“Isn’t it a lovely day?” Iiro had taken every opportunity since the mention of my weather toe to comment on the sunshine streaming in the carriage windows, and the light breeze dancing through the autumn trees.
Theo glanced between us, his disapproval clear, but said nothing, of course.
For my part, I didn’t even bother glaring. The pressure of the storm was building, a tension I could feel as plainly as if someone were pressing their fingers along my spine. They would all know I was right soon enough, even if this was one time I wished I was wrong.
It was only fifteen more minutes before the warning cry went out.
Iiro sat up straighter, placing a hand on his wife’s before leaning his head out the window. He called for one of the guards and there was a brief exchange in Socairan before Theo, Inessa, and Iiro looked back at me.
Iiro barked an order to the guards and the driver and before I knew it, the carriage was flying down the road at a much faster pace.
My heart sank to the pit of my stomach, but I asked the question anyway.
“What’s going on?”
“There is a storm coming in fast. We need to find shelter immediately.” His tone was clipped and his expression furious, almost as if he blamed me somehow for making it come about.
I shook my head slowly, thinking of the farm we passed a few miles back. We could have sheltered there. We could have already been waiting this out.
A strong wind whipped in through the curtain, and the carriage lurched to the left. Theo’s eyes went wide. He threw his arm out in front of me to keep me from flying into Inessa’s lap, so I barreled into the solid muscle instead with a bruising impact.
There was no time to recover, though, as the carriage tilted to the other direction, sending my entire body careening into Theo’s.
The howling wind quickly drowned out every other sound, and all I could think about was the fact that I should have fought harder to make them listen. I should have just left the carriage and ran for that house behind us, instead of staying here.
This is how I die? In a storm, of all the stars-blasted things?
Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my frantic heart and think it through. The prickling feeling in my neck intensified, and the sky darkened so quickly it was no longer blue, but black as night.
And I knew, I knew we weren’t in the worst of it yet. As bad as it was now, the full might of the storm still hadn’t fully arrived.
The carriage skittered off the road again, and suddenly, it wasn’t the horses that were moving us. Several trunks came loose from the back of the carriage and went flying in the distance. Dresses and scarves, shifts and hats went soaring along with the wind as soon as they crashed to the ground.
One of the guards foolishly ran to grab them, only to be swept up in the same gale.
My hands shook, and a gasp escaped me as I watched the storm carry him high above the ground in a sea of scarves, twisting his body as if he were nothing more than one of the many colorful leaves floating along beside him.
I couldn’t look away, even as he sailed back down to the earth with a sickening speed.
“There!” Theo shouted over the wind and my racing heart, pointing toward a farmhouse not far from us. “We can shelter there!”
Iiro looked in that direction and agreed, barking out an order to the driver, who was somehow still hanging on out there.
The harsh commands from the driver were barely audible over the chaos. There was only the angry howling of the wind, the sound of thunder rumbling so loudly, it reverberated in my veins and the cracks of lightning that made each of us flinch every time it struck.
I held my breath, and when I looked away from the window, I realized Theo was staring down at me with a look more intense than any I had seen him show before. When the carriage came to a grinding halt, I sprang into action, desperately clawing at the door closest to me in an effort to escape.
It wouldn’t budge. My pulse picked up its furious rhythm as I threw all of my weight into the door again and again.
Iiro and Theo were having the same trouble with theirs until it wrenched open with a loud crack. My attention snapped to it just as it broke at the hinges and went sailing away, nearly taking along the footman who had opened it.
Giving up on my door, I scrambled closer to the other. Iiro pulled Inessa out of the swaying carriage before running into the house next to us. Theo stepped out next, holding out a hand for me.
Time slowed to a crawl, his movement stretching out over an interminable moment.
The wind howled and Theo anchored himself against the side of the carriage, still extending his hand to me. I braced myself against the wind, reaching out for him. My fingertips barely grazed Theo’s before the carriage began to skid.
Theo’s eyes were wide with terror as we found ourselves at the wind’s mercy. He hung on to the outside while I was thrown back onto the bench behind me.
His pale blond hair whipped around and I saw his mouth move but couldn’t understand the words leaving his lips. Suddenly, the carriage changed direction, and began spinning around and around, careening through the field like one of the wooden tops my sisters liked to play with.
My stomach flipped and my head spun at the dizzying speed as I was plastered against the inside of the carriage. Theo called out and my gaze snagged on his before he was ripped away from the carriage.
The sound of wood splitting and crunching drowned out every other noise before there was a jolt that sent me flying backwards.
Everything was a blur until I was suddenly weightless for two impossible seconds. My body floated in the carriage before crashing down on the floor.
I braced myself for the next impact, but it never came. Though my body still felt like it was moving, the carriage stood still.
Scrambling, I shook away the dizziness and tried to climb out of the door. Theo had held on for so long, but the stars only knew where he was now.
A jolt of panic ran through me at the thought.
“Rowan.”
My name floated toward me on a violent gale as I peeked my head out of the door.
“Rowan, let go.”
I took a deep breath, something like relief flooding through me at the sight of Theo reaching his hand out for me.
“I’ve got you.” Theo’s voice was loud in my ears as he wrapped his hand around mine.
My head still spun, but I clung to him while we ran as fast as we could.
Debris flew past us, forcing us to duck or change course while Theo led us further into the field.
He came to a halt near a gray door built into the ground. The muscles in his arms strained with the effort to open it, but once it was cracked, he shouted at me to jump in.
There was no time to question him. No time to think. Another gust of wind made the decision for me, and I was falling into the darkness.
