Curse Breaker (2)

18

I can't imagine a scenario of the two of them reuniting that didn't involve Casimir attempting to slit Killian's throat.

He takes cautious steps forward, mouth in a straight line when he reaches me. "Are you hurt?" I shake my head numbly, blinking up at him, mesmerized. His arms twitch at his sides. "Can you walk?" I nod. "Let's go."

"Raven." The word chokes in my throat.

He glances over my shoulder. "Where is she?"

"She's here." It's Elex who speaks, standing beside a kneeling Lei. She waves her hands around the fog, attempting to clear it. The body lying beneath her is mangled and twisted. A pale pink nightgown stained with a mixture of blood and dirt. But as my eyes reach her neck, bruised and bloodied, stained with dirtied fingerprints that lead up to the side of her, bile rises in my throat. Her forehead concaves, as if she's been pounded by a stone.

I slap my hand over my mouth.

"Hey," Killian steps in front of me so I can't see her anymore. "Don't look."

"Cadence had a stone in her hand when I found her."

The words make the bile rise all over again. The cloud makes you do crazy things. Jyro swallowed rocks, I hacked at my own leg, and Cadence... I turn away, staring into the dark forest behind me. I didn't smell it before, but the steely stench of blood taints the air.

"Freya." Killian's voice is more gentle than I've ever heard it. "Your back."

A cold hand presses against the centre of my back, igniting a sharp pain shooting down my spine. I flinch forward at the pain, my knees buckling. Killian catches me. He wraps one arm around my lower back, the other supporting my head as he directs my gaze to his. I'm too weak to push him away, too comforted by the gentleness of his touch to want to try.

"Cadence..." I murmur. "Cadence had a stone."

"You're okay," he murmurs. "I've got you."

He blurs above me. I try to blink to keep my vision clear, but my eyes are heavy as I stare up at him, the adrenaline giving way to exhaustion. It doesn't take long before I can't see anything at all.

***

I wake up to a scratchy blanket and the navy sky of early dawn.

The trees tower overhead, like guards to the sky as it gazes down at me. My body aches, and when I shift, my back stings.

"Frey?"

Casimir hovers over me, his brows stitched together. I blink up at him, trying to sit. With a hand to my elbow, he guides me up. The scratchy material I'd mistaken for a blanket, falls to my knees. A thick, wool coat. I shudder in its absence as I gaze around.

We've settled against a trickling stream slithering through the forest. At my feet, a fire crackles, a swirling of smoke dancing into the air. Elex sits on the edge of the fire holding a hare over the flames. His posture is rigid and tense, almost hostile as he keeps his eyes trained on the stream. I follow his gaze.

Killian kneels by the water, his back to us. I can't help but wash him as he dips his hands in and out of the water, washing away with red. As if feeling my gaze, he turns over his shoulder, eyes meeting mine.

My stomach flips as I dart my gaze back to Casimir.

"Cadence?" I ask.

"She's okay. She's in the carriage on the path."

"Alone? Is that safe?"

"Lei's watching over her. She's unconscious," Killian calls out without turning back around.