Turns out we could.
Quite well in fact.
Sure, I grated on his nerves every now and then, and he really needed to learn not to be a douchebag all the time, but it was working for us. Mom and Dad had been hinting that they’d like to see something come of it before long, but I’d made sure to shut that shit down right away before Ryan could hear anything and before the idea could take root in my head. I had too much on my plate already as it was. Besides, we had time for all of that later.
Aside from an overzealous manticore that thought I would look better if my skin had been burnt to a crisp, everything had been quiet.
The Darks stayed away after their ill-advised attack on the castle.
Verania was safe.
People were happy.
Eventually, I just stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop. And even if it had, I was surrounded by people who would do everything for me, much like I’d do anything for them.
So there we were, jostling each other back and forth, only paying attention to each other, the way it should have been. We were young and in love and stupid, but we were allowed to be. After everything we’d been through, this was our happy ending.
I didn’t see the woman in front of us. Didn’t see her until I crashed into her.
I tried to apologize, but she slapped her hand over my mouth and dragged me into the shadows of the flickering torch on the wall. She was old, the lines and crags on her face pronounced, like a map to all her years. Her eyes shone darkly, her raven hair falling on her shoulders. Her wrinkled hand was warm against my face, her grip strong and sure for such an old thing. She had large metal bangles on her wrists that clanged together as she pressed me up against the wall.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ryan demanded, taking a step toward us.
The woman paid him no mind, like he wasn’t even there. And for all intents and purposes, maybe he wasn’t for her, because she only had eyes for me.
For the briefest of moments, I thought she was a Dark and that they were trying to take me yet again. I almost wanted to laugh at her audacity if that was the case, given how thoroughly we’d beaten the Darks last time we faced them and how there was a pissed-off Knight Commander standing right behind her in Castle Lockes, of all places. But there was something familiar about her, something in the way she looked at me that told me I wasn’t quite right. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw flashes of green and gold as I pulled my magic toward me, ready to knock her on her ass, when her other hand came up in front of my face, her thumb and middle finger rubbing together briefly before she snapped.
“Insolent,” she hissed. “Sneaking with your sneaks. Dilo. And here of all places. Like your dook could touch me, chava.”
My eyes widened over her hand.
Because I literally had no idea what she was talking about. Her voice was low and smoky, her accent thick and melodious, the words falling from her lips like musical notes to a song I swore I’d heard before. It was like she had felt my magic, which could only mean she had some kind of magic herself. Normal people could feel it if there was an extreme concentration of it, like the static in the air before a storm. But this had been subtle, low, just beginning to pull itself together. I was impressed.
I was going to kick her ass, sure, if she meant to do me and mine any harm, but still. Impressed.
Ryan drew his sword. “Let him go. I won’t tell you again.”
Her eye softened slightly, like the threat was something sweet to her. “You are not what I expected. I don’t know why I thought you would be. There may be hope for us all yet. But I am sorry for this. I hope you remember that. In the end.” She leaned forward and pressed a kiss against my cheek. It felt almost like it was scalding.
And then she was just gone, like she hadn’t been there at all.
One moment she was pressed up against me, and then she wasn’t.
I stumbled forward, unable to catch myself before falling to my knees.
Except the ground wasn’t made of stone, like all the floors in the castle were.
No, my knees hit earth and leaves, wet and clumped together. The air was humid and thick, every breath I drew in harder than the one before it. From all around me came the sounds of wind blowing through trees, but that was impossible, because I wasn’t in the woods, I wasn’t in the—
I opened my eyes.
It was dark.
And I was in the woods.
“Well, fuck,” I muttered, pushing myself to my feet. I wiped my hands off on my trousers as I looked around, trying to get my bearings. The sky above was obscured by the canopy of the trees. I couldn’t see any landmark I was familiar with.
It seemed as if an old lady had transported me into the middle of nowhere.