Could I tease out the man I loved and bring him to the surface? He no longer wandered the ether—or part of him didn’t. Had some of his soul been lost there? If so, I’d search forever to find it.
My skills lay in dragon training, and I supposed, my newly awakened magic. I said what I thought, often to the dismay of those around me, and I more often than not acted before giving anything much thought. Could a woman like that woo the man she loved?
Despite being abandoned and left to raise myself, my heart lay wide open most of the time for everyone to see. Manipulation was more Vexxion’s thing than mine.
I was woefully unprepared for this battle.
“It’s not far to the inn,” Vexxion said, hefting our bags onto his shoulder. He pointed to the sparse woods on our left and started in that direction. “The path is this way.”
Reyla’s bag had come undone, and the top had split open to reveal what she’d packed inside. Ignoring my protesting leg, I stooped down and gathered the sides. I’d started to bind them back together when something in the gloomy interior snagged my attention.
A book?
Late-day sunlight pierced through the clouds, hitting my face and blinding me to what I thought I’d seen.
“Oh, thanks,” Reyla said in a breezy voice. She scooped upher bag and hugged it against her chest, her gaze seeking mine before it darted away.
As I straightened, she hurried to catch up with Vexxion.
Stumbling, I followed, trying to fathom what I’d seen.
Ember’s Shadowwas inside Reyla’s bag.
19
TEMPEST
As the sun slipped below the horizon, trapped bugs swirled inside glass globes mounted on posts, generating feeble light. We followed Vexxion through a sparse copse of thin silver trees with pale green leaves that tittered in the wind.
“Reyla.” I caught up with her on the path, but it was narrow going with my right leg snagging on pricker bushes and roots tripping up my left. Pain kept shooting through my thigh, slowing me down.
“Hey.” She shot me a frown that deepened when I stumbled over a branch and barely caught myself from falling to my knees. “There’s not enough room to walk together.”
“Do you haveEmber’s Shadow?” I asked in a low voice, shooting a glance around to make sure no one was listening.
Brodine walked not far behind us, his expressionconcerned, his sharp eyes studying the woods on our right. I kept my hand on the hilt of the blade strapped to my thigh.
Airia chatted in an animated way with Zayde and Brenna, none of them sparing a glance our way.
As for Vexxion, he walked ten paces in front of us, his attention focused on the rough stone buildings of the village ahead.
“I thought the book disappeared.” Reyla’s open gaze met mine, and while I found no subterfuge there, time had passed. We’d changed.
Everyone around me seemed to be harboring secrets.
“I thought the book disappeared too.” I wasn’t ready to say I saw it in her bag.
Ishouldconfront her, ask her if she stole it. Although, if she took it, I couldn’t call it outright theft. She’d originally taken it from the fae library before the Claiming, and if anything, I’d stolen it from her while she wandered the ether.
Borrowed it, I told myself. There had been nothing disloyal about my actions. I’d only taken it from her bag to show it to her, to see if making her read it aloud might bring her back to me.
“I think it’s lost forever,” she said. After feeding me a smile I tried not to take as deceitful, though her nostrils flared with her ragged breathing, she eased back to walk with Brodine.
I kept going, though I snuck glances at her.
Brodine continued to stare toward our right.
Her hand tightening on the strap of her pack digging into her shoulder, she leaned into Brodine’s side, speaking in a low voice. Whatever she said to him made him laugh, and for some reason, that made my dismay ease.
