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Drake
continued.
    Ashlyn remembered the reveal stane then, and turned to untie
her shuriken from the back of the saddle. “Hang on just a sec,” she said, and
flipped the shuriken over, taking a moment to admire the familiar gleam of reveal within its slots. With everything
that was new and frightening, it was comforting to see that some things were
still the same. After a moment, she pulled the heal stane out of her armlet and swapped it with the fire stane from the weapon. She’d had
too many close calls, and she didn’t want to keep relying on shift to save her every time she lost
her shuriken.
    Focusing on reveal, she silently willed it to lead her to Skye. The glittering
trail of orange fireflies materialized in front of her, causing her horse to
toss its head in surprise at its sudden appearance.
    “ Reveal,” Ashlyn said when Drake gave her a questioning glance.
“I…um…borrowed it?”
    “Borrowed,” he said, and there
was a hint of a smile around his lips.
    “Yeah. Well…” She urged her horse
on, following the glittering path, which was significantly less sparkly in the
late afternoon sun that streamed through the branches overhead than it had been
in the darkness of night.
    Drake’s horse matched pace with
hers as they wove their way through the trees, each watching vigilantly for any
sign of Toryn ninjas.
    “It was just you and Skye?”
Ashlyn asked suddenly, remembering the note she’d left behind the night before.
    Drake glanced over at her, clearly
understanding what she was asking and seeming to consider his response. “Vargo
stayed in the city,” he said at length. “The Spartans are assisting Restlyn in
assuming temporary leadership of Toryn.”
    Leave it to Drake to know exactly
what she was thinking. Ashlyn knew she shouldn’t say anything more about it,
but her curiosity got the best of her. “Was Vargo…mad?” she asked, dreading the
response, but taking a perverse kind of pleasure in asking Drake for details.
    Drake made a noise in his throat,
almost like a growl. “No one in FLD approved of your actions, Ashlyn.”
    Her eyes narrowed. She didn’t
want to hear lectures from him. “I knew you and Skye would come after me. Well…Skye,
anyway.”
    He was silent for a moment, and
then said, “Only you would question my allegiance in circumstances such as
this.”
    “Only you would tell me you don’t feel anything after spouting off
about rainbows and destiny,” she retorted, glad for a lead-in to the inevitable
argument. “Do you make a habit of seducing people with pretty words and then rejecting
them, or is it just me?”
    He looked affronted. “I healed your wounds .”
    “Oh yes, that makes it all
better. Ease my suffering by letting me drink your blood. Newsflash, Lockhart,
that only works on fixing broken bones, not broken hearts.”
    “Did it mean nothing to you?” he
snapped, wheeling his horse about and facing her. “A bond exists between us now
that cannot be severed. This is not something to be taken lightly.”
    “No, and nothing involving you
ever is, is it?” she burst out. “That’s why we’re so horribly different, and that’s why it was dumb of meto even wonder if you could feel something for an immature bratlike me! It’s never that simple with
you, you can’t just let go and let things be. I’ll tell you what, Drake, I wish I’d
lost my free will, because at least then I wouldn’t have to feel responsible
for my stupid decisions and my stupidemotions!”
    They stared at each other for
what seemed like an eternity, but was probably just a few moments, her dark
eyes boring into his red ones, the tension between them a tangible thing. Eventually
Ashlyn turned away, and began to follow the path again. She urged her horse
into a slow lope, letting the wind sting her eyes and whip any semblance of
tears away.
    As they rode and the minutes
ticked by, Ashlyn’s anger began to ebb, and very soon she was feeling quite
foolish over her outburst. She