The Crow King's Wife(127)

“Zoelyn wait!” Seth called after her in a pain filled voice and her walk turned to a run as her willpower crumbled. She had to get far away from him before it faded completely or she knew she was lost.





*





The sound of faint footsteps drew her gaze upward and Zoelyn stared listlessly toward the doorway. She had no idea what part of the ruined keep she was in, and she knew her friends were long gone by now. Whoever was approaching was most likely Rivasan, and she knew she should get to her feet, but she couldn’t muster the energy for it. She had run until her tears blurred her vision too much to continue then collapsed by one of the walls and hadn’t bothered to move again.

There was no point to moving. Her friends were gone, Finn was gone, and she was lost. She couldn’t even summon magic to transport herself home. A bitter smile curved her lips at the thought, there was no escaping Rivasa, and she couldn’t even count on Seth showing up to save her. He’d already shown up once and nearly died for it, but she couldn’t honestly say if he had shown up to save her, or simply to attempt to kill Hemlock. She knew how much Seth hated Hemlock, and doubted he would miss any opportunity to kill the Assassin.

The door pushed open and she startled at the sight of Shade standing in the doorway. His auburn hair was tousled badly and his leather armor was torn and bloodstained, but he didn’t appear to be injured, not in body anyway, by the look on his face she couldn’t say the same about his spirit. His face was drawn and pale with an expression of utter defeat covering his features. His blue eyes swept the room once then fixed on her.

“They said Seth came for you, but I didn’t want to leave until I made sure you were safe.” His words were soft with more weariness than she had ever heard in his voice before.

“Thank you.” She murmured as she forced herself to her feet. Her head throbbed from crying and she knew her voice was hoarse from her raw throat. I must sound as bad as he looks she realized glumly.

“The ship is loaded if you are willing to leave here.” Shade informed her and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked her over. “I think the two of us might possibly be the most depressed victors history has ever seen before.” He observed with a bitter smile.

“I think you may be right.” Zoelyn agreed as she slowly crossed the room and peered through the door he had entered from. “I’m depressed and lost. Do you remember the way out?” she asked hesitantly.

“Perfectly.” Shade replied and moved silently past her and down the long corridor beyond the room.

Doggedly Zoelyn followed after him silently grateful that Shade didn’t seem to want to hear any details about Seth’s rescue. It wasn’t something she was ready to talk about, and from the look on his face she knew better than to ask any questions of him. By the way he was acting Grim must be dead, she couldn’t think of anything else that would dampen Shade’s spirits so thoroughly.

Within ten minutes of walking Shade led her out into the bright sunlit day and Zoelyn shook her head at how close she had been to escape when she had given up. A few more turns and she would have found her own way out of the fortress. Of course the odds were good that Shade wouldn’t have located her had she been wandering aimlessly through the city so it was likely for the best that she had given in to her sobs and collapsed.

Shade halted a few feet from the fortress and drew a battered silver case from inside his armor. His face was devoid of all expression as he pulled a cigarette from it and calmly lifted it to his lips and lit it while his eyes roved over the battered city. Stonevines wrapped every building she could see and there was no sign of anything living beyond a few stray horses that milled in the streets far below. Shade inhaled deeply and exhaled a stream of smoke from his nostrils as he seemed to consider things then pointed absently to his right.

“My ship is just over there. Go ahead and climb aboard. Syrah could probably use a hand with her Father and I have one more thing to do.” His voice was monotone as he spoke and he didn’t even bother to glance back at her. His gaze seemed riveted on the city with an intensity that kept her frozen where she was. “Suit yourself.” Shade murmured as he took another drag from the cigarette and raised a hand toward the sky. His eyes closed tightly and magic began to roil off of him as the sky above darkened.

Glancing up Zoelyn expected to see a storm such as Valor summoned, but instead her eyes found swarms of creatures she had no name for flying so thickly that their tiny forms blotted out the sunlight like the leaves of a thick forest. Even as she watched more of the tiny forms appeared in the sky and she squinted her eyes in a vain attempt to determine what the creatures were.