Inkmistress (Of Fire and Stars 0.5)(37)

“You’re back!” He rushed over and hugged me, but I winced as his arms put pressure on tender bruises. The battle with Leozoar had finally caught up with me.

“I’m sorry,” he said, stepping back awkwardly when I failed to return his embrace. “You were gone so long. I was worried. . . .”

“It’s all right. I’m just a bit sore,” I said, trying to explain my reaction. Though he had startled me with the hug, and I truly did ache all over, the embrace provided comfort that had ended too soon. Thoughts of Ina rose unbidden, reopening the gaping wound of her absence and deepening the stab of her betrayal.

Perhaps it was remnants of Leozoar’s wind magic calling to something like itself, or perhaps it was just my need for comfort, but I stepped back into Hal’s arms and closed my eyes. I needed a friend. Hal’s arms might help keep me from flying apart until I figured out how to go on alone. Everything depended on it now that my only hope was finding the Fatestone.

He held me gently, resting his chin on the top of my head. As he took a deep breath, I echoed it without thinking. Even though we barely knew each other, something about him felt warm and safe. He smelled clean and subtly herbal, like the soap Mukira had given us to bathe with.

Hal squeezed my shoulders gently when I finally pulled away. “What happened up there? I Heard the wind—that thing—speaking to you.”

“What did you Hear?” I asked.

“Not much. My head still hurts and I can’t Hear as far as usual. I just checked a few times to make sure you were still alive,” he said.

I told him about entering the Sanctum, the magic pool, how I’d found the source of the cliff’s curse. My explanation faltered only when I tried to explain how I’d destroyed Leozoar. It had been an act of mercy, not an act of violence, but it still bothered me how easy it had been.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Hal said. “If he was going to kill you, you did what you needed to.” I had no idea how he could be so agreeable about everything. The guilt of not telling him the whole truth grew heavier, but I wasn’t ready to share Veric’s letter.

“I think he was once something more like you—a demigod born of the wind. Something happened to him after he was deserted by the gods. The dark parts of his magic took over.”

Hal shuddered. “I hope nothing like that ever happens to me.”

“I don’t think it will,” I said. Nothing about Hal was anything like Leozoar. He was too easygoing and lighthearted to end up like that. He seemed to love his family and the other children of the wind. He had people he cared for, and others who cared for him.

“Mostly I’m glad you’re all right,” he said. “You’re much too interesting to lose when I’ve only just met you.”

“Interesting is sometimes more of a curse than a blessing.” I smiled a sad smile. Under any other circumstances I would have been flattered by his words. “Where did the others go?”

“After the dragon flew past, Mukira sent most of the hunters to track it to make sure it doesn’t circle back. She just left the one hunter to watch us—and to shoot me if I tried to run off, I presume. He’ll escort us back to their camp.” He pointed into the trees. It took me a minute to locate the boy perched in the branches. He had an arrow nocked to his bow, and I had no doubt he could draw it and let the thing fly before we got more than a few paces away. A crow sat beside him, tilting its head at me with a keen intelligence in its eye.

“She won’t come back,” I said softly. That much I knew was true. If she did, surely it would only be to kill me for what I’d done. My skin crawled at the thought. I’d never expected to find myself doubting whether she cared about me, much less knowing her hate burned brighter than the fire from her jaws. And part of me was angry with her, too.

I tucked a loose lock of hair behind my ears, and Hal caught my hand as I dropped it back to my side.

“Your wrist,” he said, his voice thick with concern as he examined the scrape.

“It’s nothing,” I said, but I liked the way he held my hand. It comforted me that someone could still be tender with me when I felt so undeserving.

The crow flapped off toward the camp, and the Tamer boy dropped down from the tree.

“Are you well enough to walk?” Hal asked.

“Of course,” I said, not thinking to question it until we entered the trees and lost sight of the waterfall. With every step I took, the bruises and trauma of the day caught up with me until I wanted to curl up on the forest floor. My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I’d eaten nothing since breakfast.

“If you feel like sharing what happened with your dragon friend, I’m here to listen,” Hal said, his voice pitched softly to keep the boy from hearing. “She didn’t look happy when she flew off. You don’t seem very cheerful either.”

I thought for a moment, taking a deep breath of pine-laden air. The familiar ache rose in me, tightening my throat so that I couldn’t speak. The more time that passed, the angrier I became with Ina, but even as my rage grew, I couldn’t shake my other memories.

The warmth of her lips.

Her eyes, lit with desire.

The way she’d made me hers, claiming every inch of me with kisses pressed in places no one else had ever seen.

Hal and I walked on in silence, but he didn’t push. He gave me room to breathe and let me be until I was ready, and for some reason, that made me feel like I could tell him.