Quietly, she listened, waiting for something to leap at her, but footsteps resumed in the distance, and the Criu rebels continued their conversation, voices trailing away as they seemed to continue their patrol.
“Whatever they’re planning can’t be good. They’ve killed more of us than we can spare,” the woman lilted. Lory could almost hear a head-shake in her tone, but the two men’s response was swallowed by the night.
Lory had barely taken a deep breath when a massive shadow slipped by her, not five feet away.
A shriek died in her throat at the long swishing tail she spotted from the corner of her eye.
“Don’t believe what you see, Lory,” she murmured to herself, quietly enough not to alert the creature had it been real.
Not real. This wasn’t real. It was the mountains as Khayrivven had warned her.
Don’t stay in one place for long.
With a steadying breath, Lory pushed herself up, getting to her unstable feet and continuing her path up the mountain.
Perhaps there was another way. Perhaps she needn’t die here if she made it across the Amrin Pass and sought asylum in Criulias. They didn’t know she was conscripted to Ashthorn—by Eroth, they probably didn’t even know Ashthorn existed. If she pleaded, maybe they’d take her in and protect her?—
A sharp pain stabbed her chest at the thought of what she’d condemn Khayrivven to if she dared seek freedom.
If Lenya was the one executing him for misjudging Ashling Vednis’s loyalties and vouching for her, it certainly wouldn’t be a merciful death.
The ache spread through her entire body like an echo of her fire, wild and hungry at the prospect of freedom—and the price she could never get herself to pay. Because, nomatter how he’d lied to her, no matter how many times she’d wanted to kick his attractive ass up and down Ashthorn’s training yard, no matter how she’d cursed him and fucked him, never daring to think farther than the next hour… A part of her loved Khayrivven Falcrest, and that part was fighting to be acknowledged with all it had.
Clutching the brooch, Lory stuffed the blanket back into the bag and slung it over her shoulder, ready to wear herself out some more before dawn.
She didn’t dare glimpse at the rocks where she’d believed she’d seen the shadow, rather turning south, where the high peaks of the mountain ridges beckoned. She’d rest again when she found water.
About ten paces after her decision, a scream tore the night, sending Lory ducking behind a tall bush.
“Let her go!”
Lory’s body froze at the sound of his voice alone, the ice in his timbre, the threat resonating in every syllable.
Aiden—
Whatever had brought him to the mountains, this couldn’t be good.
Without thinking, Lory snuck in the direction of the voices, disregarding any shadows or dangers lingering in the darkness. If any of her friends were in danger, she needed to help.
Adrenaline moving her sluggish legs, she darted closer, careful to keep out of sight of the small rock formation ahead, where three figures were moving in the moonlight, one of them playing with gleaming ice at the tip of his fingers.
“I said,let her go.” His voice dropped into a dangerous growl, but all he got was a laugh from his opponent.
If only she could see who the other person was—the one Aiden was protecting.
“Not a chance, northern scum,” the woman spoke, and Lory recognized the melodious alto of Nyla Ashen, a red she’d seen staring at Aiden several times, but never thought anything of it. “Ricca let you get away once. But I won’t. This time, you’ll die, and so will anyone standing in my way, including her.”
The woman shifted, revealing her face in the half-light, and Lory’s chest filled with terror as she spotted Tabi a step behind, her form bound in something long and wiry, curling from the ground.
Roots—that had to be roots. She’d never seen Nyla perform magic, let alone did she know what sort of powers the ashling commanded, but as the roots climbed higher, winding around Tabi’s motionless body like they were ready to devour her, Lory was certain it was at Nyla’s command.
Aiden was standing closer to Lory, his shoulder toward her, and his pale, short-cropped hair reflecting in the moonlight.
Tabi was here. And Aiden. Who else had come to the Amrin Mountains? Had they all come to hunt her and kill her? Or were Aiden and Tabi here to stand by her? Or were they here for an entirely different reason—perhaps they were part of the prey themselves for merely being friendly with her. Lory wouldn’t put it past Lenya to send her friends into the same fate he’d sent her to.
The brooch weighed heavily in her hand as she considered the distance between her and Nyla. One good throw, and she could hit the woman in the head—maybe not enough to kill her, but enough to distract her, perhaps knock her out for a few seconds. It would buy Aiden some time to freeze the woman over before she could squeeze the life out of Tabi, who hadn’t as much as moaned since that initial scream Lory was now sure had come from Tabitha Ngala’s throat.
Don’t believe everything you see.
