Kai gives Zadyn a confused look, but obeys. Water flows from his palms, creating a small pond inside the barren desert.
“Mar, get inside,” Zadyn snaps, murderously quiet.
“She can’t walk all of us, Zadyn,” Dover says. Zadyn whirls, snarling at him. “She can’t fucking do it!”
“Get inside,” Mar commands, sounding winded. “Now.”
My voice is still lost to me as Zadyn scoops me into his arms like a rag doll.
“Take a deep breath. You’re going to be okay,” he vows, gazing down at me. I think I nod.
Then I’m sucked into a whirlpool. My lungs start screaming.
I can’t help it. I open my mouth. Maybe my brain is fried from being electrocuted.
I’m still choking as I’m laid out on solid ground. My jacket and shirt are ripped open. Large, cool hands press against my chest, just below my neck. It isn’t until I feel them that I realize I’d been burning. I probably look like a charred steak from the outside.
I mumble something.
“What did she say?” Zadyn asks, his voice tight.
“I don’t know.”
“She doesn’t look so hot.”
“I think she’s in shock.”
“She’s not healing.Fuck.”
“She needs to drink.”
Then something smooth and cool touches my lips, and a coppery liquid slips onto my tongue.
Mar is giving me her blood.
I want to fight. I want to spit it out, but the moment it slides down my throat, a new feeling replaces the dread. My resistance fades as her blood erases my pain and replenishes me.
“How the fuck did they find us?” Eaton breathes.
“Do you think?—”
“They’re tracking us,” Mar says. “They have to be.”
“How?”
“Either they’re tracking the dragon or Kylian must have a Hound.”
A Hound.Fancy speak for a magic tracker.
“But how did they just appear like that? I’ve never heard of High Fae being able to do that. Those beasts Kylian brought over did the same thing,” Dover says.
“Kylian’s mirrors. He can transport them anywhere,” Kai answers, a darkness shadowing his tone. “That’s how he’s been moving the Stryga.”
I finally open my eyes, my lashes fluttering up at Zadyn. His entire face transforms from deadly to relieved.
“Hi,” he says, flashing a brilliant smile down at me. It’s like another bolt of lightning, but this time it’s a good one, striking me right in the heart.
I mumble again as he cradles my face.
