What Lies Beyond the Veil (Of Flesh & Bone, #1)(57)

I sank into his embrace, drawing comfort from a moment of solidarity with a stranger. We both understood the blinding pain, the feel of our blood dripping down our backs and over our legs. We understood standing in a puddle of our own blood, slipping in it and hanging from our wrists when we couldn’t get our footing.

The snow stopped as quickly as it had begun, but shivers soon claimed me anyway, forcing me to separate from Caelum to get dressed and find a sheltered place to sleep.

I’d never forget the look on his face, the absolute rage on my behalf. My family had loved me, but they’d never promised vengeance for me. No one had ever cared the way he did.

That terrified me.





19





We made our way down past the stone faces and steps in silence. We ignored the tension thrumming between us and the way Caelum’s rage simmered in the air. The snow around us fell more steadily as we traveled, leaving a dusting at my feet as I trudged through the wet underbrush to keep up with him. Darkness fell, leaving me stumbling behind him as he led the way through the woods.

The mountains we hugged grew larger as we walked, behemoths that disappeared into the sky overhead. I couldn’t see the peaks, couldn’t see anything but the bases of them as they changed from tree-lined and welcoming to rocky and jagged before my eyes.

“We’re almost to the caves,” Caelum called ahead of me as I shielded my face from the wind that seemed to tear through me. I shivered beneath my cloak, wondering how he could even be functioning in this cold. “We need to get you warmer clothes.”

I didn’t bother to argue that it seemed unlikely to happen, with us leaving the villages behind us in favor of staying in the mountains. It was far safer this way, assuming I didn’t freeze to death.

“It’s too early for snow,” I protested, glancing up at him and defying the gust of wind that threatened to knock me on my ass.

“The Fae are here, Little One. Everything you thought you knew has changed,” he said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and tugging me into his side. He used his body to shield mine, guiding me forward through the darkness.

Like so many nights when I’d snuck out of my bedroom to walk through the woods, something in the darkness around us gave me comfort again, reassuring me that it returned in its own time. It wasn’t the unnatural darkness of the eclipse where I couldn’t function; not with the moon and stars shining above us to light the way through the gaps in the canopy.

Even though the darkness was our ally, the cold sank into my clothes, and there was no promise of a night on the living room floor next to the fireplace after I snuck back in to warm me up. There was no Loris to show me other ways to keep warm as the snow fell around us.

There was Caelum, the man who I had a feeling would give me all of that and more, if I let him, but I knew instinctively that I would never be the same if he touched me. He’d ruin the memories I had of fumbling hands and urgent touches, the memory of a friend who gave me something sweet in a harsh world determined to strike me down. I’d already killed him, reduced him to snow before he could drive a blade through my heart and end my life.

I gritted my teeth, the memory of the guards' shock as they studied the Mark on my neck. I’d only seen two others, and given that Caelum’s matched my own, it didn’t seem like they were overly unique, so the reaction made little sense.

Caelum veered toward the rocky cliff face we’d been paralleling and looked for something through the darkness. “Here,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me to follow him. The narrow cave entrance we approached was almost too small for him to fit through, as well as opening at my eye level.

He grasped me around the waist, lifting me up to it while I fought back the urge to squeal. I grasped the ledge, pulling myself in and hugging one side of the entrance so that he could hoist himself up and in smoothly. He pulled his short dagger from the sheath on his thigh, rising to his feet as he hunched forward to fit through the tunnel and pass by me. I stood up behind him, letting my body unfold to full height in the enclosed space. Following close behind, I tried to remember to give him enough room to maneuver in the event that something attacked us.

It didn’t seem likely in such a small passage, but who knew what it connected to within the mountains. Cave beasts were a very real concern in the Hollow Mountains, and not something I ever wanted to encounter. I’d rather the Mist Guard ran me through than face the ordeal of being eaten alive while foot-long claws shredded me into ribbons.

We made our way down the small tunnel until it widened and the cave got tall enough for Caelum to stand to his full height in front of me. With the increase in size, my worry over beasts increased. Oblivious to my misgivings, he stepped out of the tunnel, dropping down a few steps into a cavern that resembled a room. Across from the tunnel where I lingered, another, wider tunnel threatened, as if an ominous being in itself. It was big enough for the cave beasts to come charging through, I thought. I’d never seen one, but one would have to be enormous not to fit.

“Wait here,” Caelum said, hauling himself back up into the tunnel alongside me.

“Wait, no!” I protested, spinning to follow him.

“Stay right here, and you’ll be safe. I’m just gathering a few pieces of wood for a fire to keep you warm,” he said, touching his lips to my forehead briefly before he darted off, leaving me gaping after him until I spun to stare down into the cave opening.