“He swore it to me mind to mind. You can ask him yourself. He’ll be here any second.”
Pharis and I both said, “What?” at the same time, but in his case it was more of a roar.
“I’m traveling with him,” Stellon explained, completely unworried. “I caught up with his portion of the search party and explained what I knew about your mother.”
Shooting a side glance at Pharis, he said, “Just as you advised me to, brother. He had a Tracker with him, and I augmented his glamour so we could find you and tell you the good news. We lost the trail for a bit thanks to the hidden location of this village, but they’re all on their way. I’m riding a few minutes ahead.”
“You idiot.” Pharis said in a guttural tone dripping with disgust. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Raewyn, we have to get out of here.”
Stellon whipped around to face his brother. “What haveyoudone? Huh?”
He glanced back at me, taking in my undoubtedly disheveled appearance, which I hadn’t even considered until now.
“Apparently I found you not a moment too soon, based on the state of her. Iknowwhat she looks like when she’s been kissed,” Stellon yelled.
To me he said, “Don’t worry, I don’t blameyou. I know my brother. He has a reputation for making smart girls stupid—and he’s apparently been playing fast and loose with the facts.”
Pharis bowed up and pointed at Stellon’s chest as he yelled, “Youplayed right into Father’s hand. I can’t believe you’re this big a fool. He’s just using you to get what he wants, brother. As always. And you were stupid enough to trust him.”
Stellon let out a loud, “Ha!”
“You’re a fine one to talk about trust,” he said. “You’ll see. It’s all going to work out for Raewyn and me.”
He grabbed my hand, pulling me to his side.
“Thank you for keeping her safe,brother.”Stellon sneered. “We’ll talk about whatelseyou might have done later. I’m too happy right now to challenge you to a duel.”
Pharis snorted. “As ifyoucould ever beat me.”
Slipping an arm around my waist, he forcibly pulled me from Stellon’s grasp. I was beginning to feel like a scrap of meat being stretched tug-of-war style between two hungry strays.
“Come on. My brother has led the greatest predator of all directly to his prey,” Pharis said. “We have to get out of here before it’s too late.”
Unfortunately, before I could even decide which brother to listen to,too latearrived—with a vengeance.
Havendor’s center street filled with soldiers on horseback, all armed and wearing the colors of the Crown. At the head of their formation was the King.
And beside him… the Earthwife.
Chapter26
The Test
Pharis
I had not thought it even possible that things could get worse, but they just had.
“You’re working withher?” I asked Stellon, nearly dumbstruck as I took in Sorcha’s triumphant expression.
Earthwives and Elves had clashed throughout history. They were the only humans to possess supernatural abilities, and therefore tended to get in our way at times.
My father in particular despised them and had even had a few hunted down for “crimes against the crown.”
If he was in league with Sorcha, she must have offered him something very desirable indeed.
“She was already on the ride with Father,” Stellon explained. “In order to get out of the dungeon, she volunteered to use a location spell to help him find Raewyn. It wasn’t enough—you were pretty clever with your off-road routes. It took her spell plus my amplification of the tracker’s glamour to find you.”
Silently, he added,Don’t worry. She can never tell Father about Raewyn’s part in the plot without also revealing her own. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell him what the witch had done without convicting Raewyn. But he’ll never know that the future Queen of Avrandar was ever involved in such a plot.
