Madalynn craned her neck to the incline rising before her. Beside her, Arren let out a weak whistle. Rising from the line of canopies coloring a third of her view of the sky was a rocky mountain void of anything green. Only splotches of trees peppered the incline's side, showing her their eventual fate should they decide to take the path.

She's so not dressed for this.

Arren exhaled through his nose. He dismounted and led his horse next to a random tree.

Madalynn frowned. "What are you doing?"

The Renlicht rolled his shoulders, as if the answer was obvious. "There's no way I'm leading Vidya up there," he jerked his chin at the bald peak. "I'm sure yours would appreciate the rest too."

It took several blinks for Madalynn to realize he's talking about the horses. "Oh," she shook her head and touched Gomoky's flank. "What do you say, you big ninni?"

The horse huffed, possibly from the absence of the highest grade oats he had been promised. Arren raised an eyebrow at her. "Ninny?" he scratched the side of his face. "Why would you call your horse that?"

Madalynn gave him a flat look. Who was he to insert himself into this conversation? "Ninni," she said. "It's slang in the highlands. Not that you would know it."

Arren made a face but bent down to secure the reins on the sturdy branch. His horse was well-trained, staying still amidst all that prodding. Gomoky could never. Like Madalynn, he always held a temper.

She idled on the saddle, whirling to other ways that might present itself. A huge part of her prayed to the Angels the map wasn't absolute, that there would be some hidden path she could take to get to Verolya faster than the Renlicht.

After a full minute of surveying, of squinting past the line of trees and the fluctuating canopy levels in the horizon, she got her answer. This mountain at the edge of Durynska was the fastest way through the border, giving way to Starinberg and further in, Verolya. If she took a detour, she would end up in the eastern cities, and by the time she reached the ruins, Arren would probably be on his way back with the Heart.

The realization slowly sank in. She, under any circumstances, could not lose sight of the Renlicht. It'd be harder to track him down and steal the Heart from him if they're doing the chase inside a forest as dense as this. And who's to say he wouldn't take a different way home after this? There's only one way to go about this, the one path where she would lose little and stand to gain the world.

Madalynn Agnussen would need to go with Arren Renlicht with whatever road he took to get to Verolya.

Right. Ew.

That explained the ease straightening Arren's shoulders as he watched Madalynn swing her leg off Gomoky's flank and drop to the ground. Oh, he probably had the time of his life seeing her contemplate her choices. Of course, he didn't know what went through her mind or what she's planning to do after they got the Heart.

She led Gomoky next to his horse—Vidya, was it?—and ripped her supplies from his saddle. Sticking her arms into the straps and settling her bag on her shoulders, she faced Arren. "Okay, genius," she braced her hips. "What now?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "You're coming with me, a Renlicht?"

"What? This is the quickest way through," she averted her eyes and started marching forward. She hated being the one without power and having a Renlicht holding it over her head. While he didn't hide the fact that knew it, she still had to save whatever's left of her dignity. Her father could never handle this kind of humiliation. "Come on. Don't make me slow down because of you."

"You're going the wrong way, actually," Arren called after her.

She stopped, whirling back to him. Her nose hit the trunk which crept behind her. She scrambled back, clamping her throbbing face. Her gaze fell on Arren who stood a few steps away, lips twitching.

"Laugh, and I'll gut you," she rested a hand on her dagger—ehem, her stolen dagger.

Arren seemed to have developed a resistance to her baseless threats, because he inclined his head to the side. "Like anchovies?"

The image of those little monsters popped at the back of her head. She scowled. When had she even told him she hated those disgusting louts? "Whatever," she waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Can we please move? I don't have the whole month to get lost in this forest."

With that, Arren agreed with how fast he pivoted and resumed their journey. They continued in silence, going up the incline. A little distance through the narrowing ledge carved from the side of the mountain, Arren took a deep breath. A smile peeled off Madalynn's lips. Oh, he's afraid of heights? What could possibly be so bad about this pass? It wasn't like it's a long drop.

To prove her point, she looked to her feet.

And her heart stopped.

Green devoured every inch of what used to be the forest floor. There's no sight of their horses, and on the horizon, only more green ate at the expanse. Silhouettes of mountains surrounding the neighboring cities of Arvensey rose and fell, punching through the veil of low-lying clouds and plumes of smoke from the industrial cities gathering in the atmosphere.

Debris from the mountain's walls quivered beside her boots with every step they took. One misstep, and she would plummet to her death. She couldn't count on a Renlicht to save her, so she had to figure out a way to save herself if and when she truly fell.

Behind her, Arren's breaths turned more shallow. Oh, dear. Would she save a Renlicht if he keeled over because of that tired puffing? They both knew the answer to that. To save a Renlicht meant dishonoring the hundred years' tradition of the Agnussen House. Her father would never forgive her for letting a chance to destroy the Renlicht House slip past her grip.

Well, her father could go screw himself. He's not the one going through the side of a mountain pass with no railings.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Madalynn found herself blurting after they started curving around the peak. The air started getting harder to breathe, and her ears filled up with a heavy weight only to pop seconds later.

"Yeah?" came Arren's weak prod from behind.

Madalynn chewed on her lip. What in the Angels' wings was she doing? She should not be getting involved further than she already was with Arren. But something clawed at the back of her mind, something that contributed to how salty she was towards the Renlicht heir.

"You're after the Heart, right?" she said.

"Yeah," he answered in a tone more uncertain than the last iteration.

"Can you say anything other than 'yeah'?"

"Y—I mean," he cleared his throat, no doubt burning in the face. One of the things she noticed about him over the past few days was he got flustered way too easily. Which became the perfect blister Madalynn kept poking. "I intend to get the Heart of Verolya, yes. Aren't you?"

Madalynn blew a gust through her nose. It came out as a snort. "What do you need it for?" she asked. "Weren't you and Alekzhi a thing? I heard you're close to tying the knot."

A beat passed. Two. "She and I never lasted," Arren answered. "Our relationship was as shallow as it seemed, and I can't stand it. If I wanted a wife, I would have wanted it to be for real, you know? I don't like eating vadelberries only to find out they've been raisins all along. And I love those bittersweet fruits."

Madalynn couldn't have whirled faster. The green expanse melded into a blur in her periphery while her nails dug into the soft bedrock of the pass' wall. "What—I liked her!" she cried. Her voice and the words it contained echoed past Arren and into the thick canopies until it faded into faint whiffs.

Arren's head snapped up. He blinked. "What?"

This conversation couldn't have gotten dumber than this moment, and Madalynn couldn't believe she's the one who initiated this. What was she thinking?

It's her turn to cough into her fist, dislodging the lump in her throat. "Yeah, I liked Alekzhi," she admitted. "Was that so bad?"

"No," Arren's reply was quick. Without hesitation. "I mean...you had eyes on the Vedelin heir all this time, and you never told your father?"

She scoffed. "Kasenck Agnussen?" she said. "I'd rather bleed myself dry. He's obsessed with passing the crown to my child, so it's everything coming out of his mouth for the past five years, ever since I turned old enough for an eskanovbri."

"With you on that one," Arren muttered under his breath. Then, in a louder voice, "My mother is in the same nutcase. All she did was hound me about my failure of an eskanovbri."

At that, Madalynn pressed her fingers against her lips. "Oh? What happened?" she asked.

She expected Arren to exert his fragile ego and refuse to talk, but surprisingly, his shoulders slumped with an enormous sigh. "No one greeted me. On my own feast," he said. "I mean, I can't blame the other houses. Renlicht isn't exactly the best banner to wave around."

"With you on that one," Madalynn found herself nodding along. "My eskanovbriyn are such disasters too."

Arren frowned. What did he find so strange about that commonplace fact? "How so?"

She shrugged. "I find most men my age to be...imbeciles," she said. "Let's leave it at that."

"I thought you like women?" Arren asked.

Her footsteps screeched to halt as she whirled to him again. "Why can't it be both?"

This time, she saw the red climb up from Arren's neck to his cheeks. Even the tips of his ears weren't spared. Well, Madalynn learned to appreciate her tanned skin. It's easier to hide her embarrassment with it. "Sorry," Arren averted his eyes under her scrutinizing gaze. "I just...am surprised."

A lot of people were. It's nothing new. Madalynn turned back to the road sloping up. "It's alright," she said. "I can't believe I'm saying this...but I always thought you're stealing Alekzhi from me. That's why I hated you back then."

"How long ago was 'back then' ?" Arren prodded.

She scratched the back of her neck. Pesky insects thinking they could feast on her supple skin. She shouldn't have tied her hair. Then again, the wind blowing from every unnamable direction would make her life harder than it already was. "A few years ago?" she said. "I honestly forgot about you until I saw you leave Bezkovrod."

"I'll pretend that it didn't sting the least bit," he replied. A hint of amusement laced around his tone—far from the clipped edge he talked to her in since they met. "And I hate to break it to you: Alekzhi's parents pressured her into marrying into the Prozhykh House. I heard from the vines she's expecting her first child now."

Madalynn chuckled. "I'll also pretend that it didn't sting the least bit," she braced the mountain's wall on her way further up. All these years, she harbored her own ire for the Renlicht heir when it wasn't his fault. It's pathetic of her, but she couldn't stop the delight curling at the base of her gut to know Alekzhi didn't have to choose between either of them.

The Vedelin House was wise. They knew how to cover their tracks by marrying into the rosy Houses on the upside. Perhaps, in the future, there might even be a Prozhykh heir to be considered as an eligible heir among the Underground Houses.

Perhaps, if the Heart didn't exist or if its magic wasn't as good as it should be, it's the path she's going to take. It might irk her father to never get the Kalaos House as an ally, but if she was able to snag a clueless lord's son or daughter and convert the entire house to the dark, maybe he'd forgive her nonetheless.

"It seemed like we're both out of her league," Madalynn said after a while.

Arren could only give her a light laugh as an answer, and a comfortable silence settled over them. The road would continue sloping up to a peak before curving downward. The hike would end when this lump of rock brought them at the lip of Starinberg. After that, maybe Madalynn could chart a faster and Arren-less way towards Verolya.

But as they climbed, a random burst of thought kept knocking at the trails left by her thoughts no matter how hard she pushed it away.

Arren Renlicht liked vadelberries.