When Layala picked herself up off the floor, she tugged at the bandages around her torso until they peeled off. The wound was gone, healed completely as if it was never there. She changed into clean clothes from the armoire, all the while trying to stop herself from having a panic attack. Breathe, just breathe. She took in deep breaths, pacing the floor.
She wanted to scream at Thane for lying. Damn him! She could have had so much more time to find a way out of this if she hadn’t gotten distracted. The war, the pale ones, none of it mattered now. Her love would leave them dead and Palenor without its High King.
Layala started desperately grabbing her belongings, searching for her boots. “We’re leaving. Tonight. I must find the dragon sorceress. It’s our last hope.”
Tif handed her her dagger. “By ourselves? I mean, she’s a dra-gon.”
“Yes,” Layala tossed the bag down. “You know what, no. He’s not going to get off that easy.”
Storming down the hall, Layala seethed, her magic tingled with her rage. When she burst into the main room at the bottom of the stairs, Thane was alone with Fennan and his back was to her. Everyone had cleared out, thank the Maker. When Fennan saw her approaching, his smile dropped, and he took a step back. Thane turned and Layala smacked him in the chest, hitting him again and again. “How could you lie to me!” She shoved him so hard he stumbled back into the table, knocking over the half-full glasses of wine.
His shocked expression quickly turned bitter when she went to shove him again. This time he grabbed her forearms and held her back. “What is wrong with you? Five minutes ago, you were kissing me in your bed and now you’re attacking me.”
“Was it all just a ruse? Was any of it real?”
Slowly, he shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Does consummated in love ring any bells? How could you lie? After I told you how Novak died!”
He released her and held up his palms to her. “I lied because I knew it would only push you further away from me. That you would have hated me all the more. But I planned to tell you the truth.”
“When?”
“Tonight.” He said it with such conviction she believed it. “And what ruse would there be, Layala?”
“I don’t know,” she snapped. “You playing nice to get me to marry you instead of breaking our bond.”
“I tried to find the All Seeing Stone to get answers. I know you think you’re cursed but you won’t kill me. I can withstand more than you think. I’ve been stabbed, poisoned, and broken bones many times and I’m still here.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” When he reached for her, she stepped back. Angry tears streamed down Layala’s face as she shoved her finger into his chest. “I found the man I loved a corpse minutes after we made love the first time. It’s not some story I made up in my head. He was killed by my magic. Even you can’t withstand that.”
Both Thane and Fennan stared at her in tense silence. “I never said you made it up.”
“Our bond is a death sentence for the both of us. I’m going to the mountains to find the sorceress.”
She whirled around to march for the exit. There was no time to be wasted. She mentally counted down the weeks she’d been with Thane. The time passed so quickly—she had five days to find this sorceress in the middle of a vast mountain hundreds of miles from where she currently was.
A glass shattered as Thane shoved away from the table and darted in front of her. “Wait. Let’s talk about this.”
“Do I need to spell it out for you? We consummate this bond, and we will both die. I said I’d never love a man again, and I won’t.”
Thane pursed his lips. “I am not him.” He stroked the side of her face. She didn’t pull away as he wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “I am not a man; I’m an elven male. He was human, and I hate to say it, but they die easily. He could have been sick or—”
Grabbing his wrist, she gently pushed his hand away. “I’m going and this time you’re not going to stop me. You lied about the one thing that would break us.”
He reached for her with pleading eyes. “Laya, please. I love you. I know you promised you wouldn’t love again, and I’m far from perfect and you deserve better than me but if you could give me a piece of your heart, I promise I will never break it.”
Tears streamed down her face. She choked on a sob and furiously wiped her tears. She could give him her heart and that’s why saying goodbye was impossible.
“We’ll find a way—The katagas serum suppresses magic. We could—”
“It’s too late.” Even if everything in her wanted to stay, she must say something, anything to stop him from following her. He’d done enough. Sacrificed enough on her account. She needed to do this on her own, and she couldn’t stay here and risk killing him. “I don’t love you.” Those words hung in the air, a shock wave that clearly struck him. “So, either way we’d still be pale ones.”
His wounded stare broke something in her. She backed away, heart cracking wide open as his chin trembled. She turned and a sob caught in her throat, and with her hand on the door, he said, “I love you, Laya and I will for eternity, no matter if I see you again in this life or the next.”
He didn’t try to stop her when she left.
Layala quietly snuck through the camp, crying again, with her bag slung across her back and Tif hanging on.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? Us two going alone?” Tif asked.
Tears still burned her eyes. “He lied to my face, even after he knew,” Layala snapped, angrily swiping at her cheeks. “He lied to me and if he’d told me the truth, we could have done this together but no, he wanted to sell me some fantasy about being married on a full moon.” She gritted her teeth. “I knew something wasn’t right when Mage Vesstan was so worried. He kept saying it might be too late because I hated Thane. The marriage had to be ‘consummated in love’. I feel so—betrayed.”
Tif swatted at a bug on her dress. “I still think we shouldn’t go alone. Someone tried to kill you and the pale ones are after you.”
“We’ll attract a lot less attention on our own. They’ll never suspect me to leave Thane or the Ravens,” Layala said over her shoulder. “This is the only way to save him now.”
“So, you do love him. You lied to him when we left the Mage’s Tower.”
Why did the gnome have to call her out like that? “I didn’t say that.”
“You’re willing to risk a lot to make sure he doesn’t die. You didn’t even mention yourself.”
“Enough, Tifapine, or I’ll leave you here, too.” Layala ducked around the side of a tent when voices drifted closer. She didn’t want anyone questioning her or reporting on her leaving. Once they passed, she darted out and ran through the shadows until she found Midnight. She patted his shoulder. “I’m going to need you to go fast, boy. You can do that for me, can’t you?”
He nickered as if to answer. The saddle rested against the trunk of a tree. With a quick look around, she tossed it on his back and squatted to buckle the belt. “Keep an eye out. Let me know if anyone is coming.”
“Got it,” Tif said, patting the top of her head.
When she tugged on the saddle horn to test and found it secure, she used the tree for a step up and mounted Midnight. She glanced back toward the glowing light from the Mage’s Tower to where she knew Thane was. Her chest ached and her throat tightened. “Goodbye,” she whispered and rode off into the night.
