“Rawn.”
The air knocked out of him. “What…?” he whispered.
“Red Highland soldiers captured him,” Lucenna said. “There were too many of them. He couldn’t fight them … not … not after…”
“Not after what?” Zev demanded.
“Rawn couldn’t fight after the death of Fair,” Keena said sadly, shrinking down again and coming to land on Lucenna’s shoulder. “The death of an Elvish horse is a great blow indeed.”
Zev’s breath hitched at the news. They had killed Fair? Because they were bonded, he realized. Killing Rawn’s horse must have both weakened him and devastated him.
He sighed heavily and rubbed his face. “I need to find Dyna.”
“I’m here…”
They all whipped around to see her standing at the edge of the platform behind them. She was dirty, clothes torn, her face covered in soot and marked with scratches.
But alive.
“Gods, Dyna.” Zev rushed forward and yanked her into his arms, hugging her tight. “What happened? Why did you leave us?”
Dyna clutched him with shaking hands. She was murmuring something he couldn’t hear clearly with her mouth pressed against his chest. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”
Zev exhaled heavily, wrangling with his relief and the need to chastise her for running off, but he knew that wasn’t what she needed right now. So he merely held her.
Her eyes welled. “Fair…”
“I know,” he murmured.
The sounds of her quiet weeping in the dark forest made his eyes sting.
“Rawn is still alive,” Lucenna said, her voice cracking. “I’m tracking his Essence now. They are taking him west.”
“To Red Highland.” Dyna stepped back and wiped her eyes. Straightening her shoulders, she said, “I am going after him.”
Silence filled the glade with only the rush of water to accompany it.
“Red Highland?” Zev repeated. It was a warring country, as guarded as the Magos Empire.
Dyna faced him and all her Guardians. Klyde and Keena drew closer to their circle. “I did this,” she told them, her eyes shining with tears. “Because I was reckless and selfish, and I didn’t stop to think about what I was doing when I left on my own. Now Fair is dead, and Rawn will be if I don’t save him. I’m so sorry for all that I put you through these past months…” She sniffed, taking a shaky breath. “I must fix this. I have to because I cannot allow another member of our family to die in vain.”
Lucenna took her hand and squeezed it. “And we won’t.”
Zev nodded because he couldn’t imagine turning his back on Rawn either. “We’re not leaving him behind.”
“Aye,” Klyde exhaled a long exhale. “I’ve grown fond of the elf. Of course you can count on me, lass. But I do hate to be the one to say it…”
“I will.” Keena piped up, fluttering around Zev’s shoulders. “It will be near impossible to infiltrate Red Highland on our own. This will require aid.”
Lucenna reached into her coat pocket and held out her palm for all of them to see. In the center lay Rawn’s gold signet ring. The top was flat and circular, embossed with the sigil of House Norrlen. “He left this behind. I assume to let his family know what happened to him.”
Gods, Zev could only imagine how they would take this.
“There is one thing we must do first,” Dyna said, meeting each of their gazes. “We must go to Greenwood.”
Zev liked that plan. “To inform King Leif and the Norrlen family that Rawn was taken.”
“We are going to need their help to get him back,” Lucenna added.
