Dawn Carver (3)

18

Casimir

I spent half my life hiding in the shadows.

In Veymaw, I could never truly be myself. Not even for Freya, the person who knew me best in the entire world. Because if anyone were to find out who I was, what I was, she would've been hung too.

But creeping through Veymaw as a wanted man is an entirely different kind of hiding.

Killian blends into the shadows seamlessly in front of me. He's barely visible as we sneak through the marketplace, the dark early hours of the morning our cover. My bones ache with the memory of the last time I was here. I can still feel the roughness of the noose around my neck, the sweat down my back as the villagers awaited our execution.

The village feels cold and desolate; and it has nothing to do with the winter air.

I never thought that I would grow to miss Veymaw. The village always felt so small, claustrophobic when I knew all that was beyond it. But to return to a place that you grew up to find that it no longer feels like home is a destabilizing feeling I never anticipated.

Myers cabin awaits us deep in the forest. If it weren't for the tiny light emanating through the fog of the back window, it would look entirely deserted. Killian casts a glance my way as he reaches the door.

"I noticed during the last visit he wasn't such a fan of deserters," he says.

"I'm not waiting outside."

Killian shrugs, mumbling something beneath his breath, before turning and knocking on the door. Three firm knocks, reverberating through the wood. The seconds tick by, emphasized by the quiet of the forest. Killian and I exchange a glance before he knocks again.

Still, after several moments, there's no response. "Maybe he's not home," I suggest.

"Or maybe he's ignoring us."

I glance at the back window, where the glow of a light seeps through the dirty glass. A rattling sound draws my attention back to Killian. His slender fingers fiddle with the door hinge. "What're you doing?"

"Fun fact about me." He casts me a brief glance, the left side of his mouth tugging up. "I don't like being ignored."

With one more nudge, the door comes off its hinges.

Freya

"Get away from the window," Lei urges, tugging me back.

The village, mere moments ago, bathed in the glow of the morning sun lies shrouded in darkness. My heart hammers in my chest. The cloud. Its imminent presence fills me with dread.

Did I do this?

I stare down at my hands, squeezing them together to try and keep them from shaking.

"It was me," I whisper. "I think it was me."

"What?"

I let out a shaky breath, my mind running at a million miles a second. I'd felt it course through my body, the sheer rage. It burnt hot through my veins, pumping my chest, stirring something in the air.

I meet Lei's eye. Her furrowed gaze darts from the window back to me, her lips parting. "You made it come?"

"I... I think so. I didn't mean to..." I squeeze my eyes shut. Something ripples beneath my skin, hot, like the anger that coursed through mere moments before. "I have to go."

Lei catches my arm.

"What? You can't go out there."

"I have to. I'm the only one who isn't affected by it."