The fire died behind us with a long, low groan. We kept moving until the glow was a smear between trees and the heat on my back turned to cold. Ash rode the wind. My cabin was smoke now. And every step felt like I was walking out of my own skin.
“Thorne,” Liora said.
“Keep pace,”
“I am,”
“Good,” I said. I didn’t look at her. I couldn’t. If I did, the ruin would crawl up my throat, and I would say something I couldn’t take back.
“You are bleeding inside,” Ace remarked, and I grunted softly in response. I pushed harder, cutting through fir and deadfall, laying a line no one would read unless they could smell like I could. We crossed the stream twice, ran along the bank for a while to hide our scent, then climbed until the ridge leveled and the trees opened up to a patch of cold sky.
“H
