“Cat, you hurt?” he demanded. His voice cracked on the last word.
She rolled her eyes before he scooped her into his arms as if she weighed nothing at all. Her bright laughter filled the air as she assured him she was fine.
For a heartbeat, I watched the two of them framed by trampled grass and the concerned expressions of the other men. The way he looked at her,feltabout her—gods. It was like she was the only thing keeping his heart beating. Now that I’d seen them together, I couldn’t wait to ask her a million questions.
I was nearly to my feet when there was a sharppop, and a wave of familiar magic hit me.
Then came the pull.
I was unceremoniously lifted into the air. Wind howled past my ears. My vision turned into streaks of brown, blue, and green as the world blazed by in a blur of motion.
The chaotic swirl faded, and I came to a jarring halt, landing hard on my backside atop linen. In the sudden quiet, I realized I was back in Emrys’s tent…
And he was crouched, hovering above me, looking for all the world like an angry god. His eyes were filled with storm clouds that danced with the frenzied blue lightning of his curse’s madness.
The magic rolling off him caused a painless, involuntary tremor to run through my body. It was the curse, pulsing with that wild feeling, like something ancient and frenzied on the blade’s edge of breaking.
What in all of Avanfell had just happened? Had he just…transportedme here with magic?
“Stay,” he growled, voice twisted by magic and fury.
Then, in a flash of leather and steel, he vanished once again.What the…
Two seconds later, Catrin screeched from somewhere nearby. “Emrys! You…”
I opened the flap of his tent to see Catrin in a fury, rising out of ours, hair messed into a wild halo around her face.
“Back in your tent!” he ordered her.
She stomped one petulant foot in response. Then her eyes caught mine. The look she gave me clearly stated,He ruined a good thing. I want to strangle him. Will you do it for me?
I laughed, but Emrys was already stomping my way again. He pointed one finger at me and jerked it toward the back of the tent.
I rolled my eyes and retreated inside. I already knew what was coming: overprotectiveness.
He stalked through the flap, immediately turned to face away from me, and snarled at the tent wall. His shoulders heaved as he trembled. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides like he was deciding whether to tear the tent apart.
“I was on theother sideof the camp,” he growled, still not looking at me. “I heard the crash, and then I felt your magic.” His voice dropped lower, sounding ragged. “I thought…”
“Emrys…” I said gently. It didn’t surprise me he was overreacting, given that a scout had been so near to the camp only yesterday.
“The opposing war camp is less than an hour’s ride away! One of my men is maimed. I thought you—” He broke off, raking both hands throughhis dark hair.
He thought I’d been hurt, or worse. His walls were down, so I could read every worry written on his soul. Every inch of him was frantic with anxiety, so much so that it was tearing him apart.
I gazed heavenward, pleading for the right thing to say to calm the madness sharing his skin. “When the horses ran wild, your men cleared us out of their path. They saved us.”
“Then you had to save that idiot who tied a rein to his arm!” He turned, his face contorted with barely suppressed emotion. A tangible energy heated the air around him.
“Yes, how is he?” I asked, as I stepped slowly toward him.
When I thought about it, it angered me how little effort people took to understand that Emrys would calm if given a bit of time to wrestle the curse back down. He wasn’t someone to be written off; he wasn’t a lost cause—he simply had more obstacles than everyone else to overcome first.
“The soldier won’t be fit to fight for months.” Emrys walked in a tight circle. He was still breathing hard. His lips were curled back in a snarl, revealing teeth clenched tight.
“Emrys,” I said, getting closer. “Catrin and I arefine.”
He scanned me, his gaze implying that my words were false. I looked down. Dirt covered my traveling dress. Leaves were stuck in my hair, and a bruise was blossoming where I’d struck the ground. I looked worse than I felt.
