Heat that had nothing to do with his dragon’s fire filled him, pressing against his chest like he’d swallowed the sun, and he couldn’t breathe without taking in her scent. Without hearing the tiny gasp she made as he deepened the kiss and pulled her closer.
Something brushed against his shoulder, and for a moment, he thought it was her hand. But then something bumped against him. Hard. He stumbled forward, grabbing Lorelai’s arms to keep them on their feet, and turned to see that the Hinderlinde Forest had come to life.
Oh skies, we’ve got trouble.
The trees—hundreds of them, dripping moss and shedding leaves—were sliding toward them, their roots ripping through the soil and splaying out like tentacles. A horrible cracking sound filled the air as branches slammed against each other and trunks collided. They moved with a steady, relentless cadence that filled Kol with horror and sent his dragon heart thundering.
A walnut tree beside Lorelai raised its branches toward the sky and then slammed them down toward the princess’s head.
Down! he yelled, but she’d already dropped to the ground and rolled away from the tree.
Away from him.
He lunged toward her and a branch smashed the ground where he’d been standing.
It’s the same thing every time. You’d think she’d realize that taking control of so many hearts at once makes the cost of her magic that much worse. Lorelai sounded disgusted.
Yes, she displays a true lack of originality. Maybe we can discuss that further when we aren’t in danger of being crushed by walking trees.
They’re moving slow. We can outrun them. She flipped to the side as a maple bent toward her, its branches swinging hard.
They’re closing in and forming a fence around us.
Good thing we have dragon’s fire and mardushka magic, then. She grabbed his hand and pulled him away from a skinny hickory that was wrapping its branches around his waist. Magic tingled against his skin and then slid into his blood with a jolt.
They ran, stumbling over roots that lashed the ground, ducking branches, and trying to find a path that wasn’t already blocked.
We’re surrounded. Power filled her voice, and her eyes were fierce as she looked at him. And we aren’t going to lead them back to Gabril and the shack. It’s me she wants.
She isn’t going to get you.
No, she isn’t.
An oak swiped at her, and Kol pulled her against him. The branch slid by, scratching Kol’s hands as it passed. The sound of roots tearing through soil, trunks creaking, and branches whistling through the air filled the forest as the trees shuffled closer and closer to Lorelai and Kol.
Sasha, path! Lorelai sent as she tightened her grip on his hand and muttered an incantor.
Fire spilled out of his veins and into hers, and her pain hit him a second later. Blistering agony, pressure that wrapped around her chest and threatened to cut off her air, and a shuddering weakness that tried to send her to her knees.
He wrapped his free arm around her waist and hauled her out of the path of an incoming maple. Branches lashed around them from behind and yanked them against a trunk. Roots tangled with this feet. His dragon heart pounded viciously, and he snarled as he struck out at the branches that were touching Lorelai.
Seconds later, the gyrfalcon shrieked from above, and Lorelai, her breath coming in desperate pants, said Path, Sasha. Find the river to the west.
An oak lumbered close, striking at Lorelai with a thick branch covered in dying leaves. Kol tried to block it, but the branches wrapped around his chest shortened his reach. Lorelai threw herself against him, and the branch slammed into the tree that was holding them instead.
Sasha reappeared above them as the branches holding them began to squeeze the air out of Kol’s lungs.
I’ve got the path. Time to burn our way out of here.
He bared his teeth as his dragon heart pounded a litany of hurt, punish, kill and poured fire into Lorelai through her magic. She made an awful sound of pain, but raised her free hand and grabbed the branches that were wrapped around them.
“Kaz`lit,” she yelled, and fire blazed out of her hand and into the heart of the tree.
It shivered and creaked, smoke rising from its bark, and then it exploded into slivers edged with gold-tipped fire so blindingly white it hurt to look at.
Let’s get to the river where the trees can’t follow us, she said, but the pain from his fire was eating at her, and she could barely walk. Follow the path Sasha sent to me. Can you see it?
He saw it in her thoughts—a sprint southwest for more distance than he cared to consider given their current circumstances. He scooped her into his arms and began running west, twisting away from branches that came at him like clubs, and pausing briefly when their path was blocked so that she could incinerate the tree in front of them.
He was out of breath, his body scratched and beaten from branches he’d failed to avoid, when he heard a roar in the distance.
That’s the river. Her voice was faint, her teeth clenched against the pain. I hope you can swim.