“Thane!”
Hearing my name pulls me out of my thoughts, but it doesn’t change my mood. I look up and see Jarek jogging towards me.
“Hey brother,” he says when he reaches me, clapping a hand on my shoulder. But before he reveals why he was calling my name, his eyes narrow.
“Why do you look like someone just snapped your favorite sword in half?” He has a glint in his eye, clearly about to make this into athing.
“It’s nothing.” I try to sound casual, but my voice lands too flat, too fast. Jarek hears it. Of course he does.
I meet his gaze, trying to project cool indifference, but it doesn’t work. The bastard’s known me since we were kids. A half-smile spreads across his face.
“Is ‘nothing’ Amara?”
I let out a slow breath, trying to temper my mood.
“Whoa!” He raises his hands up in mock defense. “Relax there, brother. She’s gotten under your skin already?”
My eyes flash, temper brimming under the surface.
“No. She hasn’t gotten to me,” I mutter. Then quieter: “I just didn’t handle it right.”
Jarek’s hazel eyes search mine. “What did you do?”
I exhale. “It doesn’t matter.”
He arches a brow, waiting.
“I pushed her. That’s all.”
He keeps waiting.
Dammit, he’s going to make me say it. The brothers are so similar in both looks and temperament, but where Garrick would probably bust my balls, Jarek holds me accountable.
“I won’t do it again.”
“Thane, I get that you’re worried about the approaching war, but you said it yourself—the woman has been through a lot in a very short amount of time. She’ll come around. Just let it breathe.”
I exhale hard, squeeze my eyes shut, then open them again. Gods. I wish it didn’t get to me.
“What do you need, Jarek?” I nod my chin towards him, remembering he was calling my name a minute ago.
Jarek sobers, his grin slipping. “Oh right—Kethraki have been spotted by the outpost nearest Greythorne Keep. Just got word from Captain Elaris. He’s planning to send out five riders to scout the area and put an end to them.”
My jaw clicks. “What the bloody hell are they doing in the realm?”
Kethraki? Inside the realm?
That hasn’t happened since . . . gods. If they’re getting through the wards, then they are weakening faster than the scholars believed.
If the wards are failing and Kethraki are slipping through, wedon’t have time for grief or doubt. We need the Spiritborn now—ready or not.
AMARA
The next few days pass in uneasy silence. I keep to myself, avoiding Thane and the weight of everything pressing down on me. But I know it’s only a matter of time before I’m forced to face it.
That night, the dream comes for the first time.
I see my parents—whole, alive, standing in the doorway of our home, their faces cast in the golden glow of lantern light. My mother smiles, but there is something behind her eyes, something heavy.
