Stella
Eric struggled to keep a pace beyond fast walking with me on his back. I barely had the strength to hold on to him with all the jostling.
“They’ve found us,” Eric said between panting breaths.
I glanced behind. Three figures on horseback galloped closer. They were tiny in the distance. I looked ahead at the forest. Giant trees reached for the lowering sun, casting shadows into the field ahead of us, but we still had so much ground to cover.
“Can we make it?”
Eric took several deep breaths before answering. “I’m trying,” he gasped.
“If they catch up, they’ll execute you,” I muttered into his ear.
“I know!” he wheezed in frustration.
“Put me down,” I demanded. “I’ll run.” I couldn’t, but I wasn’t about to let him die.
He slowed and released his hold on my legs. I stumbled forward, falling into the knee-high grass.
“No!” He scrambled beside me. “C’mon! Get back on!”
I shook my head even as heartbreak threatened to tear me apart. “Escape. Live.”
He jerked to assess the oncoming men. “I won’t leave you.”
“You’re the only person who knows me! Please! They won’t kill me. They need me to heal them.”
“No. You can’t fulfill the mission with your memories gone! Get up! Now!”
I relented, rising to my feet. Our pursuers were distant but closing in. I didn’t allow him to carry me again. My body seemed to find another reservoir of strength, and I stepped faster. Mission. The word swirled in my mind. There was a reason I was here?
“Do you have comrades?” I huffed between heavy breaths.
He shook his head. “We travel alone, or in pairs. You fell out of the wind stream, which should be impossible. When I exited the vortex, you’d already been here for weeks.”
Confusion made thoughts impossible. Windstream? Vortex? He arrived weeks later.
“I don’t understand.”
“We’re timekeepers, Natalie! We’re supposed to unite the kingdoms before they tear each other apart.”
What?
“How in the vether were we going to do that?”
“I’ll explain when we’re safe.”
We fled, but the horses crept closer and closer, until the steady thud of their hoofbeats resounded in our ears.
“Stella!”
Prince Fernando. Sharp pain stabbed my stomach at the sound of my name. A pull to stop running from him competed with my desperation to discover who I really was.
A sudden gust of wind knocked us both to the ground. I fell hard, twisting my wrist on the impact. I yelped, gripping it with my uninjured hand. Eric had rolled farther.
“An air wielder,” he moaned.
The tall grass concealed us, but not for long.
“Eric, go. Please. They’ll kill you.”
“We were supposed to make it,” he whispered. “I saw us survive.”
I crawled to him and realized with horror he wouldn’t be able to flee. He gripped his left knee, red seeping between his fingers. The magic must have thrown him down even harder than me.
“No!”
Our eyes met.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped.
The heavy footfalls stopped. Prince Fernando and his men discovered us. Without a second thought, I threw myself over Eric.
“Don’t kill him!” I begged. “Please, please, please, don’t kill him. Please.”
Rocco held his arm up.
“Hold your power,” Fernando commanded.
Rocco obeyed, but kept his stance.
Dario dismounted and strode toward us, unsheathing his sword. For a second, I was sure he would skewer us.
“Stella!” Fernando passed Dario to stand over us. “What happened? Why are you out here?”
I looked up at his flushed face, expecting fury. But something else floated in his green gaze.
“Please. He’s my brother,” I lied. “I saw him through the gate, climbed the ladder near the front when the guards weren’t looking, and ran away because I was afraid he’d be killed after what happened!”
“You remember him?” he asked in surprise.
“Yes,” I lied. “I think my memories might be coming back.”
“Her brother is a wielder,” Dario said.
“I’m not,” Eric said weakly.
Fernando
She protected this so-called brother with her entire body. Her dress was in tatters, she was filthy, and her hair was tangled. This compromising situation only strengthened my desire for her. For a brief moment, I imagined her covering me like this. Who was this stranger, eliciting such devotion?
“He obviously can’t access his magic, even if it’s in his blood. Look at him.”
“He’s faking,” Dario protested.
“You think you could have caught us if I had magic?” the stranger asked through gritted teeth.
“No, I don’t,” I said dismissively, then turned my attention to the beautiful woman at my feet. “You understand the penalty for abandoning your duty, Stella?” Despite my status, I couldn’t protect her from my father’s wrath. Not for this.
She’d live, though.
“Or if he kidnapped her?” Dario suggested.
“Kidnapping a healer is a death sentence,” I stated coldly.
“No! He didn’t kidnap me!”
I clenched my jaw and stooped to her level. “You ran away from me? From your duty, I mean?”
Her eyes darted to Dario, then back to me. “No,” she whispered. “I didn’t run from you.”
My heart twinged. I lowered my voice. “You have to come back.”
“I will if you promise not to kill him.”
Heat prickled the back of my neck. “That’s not up to you.” I glowered at the man beneath her. “Who lets a woman save his skin?”
“Go ahead,” the idiot spat. “Murder your healer’s brother and see how well that goes for you.”
I narrowed my eyes, but the bastard had a point.
“You both will face punishment for your disloyalty, but I won’t execute either of you if you return without resistance.” My father would sentence this fellow to death, but at least it wouldn’t be my decision.
“We promise,” Stella answered for both of them.
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