The fog lifted, revealing a small figure on their hands and knees, half-coughing, half-choking. I reached for my canteen to offer water—then froze. I blinked, scanning the clearing, partially expecting the mist to conjure another threat.
Butshewas alone.
“Nyleeria? What are you doing here?” I heard myself ask.
The mahogany tendrils of hair that had escaped her braid slowly tilted away from her face as her eyes traced their way up my sword, before they locked on mine. She looked…gods she looked so fragile and small—until one searched deeper.
“What are you doing here, Nyleeria?” I repeated, quickly wiping my blade clean before resheathing it. I needed to know how in Lumnara she was in the Autumn Court, and who brought her here? Had she escaped from Wymond? No—she’d be in worse shape if he’d had her. Ignoring my question, she took another deep gulp from the canteen before her gaze settled on me, stripping me down to nothing with just a glance, like she had on the dancefloor.
“Stars,” I said, dismissing the effect that one look had on me. “I’ve been searching for you everywhere. How did you make it here?”
Focus sharpening, she said, “You’ve been looking for me?” Her voice cracked, and that tiny hint of vulnerability rippled through me.
Swallowing, I said, “Everyone’s looking for you. How did you get here?”
“I rode here,” she answered, confusion knitting her brows.
“Right, but how did you gethere?” I pressed, unable to keep the edge out of my voice.
“I camped here last night, then woke up to that thing, and ran.” Her tone was so matter-of-fact that I wasn’t sure if she was being purposefully obtuse, if she was in shock, or…
“No, Nyleeria,” I said with forced calm, still needing to know what shitstorm I’d just stepped into. “How did you gethere?”
“Endymion, I’m not sure how else to answer you. Like I said, I rode here.”
Knowing I couldn’t rely on scent alone to tell if she was lying, I took a moment to scrutinize her more carefully. Pulse steady. Pupils normal. Unchanged breaths. Not flush. No stammering. She was telling the truth. Gods…she was telling thetruth.
Understanding, I knelt to meet her at eye-level. “You really have no clue where you are, do you?”
She shook her head, then, with uncertainty, said, “Heading south along the Feighlan River”
“No. No, you’re not.” I loosed a deep, long sigh. “By the gods, Nyleeria,” I started, unable to keep the general frustration out of my voice. “Do you know how lucky you are thatIfound you? Do you even know what that thing was? What it could have done to you?”
What little color she’d had drained as her eyes flickered to the remnants of the creature, then back to me. She gave the faintest shake of her head in response, barely a movement at all.
I wrestled against my instinct to correct through force—the only language understood in the Autumn Court. But damnation, how could she have possibly known? She was an outlander in every sense of the word. She didn’t know my world. Its cruelties. And Mother help me, I wasn’t even madather. I was angryforher.
The only mercy I could offer her was quick, swift honesty. “It’s called a na’li,” I began, “and it sucks magic dry until it can consume soul energy, turning its victim to dust.”
Her eyes went wide with fear, though something deeper stirred, almost imperceptible. Wheels turned behind those depthless eyes, and then, as if discarding the thought—or forcing it back—she said, “I tried to kill it, but my knives went right through.”
Of course she’d fought. I’d known that even before my gaze settled on the near-empty bandolier that hugged her curves. “You have to go for the head,” I said, meeting her unspoken question. “It’s the only fully corporeal segment of the body until it has sucked a soul.”
She nodded in understanding, and I knew she’d never make that mistake again.
Needing to get back to the heart of the matter, I said, “But I really need to know how you got here.”
“Endymion, I honestly don’t know what you’re asking me.”
“Nyleeria, you’re in the Autumn Court,” I said, stating the obvious in hopes she’d finally answer the bloody question.
Her nose wrinkled, and she recoiled slightly, as if catching a whiff of something putrid. Her expression hardened, scrutinizing her surroundings before she dared a tentative glance away. I watched her closely as her chin tilted upward, the warm hues casting a soft glow over her delicate features.
Swallowing, her gaze tracked back to me. “This is the Autumn Court?”
“Yes. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you here right now?”
She shook her head, and the vulnerability in her eyes told me she had no clue where she was, let alone the danger she’d wandered into. Realizing this, an unsettling softness stirred in me.
