Page 93 of Ignite
Sitting in a noisy bar isn’t going to help him much, either.
“I’ll wait here for the food,” I tell the barkeep, my eyes fixed on Graylen’s. My hand slides onto his cheek, and I whisper, “Wait in the room for me.”
The muscles of his jaw flex beneath my palm, a war raging in his gaze.
“Where you go, I go, little princess,”he murmurs into my mind.
A shiver crawls down my spine. I can feel Adrian and the barkeep watching us—waiting.
“If you pass out, you won’t be going anywhere.”I raise a brow as I send the words through our connection.“I won’t be long.”
It takes an act of Eurydice for me to slip my hand away from his face, my palm prickling at the loss of his skin against mine. When I turn back to the barkeep, I find him eyeing us with curiosity.
“We’ll take those rooms now,” I say quickly.
He gives me a curt nod and scoops the coin off the bar top. We follow him up a narrow staircase to where he shows Adrian his room on the second level and, finally, mine and Graylen’s on the third.
The room is small, with barely enough space for the worn bed with wooden posts and a cloth-covered chair in the corner. On the opposite side, an open doorway leads to a washroom with a single tub in the center.
I make a mental note to ask the barkeep for warmed water to bring up later when I see Graylen stare longingly at it.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes.” My voice is too loud in this cramped room, the walls empty and causing my words to ring in the air.
Graylen’s shoulders tense, but he nods silently and leans against the frame of the washroom door. His hands slip into his pockets, but not before I see the tremble in his fingers. He looks away from me, his gaze focusing on the tub again.
“I’ll be here,” he rasps.
My feet stay stuck in place as I watch him, terrified that he won’t be here when I come back. Every time I close my eyes, images of him in the Vale flash into my mind, haunting me with his blood-streaked face and empty gaze.
But none of what I feel compares to what he must be experiencing—the things that haunthisthoughts.
He’s here, right in front of me, but I can’t stop myself fromimagining coming back to an empty room. Imagining that’ll I’ll lose him again—this time for good. I blink rapidly as ice spreads through my chest, squeezing my heart painfully.
I’m going to kill Vidaris. Not only to save the souls she snatched out of my trial, but for Graylen.
His eyes glaze over, growing distant. A look I know. One Opal used to describe me having after a particularly rough night with Reichardt’s mind games keeping me awake. I remember what I felt when she would point it out.
I felt nothing. Numb. It was how I learned to shove down any painful emotions to stop myself from truly feeling anything hurtful. And now Graylen has that look, too.
I wrap my arms around myself, a rush of tears filling my eyes. Before he can see, I spin around and shuffle out of the room, the tears flowing freely as I sprint down the stairs to get food for us. The last thing I want is to let my emotions take control. My mind needs to be clear for Graylen—and to make sure Vidaris pays for what she did to him.
Thirty-Nine
Moldavite
I siton the edge of the uneven mattress, the blanket scratchy and the floor icy cold. Monsters lurk beneath the bed, reaching out to taint the last shred of sanity I’m gripping onto like a lifeline.
With a deep sigh, I scrub my callused hands over my face—attempting to shake the unwelcome thoughts from seeping in.
Lunaria’s downstairs, waiting on our supper, while I sit here. Useless.
It’s the word that’s been running through my head since we landed in this Divine-forsaken land. Lu’s all but taken charge of the mission—unsurprising—while I’ve tagged along, just trying to hold myself together.
“Get it the fuck together,” I whisper into the empty room.
The inn’s accommodations are small and simple, but it’s more than enough for what we need.
I shuck off my boots and start to slip off my shirt. Themoment it crosses over my abdomen, my muscles lock, and I freeze.
