‘Birds got in the way.’ Ezer breathed out.
A half-truth to cover a whole lie.
‘Birds,’ he said, and lifted a brow like he didn’t believe her for a second.
Gods be damned.
‘The wolves … must have run when they heard you coming.’
‘They don’t run.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘They certainly don’t leave their victims behindalive.’
‘Then perhaps I’m not a victim.’
Shewasn’t even sure what she’d meant by the words, but they’d poured out of her like a second breath.
‘I told you to run,’ he growled, his eyes falling to the dagger still clutched in her fist. They narrowed, like he didn’t trust her. ‘I’ll take that back now.’
‘I didn’t ask for it in the first place,’ she scoffed, and tossed it at his feet. ‘And Ididrun.’
‘Into the woods, alone, instead of to the others!’
‘The others?’ She held out her arms, because they both knew what the fate of theothershad been. ‘Death, Firemage, was not something I intended to meet today.’
She told him nothing of the ravens, nothing of the strange lingering sense that she had somehow controlled them, that with a desperate thought thrown into the void … they listened.
Perhaps her magic was not so petty after all.
And with the way he was staring at her,intoher …
‘Why didn’t you use your fire against the wolves?’ she asked.
‘I did.’
She raised a knowing brow. ‘You struggled to call upon it.’
He was the prince of Lordach. The warrior with flames in his hands, already famed for his efforts in battle at such a young age.
He was …
Absolutely offended, by the sour look on his face.
‘I didn’t struggle,’ Arawn snapped.
She placed a hand on her hip. ‘You most certainly did. And then you ran.’
‘To help the others,’ he growled in frustration. ‘To carry out my command as a Knight to—’ His brow furrowed as he seemed to realize what direction she’d been heading in. ‘Are youdeserting?’
‘I …’
The sun was almost entirely gone, the forest so thick with shadows that even the snow seemed to darken as it fell between them.
It blurred everything like they were inside a snow globe, freshly shaken.
‘Well?’Arawn asked.
Ezer sighed. ‘I won’t be another name on a scroll.’
She’d go as far from the war as possible. She’d discover the truth about herself and her past.
