But one wrong move from the others, one footstep placed too loudly on the metal, and their cover would be blown.
A guard to Sonara’s right shifted, his eyes tracing the space where Azariah had just been.
He blinked, narrowing his gaze as if he’d caught the ghostly image of her, too.
But Sonara cracked her knuckles, shifting her position to draw the guard’s gaze to her. When she looked back, the flickering image of Azariah was gone.
“I’m growing impatient,” Sonara said loudy. “You have sixty seconds, or we’ll soar away from here and you will never see your brother again. Free my people.Allof them.”
“Free Karr,” Cade countered. “I will offer you this single prisoner in return. Nothing more.”
She laughed. Every part of that laugh feltwrong,as if she were betraying Jaxon as he knelt before Cade, so close to the deathly barrel of his soldier’s guns. As if she cared nothing at all for the blood brother from Wildeweb who held half of her heart.
“Very well, Wanderer,” Sonara said. “I’ll agree to your trade today. But know that this war is not over. It’s unwise to go against an outlaw’s demands; far worse,to go against a Devil’s. I will return again.”
She glanced over her shoulder at Markam, who leaned against Razor as if he were merely relaxing. But she knew heneededthe support of the mighty wyvern, his strength slowly waning as his curse flowed from him like an endless river.
“Karr?” Cade called across the space, to where the hooded Karr sat on Razor’s back, hands bound. “Are you well?”
Karr did not answer.
“Gagged,” Sonara said. “A precaution. But I assure you, he’s unharmed. Answer me this, while Markam unbinds him.” By now, the others had to have reached the loading-dock door. She had mere moments left before Markam’s strength would fade, and the illusion would break. “Ten years ago, your ship came to Dohrsar. It stole a Soreian prince and soared into the stars, never to return. Until now.”
“I have captained this ship for eight years,” he said. “If it’s answers about the missing prince that you seek, I’m afraid you won’t find them with me. And the ones who captained it before me are long gone.”
But she sensed something.
A scent that slipped from him as the lie tumbled off his lips.
It was sickly sweet; a drop of poison placed into a drink.
He knew more than he let on.
Markam’s hand touched Sonara’s back as he moved past, hauling the hooded Karr with him.
He had little time left to hold the veil.
So Sonara looked at Cade. “We trade at the same time. Jaxon? Can you stand?”
“Well enough,” Jaxon answered from the ground. Cade nodded to Rohtt, who roughly hauled the man to his feet. Cade pulled Jaxon forward, as Markam led the hooded Karr towards them.
They all met in the center.
“That’s close enough,” Sonara said. She fought the tremble in her hands as she reached out and pulled the hood from Karr’s head, desperately hoping Markam’s strength still held.
She relaxed, as Karr’s face was revealed.
He’d been fashioned to look a little beaten, a little bruised, his hair falling over his eyes to help muddle the imperfect color. He kept his gaze down, his shoulders slumped…
“Free Jaxon,” Sonara said.“Now.”
Cade shoved him forward.
Sonara had only a moment to grab him by the shoulders. To squeeze him tightly, hoping he could see it in her eyes, feel it in her touch.I came for you. I did not leave you behind.There was that summertime smile, a sign that he was unbroken, despite the green bruises wrapping around his throat, the scabs that showed he’d been a prisoner beneath the power of their metallic mite.
“Go,” she whispered as she released him, giving him a helpful push towards Razor.
He climbed on her back, not questioning her even when Markam whistled, and Razor obeyed his command. In one massive beat of her wings, her body lifted from the dock, soaring away with Jaxon as if they were one with the wind.
