Lory had never seen anyone’s magic as connected to their physical sensations, but the way Nyla’s eyes were burning with revenge as she rolled to her knees and staggered to her feet told her pondering its meaning would need to wait.
Behind her, Aiden was kneeling over Tabi, gathering the ashling up in his arms, an endeavor that wouldn’t turn out successful, considering the injury dripping thick blood.
The dim light concealed a lot, but it couldn’t hide the glistening wet spreading on his tunic. He needed help, perhaps more than Tabi did.
Lory didn’t waste any time asking questions about why Nyla hated her, why she’d chosen to hunt Aiden first—all she did was stab the next root attempting to sling around her, and the next, and the next, until Nyla kneeled, panting and whimpering amidst a scramble of dead wood, hands trembling at her sides, magic drained.
“You need to end it,” Aiden grunted, finally managing to lift Tabi. He was already staggering a few steps toward the direction Lory had come from.
She didn’t need to ask for clarification—Aiden meant she should kill Nyla. But even now, that was a line Lory wasn’t ready to cross. Even in the face of an attack like that, she couldn’t bring herself to kill the woman who hadn’t batted an eye when sending her full powers toward her.
“She’s obviously defeated,” Lory uttered, hoping Aiden wouldn’t hear her or wouldn’t argue, as she took two cautious paces toward her, examining Nyla from close enough to end up run through with the sword hanging at her hip.
Nyla averted her eyes—a color Lory had never paid attention to—under the short, dark waves sticking out in all directions around her head, while Lory kept her blade raised, ready to lunge should the ashling as much as lift a finger against her. In her chest, her heart was thumping wildly, ribs still sore from the hard grip of the roots.
“I’ve never done as much as speak a bad word about you,” she said, voice surprisingly steady for the way her hand was trembling. “I don’t think I’ve spoken to you at all. Never harmed you or any of your friends. As far as I’m concerned, all we’ve done so far is share the same educational quarters.” Lory didn’t leave Nyla out of her sight for even a second, her ears following Aiden’s slow movements toward the tree line in the west. “I won’t kill you.”
A shaky breath rattled out of Nyla, her eyes finally snapping to Lory’s, disgust warring with fear.
“Not if you do the smart thing and return to the outpost to get yourself checked out in the infirmary and never cross me or my friends again.”
The Guardians knew Khayrivven would have found a way to reprimand her for not ending her enemy then and there, but if she was a monster by the magic she carried in her blood—if that was what people believed, mercy might be the only way to prove them wrong. She wouldn’t kill Nyla for poor judgement—and as she reached to the woman’s hip,retrieving her sword and sheathing it at her own belt, Lory knew she’d regret that decision sooner or later.
But not tonight.
Tonight, she’d survived one more attack and saved her friends without spilling blood. That had to suffice.
When Lory turned and jogged away, Nyla didn’t make a sound, and Lory wondered if this was the calm before a storm.
Twenty-Nine
“Can you walk?”Lory asked Tabi when they reached the next bend in the path.
The wheezing sound coming out of Aiden with every breath had been something she could ignore while they’d dodged immediate danger, but now that they were sure Nyla hadn’t followed them, she needed to make sure he was all right enough not to collapse under Tabi’s weight.
“I can try.” Tabi gestured at the step-like rocks on the side. “Set me down here.”
Aiden’s stifled grunt gave away more than he probably wanted them to know about how much pain he was feeling.
Gently unloading Tabi onto the flat rock closest to them, he sat down next to the ashling, bracinghis elbows on his knees and hanging his head. While Tabi rubbed her thigh where Lory was sure a wound had cleaved open two minutes ago, Aiden took slow, even breaths, his ribs slowly expanding.
“What happened?” Lory barely dared ask, but she’d gone blindly through most of her journey at Ashthorn; demanding answers seemed to have become a skill relevant to survival rather than mere interest.
Aiden lifted his head, gritting his teeth and sucking in a sharp breath followed by a cough. “Nyla followed me up the mountain.” His shoulders sagged slightly as the pain seemed to lessen for a moment. “No idea what she’d planned to achieve by confronting me, but before I got any answers, Tabi interfered.”
The ashling straightened, rolling her shoulders and her eyes. “I didn’tinterfere. Seemed like the natural path to pick when I realized what was going on.”
“So, you followed her following me?” Aiden’s bitter chuckle spoke of a lifetime of being dependent on himself that had hardened him to the acceptance of other people’s help—all but Khayrivven because, apparently, he worshipped the young captain the way he would a god.
“Sure. I knew that, if anyone stood a chance at finding Lory, it would be you. So, I followed the person I knew was following you.”
The two shared an unreadable glance until Lory lost her patience.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” She fingered the mechanism of the brooch, trying to get the blade to retract. “I’d thought you were all safe and sound at Ashthorn.”
Aiden gave her a bitter grin. “Who’s ever safe at Ashthorn?”
Surprisingly, Tabi seconded his statement with a nod. “When the Triad called a formation to tell the entire school, we’d get a free pass to kill the Flame-born among us if we were willing to travel to the Amrin Mountains, there was no question we’d go... Not to hunt you, of course,” she clarified with that self-assured tone that had always made Lory like the woman, and a brow rose on her deep umber face.
