We’d both missed our goals, but it had been a glorious thing to see her spread her wings and be who she was always meant to be, if only for a little while.
The cost had been high, though, and the necklace had hurt her in the end. I still had it, tucked in my pouch I carried tied to my belt.
She shivered. “What I wouldn’t give to have made friends with that white Raven of the Ice Witch’s. She’s big enough to carry a dragon if she wants to. Full sized even.”
My eyes popped wide as a rush of possibilities cut through me. “Wait . . . do we know if they went south? Do we know where they went?”
“Who went south?” She turned her head to look up at me. “What are you talking about?”
I closed my eyes, thinking back to when the white Raven had returned the flail to me. What the hell had she said? That the Ice Witch wanted to see me succeed or something like that? Damn it, my țuică-fuzzed brain didn’t want to give up the memory easily.
“Zam, what are you thinking?” Lila dug her claws into the edge of my shoulders. “Talk to me.”
I opened my eyes. “I think we might be able to get that ride, just a matter of finding the Ice Witch.”
Lila’s mouth gaped open and I didn’t blame her. The Ice Witch had tried to kill us all on multiple occasions.
But she had a big bird, and that big bird could get us out of Maks’s way. And if those feathers meant anything, the Raven and her witch were close.
The trick would be finding the bird, and finding the Witch, and making them see that it was a good thing to help us.
I almost smiled, imagining how that scene would go.
Almost.
Chapter Eleven
Lila, Balder, and I slowly dropped farther back from Maks. Step by step, we increased the distance. The Caspian Sea was still far to our left, and the rolling hills and flat plateaus around us were bleak and held no cover.
As of yet, the werehyenas had made no further push to catch us.
But even with all that, we didn’t make a break for it. Not yet.
When Maks stopped for the night, we caught up and I stripped Balder of his gear, rubbed him down and fed him. Lila and I brought down a couple more birds and repeated the same meal and situation as the night before. Minus the țuică.
After we’d eaten, I curled by the fire, Lila tucked in by my belly and my back to my saddle.
Once more a blanket was laid on me by morning, only this time I knew it was Maks. I’d still been awake when he’d laid it over me. And I’d thought he whispered something to me under his breath but so quietly that even my ears, as good as they were, didn’t pick it up. But my name was in there, along with a heavy dose of pain.
The next day, I got up early and did everything with little thought process. Again, Maks led the way and I held Balder back.
“You ready, Lila?” I asked. “Don’t range too far. If you find the Raven, don’t engage. Come back.”
She bobbed her head. “I’ll be back by dinner.” With nothing else to say, she launched into the air, going high enough that a bank of cloud covered her. I kept my hood up and when Maks looked back, I knew what he’d see—my head down, and hopefully he’d think Lila was tucked away inside it as she so often was.
This could take days, even weeks to find the Raven and the Witch. But we had the time. The desert was weeks away.
Goddess of the desert, don’t let it take weeks to find the Witch and her bird.
The day seemed to crawl, and with each step of Balder’s feet, I wanted nothing more than to ask him to run, to bolt forward and go for a gallop that would leave this whole mess in the desert sands where it belonged.
A pool of water between the hills appeared ahead of us, and Maks stopped for a drink for him and Batman. Shit.
He twisted in his saddle, waiting for me to catch up. If I held back he’d know something was up. I just had to keep my hood up and hope he didn’t notice Lila was missing.
I urged Balder forward and he broke into a trot, happy to be moving a little faster.
The water that burbled up out of the rocks was clear and I could smell the different minerals in it. Good, clean water was a rarity around here. I slid off Balder’s far side, away from Maks, took my water canteens and refilled all three. Balder dropped his head and took a deep drink, slurping the water back until his belly was full. He and Batman were working horses. They knew to drink deep when they could.
“Where’s the dragon?” Maks growled.
“She went for a flight, to test the wing you shot,” I snapped. I looked at him over Balder’s back, glaring hard for good measure.
He didn’t glare back at me, but he was obviously weighing my words. I could see it in his face. Shit, that was not good. He was suspicious already.
“She’d better be back soon.”
“Or what?” I was around Balder in a flash. “You think you’re going to threaten her again? Hurt her again? You’d better believe you’ve got to come through me first, Jinn.” We were nose to nose, and each word I punctuated with several fingers jammed into his chest. He grabbed my hand and yanked it above my head.
“There is no one to help you here, cat.”
“My name,” I growled, “is Zamira.”
And then for no particular reason, I swear I had no plans to do this, I kissed him.
He grunted and I wrapped my free hand around his neck and held him to me. His whole body stiffened and then the hand that held my jabbing fingers wove with mine. He kissed me back, and a tremor started through him that reverberated through my own.
He pulled back, his forehead against mine. “Run, Zam. You have to get away from me. Now. I might only have a few minutes.”
My heart beat wildly with hope and love and a weird rush of relief. “No, you’re still here. I’m not giving up on you.”
“He has me too tightly bound. He knows how much you mean to me.” He rubbed his face against mine. “I’m fighting him. I swear it, but I can’t . . . I can’t hold him off.” Those pretty blue eyes of his locked with mine. “I love you, Zam, more than I thought possible. Tell Lila I’m sorry. I didn’t want to shoot her. I’m . . .” His body shivered and I kissed him again, and the shivering softened. We were wrapped around each other and I was terrified. Because it felt like a goodbye.
He kissed me hard, his arms wrapped around me, and then he pushed me away, half shoving me up onto Balder. “Go. Run, Zam. I’ll hold back as long as I can.”
I bit my lower lip, and I knew he was right. This was the chance I needed. But I couldn’t stop looking at him.
I couldn’t stop loving him.
He closed his eyes and lowered his head. “Please, don’t look at me like that. I always knew this was a chance, that he could take me again. You . . . showed me what life could be like outside this prison.” He still didn’t lift his eyes. “Please, I don’t want to hurt you or Lila. I love you both, and . . .”
The howl of a hyena behind us cut him off.
I didn’t hear the rest of what he had to say. I turned Balder and give a low hiss, sending him from a stand into a flat-out gallop. I couldn’t help myself. I looked back.
Maks’s head was up now and his eyes followed us. I stared until I couldn’t see him anymore. The distance or the tears, I’m not sure which blinded me first. I rode hard to the south, keeping Balder at a pace I knew Batman couldn’t match. But it wouldn’t buy me enough time. Time. Yes, but not enough. And then there was Lila.
Fuckity camel farts. I needed to find Lila.
The werehyenas were silent and that slowed me. They’d found Maks. What if . . . what if they’d killed him?
It took all my will power not to spin Balder around. Sobbing, I screamed for Lila.
“LILA!” If she’d gone very far, we were screwed. Shouting for her into the wind was somewhat ridiculous, but then again . . . what else did I have? Every five minutes, I hollered for her again, on the off chance she’d clue in and come find us. Damn it.
All that noise and no werehyenas. Had Maks killed them all, had he survived, was he hurt? The questions rolled through me in a nauseating loop.
Balder and I galloped for a solid hour, and while he slowed as he fatigued, it wasn’t by much. He was built for this kind of travel and he thrived on the flat distance running we were doing. I wished I could give him a burst of energy, like the Jinn did for their mounts to keep them going.