Heart of Ash (The Dark Arcane Series: Book 1)

Chapter Forty Two

Ashyn woke up and was alone.

Her limbs ached and her skin itched under her clothes but she was, blissfully, alone.

She stood up in a rush, and promptly vomited over the frozen ground. She thought about what the witches may have done to her, could have done to her, and retched some more. When there was nothing left to bring up, she sat there wheezing at her stomach contents in confusion.

She didn't ever remember eating or drinking or pissing or shitting within the last week.

Fuck the witches, and fuck whatever they'd done to her; she had to get back to the others. Darius's mother was alive.

She was a godsdamned witch.

She would have caught on sooner if she knew his mother was a witch, but as she thought back, and catalogued the shine of gold in her eyes, they matched precisely to Darius. Even the sly, thoughtful gaze was the same.

Mayeve was up to something, something to do with runes, and whatever it was, it worried Ashyn to her core.

She'd only ever known runes to be used for one thing; destruction. But it had started to occur to her—what if they could be used for something more?

She stood up slowly, but still had to spread her hands out to steady herself. It was only when she stood with both feet planted on the ground, and head straight, that she realised something was wrong.

Other.

Her bones, her muscles, her hands and feet were all there but—

—but deep down, in the furthest recesses of her soul, she felt empty. Something was missing. She didn't know what, but the witches had taken something from her. Stolen.

Ashyn gasped at the ache. Panting, she psyched herself up, and took a step forwards. She surveyed her surroundings in the Red Jae.

Everything felt wrong, out of touch. Too much colour, too much saturation and there was a buzzing in her ears.

Mother of ash, all she wanted was to go back to the Ka l'asterei and Meredith and go back to the mundane rhythm of destroying runes one after the other. She wanted to leave the moons damned north and never return. She wanted the simplicity of her life she had before.

Kill the emperor. Kill the emperor. Kill the emperor.

But in the oddest way, she also wanted the others to live. She felt like it would matter to her if the others died.

So, Ashyn grasped her strength together and moved. She strode through the forest like she knew where she was headed, ignoring that emptiness inside her, and instead focused on moving forwards.

She walked for what felt like hours between the walls of leaves. The trees all looked identical around her, and they wobbled in her warped vision like she was looking at them through fire.

She heard a rustle in the distance, a sound of something coming towards her. Through the trees, she couldn't see anything, hell, she could hardly tell which direction they were coming from.

Her heart beginning to pound, she remembered the Elites.

Of their own accord, her legs sprung into action, sending her running across the snow at full pelt. This lasted a few seconds before she was forced to drop back to a stumbling lope, her body refusing to obey her minds command. Still, she travelled as quick as she could, trying to keep her movements soft on the ground.

The footsteps behind her were still audible, crunching on the snow as they followed.

It took everything she had not to start wheezing for breath as she moved.