there and still no Carys behind him.

The pulse of the tomb’s windmill filled the silence as he reached the entrance and dismounted.

His legs buckled and he grabbed the saddle for support. The trek down the wall and the hours in the cold had taken their toll. But he’d be fine. He would endure as he was supposed to. And he would win.