Leaning over, I mess up her neatly cropped hair before she yanks herself from under my arm with a scowl. “Do you charge for life advice, or should I be grateful I’m getting it for free?”
“You couldn’t afford me.” She attempts to fix her hair, straightening up. “Elspeth is waiting for me, you know.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Isn’t she the one that put you on your back in training last year?”
“I’m hoping she’ll do it again.” Sera grins widely, backing away. “Several times, in fact.”
I tip my finger to my head in a mock salute. “Enjoy yourself. If I don’t see you before you leave, take care.”
“You too.” She pauses, studying me a little too closely. “It will work itself out, you know.”
My eyes roll hard enough to cause a weather intervention. “Go.”
Sighing, I pull out my daggers again, twisting the onyx blades between my fingers as I turn back to the dummy. A shout from the side has me turning to look, watching as a group of familiar faces come riding through the gate at full speed before skidding to a stop.
My stomach flips, and I’m moving. Vaulting the sorry excuse for a fence, my boots eat up the ground until I reach them.
Eres addresses Nythen in a low, almost threatening tone that I’ve rarely heard from him, ignoring my approach. “I saidno.”
“It’s not your decision,” the Council member blusters. Beside him, Valcor eyes me with something akin to disgust before turning away, blanking my entrance as he always does. Nythen gestures to whatever Eres is holding. “An enemy in Umbraxis belongs in interrogation, and that is my area of expertise. She might bepretty, Eres, but she’s still a Lightbringer. You kept her alive, and now I’m taking over.”
Did he say—
I ease up beside Eres. He stiffens at my approach, backing away, and I hold up my hands. “Welcome back. Just curious. You found aLightbringer?”
I don’t think we’ve ever found one alive. They’re far too careful with their injured to let them slip into our hands. Rumor has it they kill them rather than leave them to talk.
Eres eyes me warily. Behind him, Eldritch catches my eye, raising his own brows in answer to my silent question.
Something has him riled up. Protective.
“She’s not going anywhere aside from somewhere warm. If I’m to have any hope of saving her fucking hands—”
“I told you, she doesn’tneedhands—”
“I knew you were a bastard, Nythen, but this level of cruelty is beneath you,” Eres hisses.
“We don’t have the luxury of kindness,” Nythen spits back. “Not when we’re already on our knees.”
My eyes fixate on the cloak in his arms as I ease closer. Eres tenses, glancing at me before focusing on Nythen again, clearly deciding that he’s the bigger risk. Slowly, I reach for the edge of the cloak and draw it back, intrigued.
I didn’t expect her to be awake.
I don’t know what I expected. But it wasn’t a large pair of eyes peering back at me, deep dark blown pupils surrounded by a glorious blazing ring of flames that flicker in the gaze that locks with mine.
I’ve never seen anything quite like them.
I’ve seen Lightbringer eyes before. Have seen them narrowed in anger, fading as the breath leaves their lungs. I’ve seen them choke on their own blood, felt their pulse fade beneath my fingers on more occasions than I could even try to count. I thought there wasn’t much to surprise me.
My mouth feels… dry. Swallowing, I sweep my eyes over her, assessing. She doesn’t move, doesn’t speak. Her breathing is shallow, cheek pressed to Eres’s shirt. I’ve never seen a Lightbringer with long hair, either, and the detail sticks in my mind as I examine her. Her features don’t particularly stand out. She has the hawkish brow, her nose a little too wide for her face, sharp cheekbones and full lips with bruising at the corners that I linger on a moment too long.
And then I go back to those eyes.
If I had to describe her expression, it would be… empty. No.Resigned.
When her eyes close, I take a step without even noticing. “Is she hurt?”
They all fall silent. Eres steadies her, voice hard. “Yes. Badly. She needs treatment, but Nythen wants to torture her instead.”
