Dyna had panicked when she thought Zev was gone. She couldn’t invoke the magic he had seen her practice so much with, and it slipped through her fingers. He’d felt the fractures in her soul break further. If Zev had died…
“Give her a feather!”the sorceress had desperately screamed at him.
So he had. Cassiel hadn’t stopped to think or count or take any care in how many he gave her. When he put them in her hand, Dyna burst with light as if she had become the sun itself.
Her power had lit the bond and pressed against him with an invisible heat. Then, defying all reason, she rose into the air as debris spiraled at her feet. She had floated.Floated.And her eyes. Her beautiful eyes had turned into green flares as light streamed up her arms. She somehow pulled Zev from the water, then released a cataclysmic explosion that took out nearly every grindylow in the fjord.
The sight of her at that moment had been frightening and … magnificent.
All of that power.
A shiver crawled over him.
That was inside of her? Or had his feathers amplified a gentle breeze into a storm?
Dyna’s screams quieted to mournful sobs. Rawn shifted in his seat and looked at the tent at the same time Zev did. Both tilted their heads in a way that let Cassiel know they were listening.
“What is it?”
“Lady Lucenna is speaking with her brother.”
He straightened, staring at the tent. “What is he saying?”
“She is describing Lady Dyna’s condition. Lucien is questioning her on what has occurred and what exactly attacked her so he may instruct her on what potion to make.”
Something bitter twisted Cassiel’s stomach. They didn’t need the mage when his blood would end the infection in seconds. “She now thought to ask him after Dyna has suffered for so long?”
“We are all at our wit’s end, Prince Cassiel. It had not occurred to me to inquire of him either.” Relief crossed Rawn’s face. “Alas, we have an answer.”
Lucenna threw open the flaps. “I need a branch of Thornwood, fairyweed, and blue maidencane. Enough of each. Do you know what they look like?”
Rawn stood. “I do, my lady.”
“Good.”
“But—”
“I know.” She waved him off, sighing heavily. “I know. Find it and bring it as soon as possible. If this fever doesn’t break by morning …” The sorceress heaved another breath. “Find it.”
She went back inside.
Zev barked at Rawn.
“Thornwood is a red prickly bush found near a hedgerow,” he told him. “You will recognize it by its truffle fragrance.”
The wolf chuffed and gave Cassiel a low growl. He wouldn’t leave until he did.
Cassiel scowled. “You would rather we hunt for weeds while she stands at Death’s Gate than to allow me to heal her?”
Zev’s lips pulled over his teeth.
He shook his head and said to Rawn. “How do we find the others?”
“Blue maidencane grows by the edge of the water.”
“Like the fjord. And the other?”
Rawn rubbed his jaw, his expression tensing. “Fairyweed is a multi-branched forb with white flowers. It grows only within high, rocky peaks.”
