“You have to leave immediately. I can’t hide you from Lillian’s mind if she seeks you, and I can’t have the camp discovered.”
“She’s asleep,” Juliet said, shaking her head so that he needn’t worry. “She’s sick, actually, but I don’t know what’s wrong with her because we haven’t shared mindspeak in almost a year now.” Juliet seemed almost relieved to be able to tell this to someone, and despite the fact that Rowan was the enemy, Lily got the distinct sense that Juliet still trusted him. “No one knows I’ve left the Citadel, Rowan. I don’t want to get you all killed.”
“I know you don’t, Juliet.” Rowan’s face pinched with a painful thought and his voice softened. “You never want anyone to get hurt, but people do. Every day. Go back to Lillian and keep arguing with her. Try to save as many people as you can.” He turned to the bushes and whistled softly. A painted warrior appeared out of the darkness. “Take two men. Escort Lady Juliet through the woods. Protect her with your lives.”
The guard took Juliet’s arm, pulling her away. She smiled bravely at Lily, which only made Lily more afraid for her.
“Are you going to be okay?” Lily asked.
“Don’t worry about me,” Juliet replied.
Lily watched, her heart climbing up her throat, as her sister’s narrow shoulders disappeared into the clutching branches of the autumn-bare trees.
“She’ll be okay, right?” Lily asked.
Rowan didn’t answer. Instead, he took Lily’s wrist firmly in hand. She wondered if he could feel her loathing for him through her skin. He stopped briefly to give instructions to another warrior, ordering her to inform Caleb and to send out scouts to make sure that Juliet had come alone, and then pulled Lily back to the camp. He led Lily back to her tent, opened the flap, and hauled her inside.
“How did you reach Juliet? You aren’t really her sister,” he said harshly. “Did you touch her willstone?”
Lily glared at him, refusing to answer.
“Juliet isn’t a witch, and she has no fighting skills,” he persisted, his tone accusing. “She isn’t fit for the woods. You could have gotten her killed, coming here. She’s still in danger, even with the guards I sent with her. You understand that, don’t you?”
“I didn’t mean to,” Lily said, frowning with worry.
“Explain.”
Rowan’s dark eyes glittered, and Lily was suddenly aware of how much bigge
r he was than her. She saw the knife in his belt and took a step back, glancing around the tent for anything she could use to defend herself. Rowan’s expression shifted. He backed off and put his hands on his hips.
“I’m not going to hurt you, okay?” he said, as though regretting scaring her. “But I need to know how many people you contacted, or we’re all in danger, including Tristan. I know you don’t care about the rest of us, but you care about him, don’t you?”
“I don’t want anyone to die—not even you, if you can believe it. I just want to go home,” Lily said, exhausted. “Juliet said that even if I’m from another universe, I’m still her little sister, and sisters don’t need to touch stones, or whatever.”
“Can you mindspeak with Lillian?” Rowan asked calmly.
“I think so. I think I heard her in my head before she kidnapped me.” Lily dragged a hand over her face. “But I thought it was my own voice, like I was talking to myself.”
Rowan nodded, visualizing what it would be like to hear your own voice in your head. “Have you reached out to Lillian in any way since you’ve been at camp?”
“She brought me here. She tricked me,” Lily said, her anger rising swiftly. “I wouldn’t reach out to her if she was the last person on Earth. Any Earth.”
Rowan gave her a puzzled look, his eyes searching hers. Lily looked back at him, feeling the odd sensation again that there was a complicated language the two of them could speak if only she could recall the first few words. He looked away and swallowed hard.
“Stay here,” he said over his shoulder, and left the tent.
She heard him speaking quietly outside by the fire with Tristan and Caleb, telling them everything that had happened and deciding what to do next. They started arguing again. Yawning, Lily sat down on her sleeping bag and struggled to keep her eyes open while she waited to hear what they were going to do about her little jailbreak. Her body ached from the unaccustomed exercise and from the dozens of little bumps and scrapes she’d incurred. Her nose was stuffed up, probably from the leaf mold, and her head was throbbing. She rubbed her puffy eyes, wishing she could fall asleep and wake up from this nightmare. Finally, Rowan returned with another sleeping bag.
“You’re tired,” he said, like he was reminding her she needed to buy milk at the store. She regarded his sleeping bag meaningfully, arms crossed.
“I thought this was my tent.”
“Your single-tent privileges have been revoked,” he said, looking down at his own hands as he unrolled his bag. For a second, it looked like he was smiling to himself, but when he looked up at her, his face was stern. “Lie down.”
Rowan set his sleeping bag down against the foot of hers, in a T formation. She was just about to argue with him when a giant, jaw-cracking yawn overtook her. The truth was, Lily felt so exhausted that she didn’t really care where he slept. She stretched out on top of her bag as he climbed into the bag at her feet. He reached out for her, pushing his hand under the hem of her jeans and clasping on to her newly healed ankle. She tried to jerk her foot away, but he only held on tighter.
“In case you try to wander off again,” he told her. His expression made it clear that there was no point protesting—he wasn’t going to let go. Lily settled back hesitantly while Rowan lowered the lamplight and settled down.