He looked up as I approached, breaking into a huge smile that mirrored my own. The last time I’d seen him properly was on the wet sand of the cove, barely alive after the entity had left him.
“Can I hug you yet?” he asked, his eyes filled with amusement.
“I’m still an energy-sucker.”
“This isn’t going to go well for me when we fight over the remote, is it?” He smirked.
“Nope. I suggest you get Mom or Dad to turn you into a vampire, otherwise you’re not going to stand a chance.”
Yelena looked at me in confusion, but I just shrugged—she would know who we were eventually, no doubt, but right now I couldn’t handle the ton of questions that would come with it…and I suspected Benedict would probably want to impart that news anyway.
“How are you feeling?” Benedict asked. “How come you passed out when you created the barrier?”
“I guess I’m not used to it, so stuff like that uses more energy…and I can’t syphon properly without hurting anyone, not yet, anyway.”
He nodded solemnly.
“I’m sorry, Hazel. That sucks.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “It does.”
Ash approached the group, clearing his throat to get our attention. He looked like he’d aged since I last saw him. Though I knew that Tejus hadn’t abdicated responsibility for Hellswan by a long shot, I was glad that he was no longer king—I couldn’t imagine how it must feel to be in charge of the kingdom right now, knowing that the care of the wounded and displaced fell entirely on his shoulders.
“How are you holding up, Ash?” I asked.
“All right. We’re ready to move out. We’re all going to travel by bull-horse while the guards and some of the ministers take the birds to see what state the rest of Nevertide is in. I want to take us via the village—see if we can pick up anyone on the way.”
“Is Lieutenant Ragnhild leading them?” Ruby asked.
“Yes,” Ash replied – surprised at the question.
Ruby nodded stiffly but stayed silent.
What was that about?
“Let’s go,” Ash instructed after Ruby didn’t elaborate. “Hazel, are you okay to travel with Tejus?”
“Um, not really—not yet.”
The hunger had resurfaced fully, and it was painful enough being surrounded by the humans. Being around Tejus would be intolerable until I could syphon again.
“All right, we’ll get you your own bull-horse.”
“That’s not fair,” Benedict objected.
I glared at him, half bemused and half irritated.
Seriously?
Ash and Ruby rode up front together, followed by Queen Trina in the Hellswan carriage. She was surrounded by guards, and the compartment was wrapped in heavy iron chains. Clearly, they weren’t taking any chances. Tejus and I were bringing up the rear, herding the kids, who sat four each to a bull-horse, led by a few ministers on foot. Julian had flown on ahead with Jenney on one of the vultures—she had been hit quite badly by some of the falling rocks, and Julian had insisted that she didn’t travel the journey on horseback. For someone who was usually quite shy and awkward, Julian had kicked up a massive fuss, arguing with the guards until Ash intervened.
As we approached the village, my heart sank. I’d be amazed if there were any survivors. The crack in the earth ran alongside the main road, and most of the land that lay to the north of it had fallen inward—up ahead I could see it starting to snake through the main thoroughfare of the village, and where once there had been cluttered rows of small cottages, now the land looked almost entirely flat.
“Oh, my God,” I breathed as we passed the first set of homes, all completely destroyed. Farm animals roamed over the rubble, their hooves clamoring, breaking the oppressive silence that had settled over everything, along with the thick dust that hung heavy in the air. The place was starting to give me the creeps—the piles of wood and stone created dark shadows in the daylight, black crevices where I felt eyes watching me as I rode past.
“Hello! Anyone out there?” Ash called out from the front, his voice echoing on for miles. It seemed strange that there weren’t more sentries wandering about; the atmosphere at the castle had been crazy, ministers and guards rushing to and fro as they tended to the wounded, but here there was absolutely nothing, not a soul to be seen.
“Anyone?” Ash called again. The kids started to join in, but still nothing stirred in the piles of broken houses and farms.
I looked over at Tejus. His brows were furrowed—he was clearly finding the silence as odd as I did. We walked a bit further, the end of the village in the distance. My bull-horse was starting to get jumpy, not wanting to move forward.