“Cally- cal!” Nora calls— and I’m shocked that there’s no panic in her voice, just determination. “Callyn!” She swears, using a word I’ve only heard from the soldiers. “Alek! Find those crossbows.”
“Please,” I gasp to Igaa. Between the claws at my neck and the weight on my chest, it’s becoming hard to breathe. “We’ re— we’re running—”
“I heard you,” she growls right into my face. “I know where you’re going.”
“Please,” I say again. “Running— from— Xovaar—”
The name has the effect I hoped. She snaps back, looking up at the sky. A cold breeze whips around us both, and I don’t know if it’shermagic or if another scraver has arrived.
“Let my sister go,” Nora calls. She sounds so fierce, and it’s a surprise every time. “Let her go or I’llshootyou.”
“No,” Alek calls. “I will.”
The scraver shrieks again, and I cringe, clenching my eyes shut at the sound.
But it’s the queen who speaks through the tension, her voice clear and full of authority. “No,” she says. “Lay down the crossbows. Both of you. This scraver saved your life, Nora.”
I’m still gasping under the weight of the scraver, so I have no idea how Nora receives this news. But Igaa is no longer shrieking, and Alek and Nora aren’t issuing threats, so I’m hopeful thatsomethingis changing.
“Please,” I whisper again.
Igaa leans down close again. “You were to find Tycho,” she says. “Nakiis needs him.”
“We’re going to Emberfall,” I rasp. “Wewillfind him.”
But it sounds like a lie, even to myself.
“No,” she growls. “You arerunning. You are leaving him to die.”
I inhale sharply— because she’s right. Wearerunning. And I have no way to convince her otherwise.
“Are you talking about Nakiis?” says the queen. She sounds closer, but I can’t see past the scraver to know for sure.
“Yes,” Igaa hisses.
“Wearerunning,” the queen confirms. “But if Nakiis needs our help, we can bring him along.”
CHAPTER 22
TYCHO
Wind blasts through the woods behind us, an icy kiss on the back of my neck as we gallop north. A piercing shriek splits the night air, and Mercy spooks a little underneath me, skittering sideways on the trail, colliding with Jax’s horse and nearly unseating us both.
I swear and check the reins, straightening her out. Her ears flatten back, and her tail lashes, showing her agitation, but she obeys.
“Are you all right?” I call to him.
“Yeah,” Jax calls back, but his fingers are wound into his horse’s mane, gripping for dear life. Luckily Teddy is older, and so steady that a scraver could probably land directly on his back and he wouldn’t break pace.
Another shriek splits the air overhead, and behind me, Sephran swears— or maybe it’s Leo. I can barely hear over the sound of the scraver and Mercy’s hoofbeats.
Wind rushes through the woods like a hurricane, causing branches to crack and fall. Mercy spooks again, but this time I’ve got a tightergrip on the reins and she can’t go far. Jax glances over, his eyes full of determination, his hair streaming out behind him. His fear is evident, though: his jaw is clenched, and his knuckles have turned white.
“Don’t let up!” Malin calls from somewhere behind us. “They aren’t far behind!”
My heart skips, and Mercy jerks against my hold as if she understands him. “Steady,” I murmur to her, but I’m not just talking to the horse. I’m talking to Jax, too. Hell, I’m talking to myself.
Because we might be able to outrun whoever is behind us, but we can’t outrun a flying scraver. I don’t even know if there are more than one. Right now, our only advantage is the dense tree cover, but that won’t last forever, and it’s as hazardous as it is protective. One wrong step and we could slam right into a tree.
