Connor turned off the road, and we bounced across the dirt and rocks. I leaned forward and peered into the distance, then pointed two o’clock. “Maybe there. I see a rock outcropping that we could defend if we’re found before we can move on.”
“Good eye.” Connor drove us toward the collection of rocks, which turned out to be massive boulders rising twenty feet in the air. There were dozens of them, forming a camp about a hundred feet in diameter.
He drove the truck between two of them, entering a hidden area where little caves had been carved out of the rock. An abandoned fire circle sat in the middle of the rocks.
“Looks like we aren’t the first people to use this place,” I said.
“Nor will we be the last.” He stopped the truck, and we climbed out.
“I’ll do recon from above.” I looked up at the top of the boulders, searching for the best place to climb up.
“I’ll get the potions.” He walked around to the truck bed and opened the cover, then began rustling inside.
While he got to work, I scaled one of the boulders. Cold wind whipped at my face, and I peered into the distance. There was nothing for miles around except a few more rock outcroppings. The unnatural darkness made it hard to see, but their shadows were obvious.
The collection of rocks we’d chosen provided great cover, with only a few passageways into the middle. I strode toward the edge of my boulder and leaned down to look at Connor. “There’s only three entrances. At two, six, and ten from where you’re standing.”
“On it.” He strode toward the first one, a bag of potions slung over his shoulder.
While he got started with anointing the passages with a repellent potion, I climbed down and strode to the fire circle. It was getting cold, and we’d need to cook some food.
I crouched at the edge of the charred remains of the last fire and held my hand over it, conjuring a flame that wouldn’t glow past a perimeter of about four feet. No way for someone to use its light to find us.
Once it was burning, I collected a kettle, some water, and some miserable MREs from the truck bed. They had not yet expired, but it was close. We’d been planning this for a long time.
I’d just finished making dinner when Connor joined me. “Smells good.”
“You have low standards.” I handed him a packet of re-hydrated jambalaya. “We should have grabbed some pasties from the shop.”
He shoved a bit in his mouth. “Too much of a hurry, but you’re right.”
I chewed on my fettuccine Alfredo—which had more in common with plaster than it did with pasta—and thought longingly of the meat and pastry delicacies our cafe specialized in. We’d brought the recipe over from England when we’d left years ago, and it was one of our few reminders of home. It was a testament to how scared I’d been that I’d forgotten my beloved cheese and onion pasty.
“Next time we run for our lives, I’m remembering the pasties,” I said.
“You and me both, sis.” He stared into the flames. “What are we going to do?”
Heaviness descended on my shoulders. For most of our lives, the threat of the future had been a distant one.
But time had been an inconsiderate jerk and had decided to roll on by like it always did, and the future was here.
“We can’t go back to Magic’s Bend.” The idea tugged at my heart.
“And we shouldn’t go home. Not yet.”
I thought of the windswept hills and craggy tors that called to me whenever I closed my eyes. “No, not yet.”
“So we keep running?” he asked.
Anger prickled my skin and made my heart beat slow and steady. “No. I can’t run anymore.”
Even this little bit of running made me queasy. It wasn’t me. Sure, when I’d been a teenager and the Court had forced us out for my safety, I’d run. It’d been our only option.
But I’d grown up since then. “I won’t be forced away from two homes.”
“So what are you thinking?”
I looked around our little hideout, inspecting the high sides of the boulders and valleys in between and the clearing in the middle where we sat. “We invite him here and take him out.”
“Like a kill box?”
“Just like a kill box.”
“Alone?”
I pursed my lips and sighed heavily through my nose. “As much as I’d like to say yes… No. It’s too risky.”
“You still believe the prophecy. That you have to save them all.”
I turned to him, brows raised. “You don’t?”
He shrugged. “It’s been so long since we left. And I don’t have the dreams like you.”
“Yeah, you’re not reminded of it every time you fall asleep.” I turned back to the flames and stared into them, flinching at their similarity to the fire that tore through my dreams and devoured my home and friends. “I still believe it. The prophecy was delivered by the most powerful seer in the world, and it stays alive in my head every damned day. That future is coming if I don’t stop it.”
“Maybe you can change the future.”
“Maybe. But first we need to stop the Ice King.”
Connor nodded. “Let’s do it here, then.”
“We’ll need help.”
“Our friends in Magic’s Bend?” He sounded skeptical. “We’ve never told them about our past. And we can’t tell them now—the spell prevents it.”
“We don’t need to tell them. They’ll help us anyway.” We’d had each other’s backs for years, and even though I knew the deepest secrets of their pasts, they didn’t know mine. I’d have told them if my lips hadn’t been magically sealed. “We just have to tell them we need help and they’ll come.”
He nodded. “You’re right. When?”
“Cass was heading somewhere important. So in the morning. Once she’s done. Your wards will hold, right?”
“Should. The potion makes it impossible for other magical beings to enter our hideout. So we should be good to get some sleep.”
I nodded. “Let’s do it, then.”
We banked the fire, and Connor went to the truck to sleep. I could have joined him, but I preferred to sleep under the stars if possible.
I chose a little cave only a few feet from the truck and stretched out on the hard stone ground. The fresh air filled my lungs and made up for the discomfort, but as I drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t help but think of the Ice King.
I shivered.
My fated mate.
He was the one fate decreed that I was most likely to fall deeply in love with. According to the heavens, we were perfect for each other. We just had to find our way to each other and get over any issues that stood between us.
Unfortunately, the issue was that he was determined to sacrifice me to save his people and had been clear from our first meeting that he was the type to do whatever it took.
Images of him raced across my mind, making it hard to drift off. Finally, sleep took me, dragging me into an uneasy slumber punctuated by nightmares of my Court’s future.
When the shout sounded, I thought it came from my dream. I twitched and rolled over, trying to force the dream away.
The shout came again.