Thaine's pace slowed slightly. "Flowers in the Oubliette. That should have been impossible. Nothing grows there."
"Since he cast me out, it's gotten worse, or stronger, I don’t know…" She closed her eyes, temple still throbbing dully, and pressed her bound hands against her chest where the warmth pulsed. "It feels like something else is acting through me, protecting me whether I want it or not."
"Has it always responded to—"
The air around them grew unexpectedly warmer.
"You."
The word came from above them, dripping with fury that made the air itself feel sharp. Karse dropped from the canopy, landing in a crouch that cracked the earth beneath him. He rose slowly, and Briar's breath caught.
His human form was slipping. Scales covered most of his visible skin now, black and green and gold shifting with each movement. His eyes had gone completely reptilian, the pupils contracted to slits despite the forest shade. When he smiled, his teeth were far too sharp and numerous for any human mouth.
"You took her. Again." Each word came out with visible heat, the air shimmering around him. "I'm getting very tired of people taking what's mine."
Thaine glanced at Briar with exasperation clear in his expression. "Next time you find something dangerous trapped and dying, perhaps consider that it was trapped for a reason before you decide to set it free?"
"She's not yours," Thaine continued, hand already on his blade. "She belongs to the Forest Court."
"She belongs to me." Karse's fingers lengthened, scales spreading down to form claws. "I claimed her. She accepted the claim when she—"
"Don't," Briar said sharply, heat flooding her face.
Karse's attention shifted to her, taking in the vine cage, the bound wrists, the cloak covering her nightgown. His expression darkened further, if that was possible.
"He caged you." Not a question. The temperature rose another degree with each word. "After I specifically said no one touches what's mine."
"This doesn't concern you, Drak," Thaine said. "Walk away while you can."
Karse laughed, the sound more growl than mirth. "Walk away? I'm going to burn you down to bone, use the ash to make glass, then shatter it into pieces so small even the wind won't remember you existed."
White-blue flame erupted from both his hands. Thaine dove aside as fire engulfed where he'd been standing, leaves igniting instantly. The heat washed over Briar's cage, and she felt the vines begin to smoke.
"Stop!" She pulled against her bonds, the rope burning her wrists. "Karse, stop! You're going to—"
Thaine's blade sang as he drew it, the steel gleaming with an edge that looked wrong, too sharp for normal metal. He rolled to his feet and struck in one motion, but Karse moved like water, scales deflecting the blade with a sound like striking stone.
"Is that all?" Karse grabbed the blade bare-handed, scales protecting his palm. "The famous huntsman of the Forest Court, reduced to waving sharp metal?"
Thaine smiled grimly and whistled—three short notes.
The forest responded. Roots erupted from the earth, wrapping around Karse's legs, his arms, trying to bind him. For a moment they held, then burst into flame so hot they turned to ash instantly.
"Predictable," Karse said, advancing on Thaine. "You fae and your nature magic. As if wood could hold fire."
The vines of Briar's cage were definitely burning now, smoke rising thick and choking. She kicked at the weakening bars, ignoring how they scraped her legs. One gave way, then another. She tumbled out, still bound at the wrists, coughing from the smoke.
Neither man noticed her escape. They were fully engaged now, Thaine's blade dancing through patterns that should have filleted anyone normal, Karse moving through the attacks like they were choreographed, leaving burning footprints with each step.
"Stop!" Briar shouted again, struggling to her feet. "Both of you, just—"
Movement in her peripheral vision made her freeze.
High in the trees, pale shapes perched on branches. At first she thought they were enormous birds, white-feathered and still. Then one tilted its head, and she saw the almost-human face beneath wild white hair. Their wings flexed, not feathered but membranous, like a bat's but white as fresh snow. Their bodies were wrong, elongated and too thin, wrapped in tight clothing or perhaps just their own pale skin.
More appeared, silent as snowfall, surrounding the burning clearing where Thaine and Karse fought.
"In the sky!" she called. "There's something—"
