And I might’ve missed it entirely—if it hadn’t been splattered onto a white stone.
Three droplets of black blood, dried down, next to a tall tree. It was at the back of the courtyard, away from the windows of the living quarters. Beyond the wall led directly into the eastern forest.
I crouched down, looking for anything else.
Blood…it wasn’t Amaia’s. These drops were black. Hers was red, given her human ancestry.
Reliefstrummed through me. She wasn’t hurt.
What is going on?I thought, frowning when I touched the dried blood. Whose blood was this, if not hers?
I heard something right then.
My head snapped up, holding my breath, the tip of one ear twitching. My brows furrowed, trying to place it.
It sounded like movement, clothes shifting.
Then…a rasping breath.
I rose swiftly, pressing my front to the half wall of the courtyard, peering over it.
“Brune,” I growled. I looked over at Tarkosh. “Go get Raran. Hurry!”
I jumped and hurtled myself over the edge of the wall, crouching in front of Brune. His face was bloodied and swollen. His lip split, his eyes closed. His breathing sounded wet, gurgled.
Fuck.
“Brune,” I murmured, taking him by the arm, shaking him.
He was alive, but barely.
His one eye that wasn’t swollen shut opened, and I saw the red of his iris peer at me.
He made a sound in his throat when he saw me, his single eye flitting wildly.
“It’s okay. The healer is on their way,” I told him, keeping myvoice calm. I heard a gasp from above the wall, saw Syris looking down at Brune, her hand coming up to her mouth, her face paling.
“Go get some water,” I ordered her, if only so she wouldn’t be sick.
She retreated swiftly with an affirmative squeak, and I turned my attention back to Brune.
His voice was so husky and raw that it sounded like another person’s. “He came back…Ryak. Nevin. They…they…”
A rattled wheeze gurgled up from his throat.
“Where’s Amaia?” I asked urgently.
Another rasping deep breath. “They were coming here…to use her. To take the eggs.”
My nostrils flared, my fist clenching around Amaia’s pendant. Brune’s grip on my arm was surprising, considering his state.
Hope rose in my chest…but then it was flooded out by cold panic.
“Find her,” Brune pleaded. “They’ll kill her.”
Ice froze my veins, and I rose as I saw Syris skidding back into the courtyard, sloshing a water goblet over her sleeve.
“Where did they go?” I asked.
