By the Horns Page 8

  “Addie?”

  My heart practically stopped. Vet hadn’t called me that in years. I’d never admitted how much I loved it, and now was not the time. It was too late.

  Forcing my lips to twist into some semblance of a smile, no matter how small or false it might be, I glanced over at her. “Yes, Ve?” Careful to keep my tone even, neutral, I ignored the worry tingeing her soft green eyes.

  “Addie…” she started, then stopped. Her hands lifted, waving. The poor thing’s fingers trembled so hard they practically waved about all on their own.

  “It’s alright.” Needing to reassure her, I went to embrace her, shocked when she jerked away. For a moment I’d completely forgotten. “Ve…?” A hint of worry snuck into my tone, her name croaking out of me, my voice suddenly hoarse.

  Biting at her lip, eyeing me like she didn’t know what to do with me, or who I was anymore, for that matter, swallowing convulsively, she forced her finger to lift long enough to point. “You’re… Riadne- Th-th-the... th-th-the- All that blood.”

  “Blood?” Blinking, scowling hard enough it pinched to feel my face pull like that, I glanced down and around us, then her person. I didn’t understand. Blood? Was she bleeding? Had they- Eyebrows bunching, nose crinkling, face wrinkling, I went to reach for her, shaking my head. “I don’t-” But as I reached for her, I saw it then, remembered. My hand, arm, hell, my everything. As if I could forget! And yet somehow in my worry I’d managed to.

  My hands, my fingers—they were covered, arms, chest, dress, I was painted rust and crimson with the life source of those who sought to hurt my loved one.

  Oddly, I didn’t feel a single ounce of remorse for what had transpired as I pulled back, studying the crimson flakes. Honestly, I was surprised there wasn’t more.

  “Right,” I said slowly. “Wasn’t thinking.” Clearing my throat, I stood back. Staring forward, gesturing that she should come with me, I gave a quick, short bow. “Forgive me.”

  When she didn’t move I shrugged and took off at a quick pace. We didn’t have time for anymore distractions or starts and stops. There’d been enough this night and I could only guess there’d be more. Vetra would follow, I knew, as I hastened my steps, she always did.

  We were down past two corridors, three previously sprung booby-traps, arrows sticking straight outta the wall, a large boulder I’d had to help hoist her over, and one particularly awful old-blood tainted wall that literally bled if you drew too close, when she finally spoke.

  She called my name softly, so softly, and I was so focused on remembering the way back, I almost didn’t hear her.

  Without a word I made to turn towards her, but she was upon me before I could fully face her.

  Small hands wrapped around my waist, cold arms banding my middle, her face pressing into my back.

  “Thank you,” she got out on a muffled sob. “I don’t know what happened back there, but thank you. You saved me, and I just- I love you, Addie.”

  The only people who ever really called me that, actually admitted they loved me and I felt they meant it, were Nan and Vet. Those words were laced with affection. It soothed my soul to hear it. Being her Addie and knowing she still loved me despite my deeds was worth a soul full of black marks.

  My hand settled over hers and I gave her fingers a squeeze before letting go. “Love you too, sweetling,” I teased, “now come on.”

  Vetra pulled back, sniffling, offering me a watery smile that overshadowed that stupid black spot I’d earned, if through a Warrior King’s action at my behest as he borrowed my body.

  It was worth it. She was worth it. And I’d have done it all over again.

  CHAPTER SIX

  I couldn’t say I blamed Vet being afraid of the dark, or jumping at everything, but it was definitely slowing us down.

  Using one of my knives, the white and pinkish one with the woman on it, I pried a stone free, examining the gemlike luminescent bit.

  Smiling, I glanced up at her. If that didn’t help in calming her fears, I didn’t know what would. A fairy light of her own to hold. “Here you are.” Smiling, I held the bit out to her.

  “It’s getting brighter,” Vetra whispered. She was staring at me strangely, apprehension plain on her face.

  Of the colorful, glowing rock? Of me? What I had done? Were my actions of late finally starting to sink in as she had a think over it?

  My eyes drifted back to the glowing stone. It did look brighter, a bit more of a pinkish hue than that stunning purplish, green-gold and blue mix of before. Definitely more white-blue shimmering with pink now.

  The harder I stared at the glowing bit, as if by my will alone, the brighter it shone.

  “I’m not doing it,” I muttered defensively.

  My sibling’s eyes never left the stone. She blinked, then blinked again, blurting in a rush, “O-o-of courssse not.”

  Well, shit, that was reassuring.

  “I’m not!” I barked harshly.

  When my emphatic remark was met with silence I looked up.

  “Vetra?” Scowling, watching her cheeks slowly drain of color, my gaze swiveled towards the stone in my palm. “What the-” With a yelp I dropped the suddenly blood red, throbbing rock. It vibrated, literally. The second the tingling sting started up in it I was done. It fell, tumbling to the cave floor to land between us, making odd sizzling sounds as it lolled about. “I-I-I don’t know what just happened,” I spluttered, my finger shooting towards the rock, pointing at it like it’d tried to bite me. It was turning black before our eyes.

  “I’m not afraid of the dark so much anymore,” Vet mumbled. She was wringing her hands, biting her lip, doing that blinking thing she does.

  I felt horrible for upsetting her, but I’d only been trying to help! I had no idea it was going to do that. “Ve, I’m really sorry. I honestly didn’t-”

  “Are we- Are we almost there?” she asked softly, cutting me off. She wouldn’t, or maybe couldn’t, look at me as she got the words out, staring down at her dusty form.

  Of course she wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore, her sister had turned into her own personal boogeyman.

  I couldn’t handle it. Not this. I wasn’t to be the villain in her nightmares. I’d saved her! My throat felt dry but I forced myself to speak. “Not much farther up ahead.” And because I knew it would put her at ease. “Thess is there. He’s waiting for you.”

  “He is?” She perked up instantly at that. Of course she would, but it wasn’t because she liked the male, it meant she wouldn’t have to be all alone with me much longer. Whether little sister wanted to admit it or not, she feared me.

  Thinking of what had transpired before her very eyes in that main cavern, maybe she should. I really couldn’t blame her. In a way, I guess I was afraid of myself, too—no matter how justified I felt in what I’d done, allowed to be done.

  “Come,” I called, and we moved on without another word between us.

  ˜˙˜*˜˙˜

  We’d reached the meeting point in record time. Vetra was more determined to get there at this point than I was. Pride and resentment mixed, tinged with hurt. It was hard to just shove it all to the side.

  Rushing to my pack, I immediately started pulling things from it, motioning to my sister to move closer.

  “Here,” pulling a bundle of folded cloth from my sack, and her favorite shoes, I quickly shot up, shoving the items into her arms. “Change. Hurry,” I urged, dipping back down, pulling more things from my bag. A water skin and bit of torn cloth, I handed it over to her, motioning that she should try and wash up as much as possible. I hadn’t brought it for that purpose. This was my drinking water for the trip, but I’d just have to refill it.

  Her incredulity as she stared at me with a funny look on her face was valid, I needed a washing more than she, but I wasn’t leaving this place, not yet. Besides, the amount of water it would take to wash this off wasn’t to be found in my water bladder. She looked like she wanted to argue but did as I’d asked.

/>   While she got to work scrubbing at her skin, I made quick work of gathering supplies, getting things ready. Shaking out a rope from my pack, I tied it to the untethered end of the one from earlier.

  “What about you?” Vetra called, whipping off her gown to replace it with the chemise, dress, and stockings I’d managed to roll up small enough to fit inside my pack.

  Turning, picking up a piece of her discarded death dress, I pretended not to hear her, walking to the corridor, knife in hand, for the next step. Once done, object bundled and in hand, I walked back to the not so hidden any longer passageway I’d been dragged in here through.

  “Thess,” I called, dropping down to peer down the lengthy tunnel. With a freshly pried small light rock from a wall inside the corridor right before this room, a bit of torn cloth from Vetra’s hem wrapped around the light source to keep contact with the stone to a minimum, I chucked it down the way. The space lit up gold and green like an eerie, ghostly candle.

  “Riadne!” Thess’ face popped into view. We grinned at the same time. But then my friend’s silly, charming smile fell and he frowned. “What of Vetra? Did you- Is she-” Brow furrowing, licking his lips, he tried to form sentences but couldn’t. He was afraid to ask.

  What of it that he’d failed to notice the flecks of red staining me? I did still have my hood on, I’d admit, and it very well could be blocking the light the rock was casting. Coupled with the room’s red, glowing hue, and the distance down the tunnel length, it could just be enough to help mask it. It rankled, all the same.

  “Got her,” I replied with a genuine smile. It washed over me then as I studied Thess’ expression—I’d done it. Vet would soon be on her way with Thess, to safety and a new start, and I, well, I’d be on my way to part two of my plan. Glancing up, I motioned my sibling over.

  She scuttled closer but didn’t squat down to toss Thessen a hello.

  “Truly?” Thess called. Relief rushed across his sharp features.

  “Truly.” Picking up the tied ropes, I handed Vetra one end, holding the rock wrapped end up to waggle it, ready to chuck it to Thess. “Here!” Swinging the rope-rock, I tossed it down the passageway, pleased when it ricocheted down the wall, only missing its destination by a little less than an arm’s length. An easy reach for my long-armed friend.

  Thess gave a low whistle and a nod. “Better than I could’ve done. Took me two tries.” Reaching in, he found the rock and dragged it to him.

  Glancing up towards my sibling, who was still hesitating, hands still trembling, swallowing convulsively, I frowned.

  “Ve- What’s-”

  “You’re not coming with us, are you?” Her lower lip trembled. When I made to stand she put a hand up. “Don’t lie to me. I just- I know it, feel it. You’re going to leave me. I just- I-I know things.”

  It was then I saw the faint marking on her hand, a map to match mine. Vet was the other choice, the one they hadn’t picked. Relief rushed through me tenfold, and not because I’d won out over her but that she’d lucked out.

  “Sensed it in the tunnels,” she continued, her brow creasing, eyes growing wet with barely withheld moisture. “This is goodbye.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to try and lie to her, but we both knew I’ve never been very good at it, not an outright lie, and not where she was concerned. She had a knack for that kind of thing where her ability to read others stunk. A human lie detector with poor people judgement, and I on the opposite end, no ability to lie, no social skills or tolerance of people in general to speak of, forget judging skills, and more than capable of wading through people’s bull to dismiss them early on. What a fine pair we made.

  Swallowing past the lump forming in my throat, though my eyes watered along with hers, I explained calmly, my voice low but filled with emotion, “I can’t leave, not yet. There’s something I still have to do.”

  Vetra frowned, but her eyes strayed down the tunnel and she gasped. “Oh, Addie, you didn’t?”

  “I didn’t what?” I queried, brow beetling.

  “Made a deal with the devil,” she whispered. Then lower, “The voices...”

  I almost snorted aloud at that, thinking of the fae king’s reaction to being likened to a cloven hoofed heathen.

  “Of a sorts,” I admitted, hoping that’d be enough.

  Light green eyes studied mine imploringly. “F-f-f-for me?”

  Slipping out of my cloak, ignoring the way her eyes found the old, dried blood caking me and stayed, I dipped down briefly, dusting the tops of my hands in green and gold, shaking it out inside the hood, and stood to wrap the material around her shoulders.

  Pulling the hood over her head, I cupped the sides of her face over the material, tilting her chin to meet mine. “For me,” I said, because technically, in a way, I had. “I love you, little sister,” a few tears fell then as I placed a chaste kiss on her forehead, “will always, to the moons and back, past the infinite and beyond.”

  “As do I, always,” she got out between sniffles. “T-t-t-to the moons and back, i-i-i-infinite and beyond.”

  Lifting my hand, I blew on my glittering skin, smiling softly as she sneezed, sucking in a sharp breath, and her face quickly grew that dreamlike quality I’d felt all those times I’d been dusted.

  There wasn’t enough dust, and I knew it wouldn’t last long. I just prayed it would be enough to see her through the tunnel without a fight.

  In between humming that special lullaby I’d heard from Titania, surprised I could pull it off as well as the Queen herself, I guided my baby sister to the tunnel’s opening. That was where Vet’s stubbornness could come in. She was as ornery as me when it came to trying to protect each other. With Nan gone, we were all that we had. If she’d been aware of my plans, she’d have surely fought me then, I knew.

  Wrapping the rope around her waist, twining it up, under her shoulders, I placed her hands around the rope, positioning her at the passageway’s opening, and instructed softly but firmly, between soothing hums, “You are going to go down the tunnel, everything will be fine. You are going to go with Thessen. There is a note in the bag he has and a little coin, jewelry from Nan, it will be enough to get you past Lilith’s Crest or Tievel’s Borough.”

  Vetra’s head bobbed along woodenly, eyes glazed, though she was absorbing every word.

  She was more akin to an actual puppet under the effects of the dust, making me wonder briefly if she was actually home in there. This was definitely a bit different than when I’d been dusted, or so it felt seeing it from an outsider’s looking in point of view, but this was to my benefit.

  Vetra bent to do as told, nodding to Thessen when he asked if she was ready and I whispered for her to say yes. “Tuck your arms in, wrap them in the cloak, and let Thess pull you.”

  Another nod, she did as instructed, wiggling in onto her back.

  “And, Vetra?”

  She looked to me then.

  “No matter how much time passes, or how many miles,” or more, “we’re apart, you will always have me,” I pointed to her heart, “sisters forever. You’ll always know, too,” my voice caught but I kept going, “that in this life or the next, or the thereafter, we will meet again.”

  She nodded woodenly, but I shook my head. My fingers clutched hers. “Promise me,” I whispered, tears started to stream down my face in earnest.

  One tug, she ducked, starting to disappear into the hole.

  “I promise. I- I promise.” Her voice echoed off the space.

  Plopping down on my ass, I lifted her feet, wrapped the cloak around them, assisting her descent. With each tugging pull she was that much lost to me.

  By the time she’d reached the end of the tunnelway the dust was wearing off and she was starting to squirm. I’d already managed to drag, pull, push, the stone close enough all I had left to do was lift it in place and force it back into the wall.

  “Ri- Riadne!” Vetra’s voice was tremulous. She was terrified. Damn. Not near enough dust.

  Peeri
ng into the hole as Vetra and Thessen’s faces appeared, I looked to my sister. “You remember what I said.” Then, to my ex-lover, “You take care of her, Thess. Keep her safe.”

  “Ri?” Thess blinked in confusion, his gaze swinging to Vetra’s crumpling face and intermittent sobs as she nodded, and the resolved look on mine.

  The beast’s bellows echoed yet again down the hall, as if to beckon.

  I glanced that way, quickly, trying to be discreet.

  Not discreet enough, as Thess’ eyes widened. “Ri! You can’t!”

  “Don’t try and come after me. The entrance is closed off,” I lied. “Just go, leave now, and be quick about it.”

  “Are you- You can’t- Riadne!” Thess’ face turned an ugly shade of red. I’d expected this reaction from him.

  “Thessen. I have to. I’ve no choice.”

  “The deal with the devil,” Vetra mumbled. Her eyes had dried, but she was clearly in shock, rocking back and forth, wrapped in my cloak.

  “The what?” Thessen sputtered.

  “Take care of her,” was all I said, and with one last stern look at Thess, I hefted the rock, straining, careful to get the stone on the lip to slide it.

  “Riadne!”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Riadne!!” Vetra’s screams continued in my head, Thess’ confused shouts following after, long after the stone had slammed into place and everything of the outside world was suddenly cut off, severing us forever.

  I kept going.

  “How will I get to it?” I didn’t bother thinking it. What was the point? I was basically alone now, save the set off traps in the maze, and the bellowing beast I was on my way to meet.

  My pack felt heavy, so damned weighted down. The weight of my sins? Shame, guilt, for what I’d just done? Couldn’t be the contents. I’d already emptied more than half what it’d originally held.

  Maybe it was a sin in Vetra’s eyes, or Thess’, at my betrayal, but a boon to my soul, knowing someday they’d forgive me, and I’d have peace knowing they’d be safe.