“Do you trust Garnel with your sister?”
“Of course, but I’m still confused how she even got to me. Did you know she was in Orofine?”
“I did. She arrived shortly before you were discovered missing.”
Avery looked down at her sleeping sister and noticed the scratches around her exposed neck. Bruising and rivulets of blood dotted her neck and Susan’s. Dammit. Savine had attacked her sister and friend. She clenched her jaw as she tried to tamper her anger toward him. Avery still felt the remnants of the deep magic circulating in her blood.
“You thoughtshewas the one who tried to take me, didn’t you?”
Savine’s voice had a growl to it, like he was frustrated with Avery. “She is working with Rylo. It seemed far too coincidental that you should disappear around the time that Morgan shows up, and knowing that I have not released Selene.”
Avery turned her back on Savine. How dare he hurt her sister? “I can’t believe you would think Morgan or Susan would hurt me!” Avery shouted. “Get the hell away from me!”
Jay and Garnel walked over to their side, giving her space as they looked between herself and Savine. She turned, walking away from Savine as she asked Garnel, “Will you please take Morgan and Susan to Hyacinth? If Kyla’s up for it, could you let her know that they’re here?”
“Of course, they’re in safe hands with me.” Garnel motioned for Jay to pick up Susan, while he lifted Morgan. “What about the eagan?”
Avery looked to where Garnel was pointing and shuddered.
The eagan was hidden in the treeline, one of the Hunters in his talons as he ripped shreds of clothing and flesh from the dead body.
She curled her lip and turned her head as entrails spilled onto the snow. “Let him eat. At least we won’t have to worry about feeding him.”
“Thank Althea we ride elk. That’s disgusting,” muttered Jay.
The two walked away, carrying Susan and Morgan’s limp bodies. Savine turned back to her, scowling. Around them, guards lifted the corpses and began carrying them up the ridge.
“You’re angry I reacted with my essence toward your sister and Susan?” Savine asked.
Avery turned from him, post holing through the snow over to Darby’s body. She bent down and yanked the axe from her skull with a sickening crack.
Nausea threatened to make her sick, but she pushed it down, walking past Savine as she began trudging through the deep powder, the bloody axe slung over her shoulder.
“Youjust killed my mother’s dearest friend, a woman loyal to me, and I’m not angry at you!” Savine shouted. Two guards passed her, carrying Darby’s hanging body between them.
“Iwasbetrayed by that woman!Iheard her very thorough confession as she tried to send me back through the portal tosome impending death. So excusemeif I don’t see the two situations as the same.”
“But they are!” Savine argued.
“Hell no, they aren’t! You probably started strangling Morgan with your thorny vines before she had a chance to explain why she was in Orofine. You probably forced the answer out of her under duress. I protected myself from a woman who was trying to harm me!”
Avery continued to stomp up the steep, winter white mountain, past craggy boulders and spindly subalpine firs. There was no reason that Savine couldn’t catch her easily, not with her slow, clumsy, human footsteps through the snowfall. New flakes clung to her braid and eyelashes. She could hardly hear Savine’s deft steps behind her.
“Rylo could have been trying to take you again! I was afraid!”
Avery didn’t reply as she tried to make distance between them. It was an impossible task at this steep incline and with these conditions.
“Please, don’t ignore me, Ave!” Savine pleaded.
She let his plea linger on the wind before she answered him. “I can’t believe you’d hurt them! All I want is to be with Morgan right now, so just give me some space.”
Savine’s steps slowed. She didn’t need to look behind her to feel their bond growing taut with the change in distance and the hurt that washed over her.
Chapter 45
Morgan
Morgan’s eyes adjusted to the warm, cheery firelight in a comfortable room. The scent of herbs hung in the air. On her left, Susan sat up in bed with a round, dark-skinned and dark-haired fae chatting contentedly with her. They were both drinking from an earthenware mug. Susan laughed harder than Morgan had ever heard her laugh and the other woman snorted back.
