“Just like that”—he snapped his fingers—"his magic slipped away as if he’d never had any. He ordered me to valen away and find you. I did as he asked, but I watched from a distance first. They took him, Sir. That’s when I left to find you."
My eyes snapped to his. “Did it paralyze him?”
“Did what paralyze him?”
“The arrow,” I said more forcefully than I meant to.
Confused, Kaelun shook his head. “No. It just cut him off from the Mother.”
“Thank the gods,” I breathed.
“What is it?” Sidrick asked.
“It means he’s alive. The arrow Endymion and I took was laced with a paralytic that’s used to torture someone before it kills them,” I explained.
“Wait, you got shot with an arrow?” Tarrin said.
“It was more of a bolt.” I shrugged.
“Seriously?”
“Yes, Tarrin. Seriously.”
“Well, then I’m assuming death arrows—sorry, bolts,” he added, giving me a hard look, “aren’t the best option when they want you alive.”
“I’d have to agree with Tarrin here,” Sidrick said, “and now thatwe know they have the capability to render us powerless, we have to get out of her.”
“Wait!” I protested. “We can’t just leave Artton—they’ll kill him.”
Sidrick shook his head. “No, they won’t. If it were Tarrin or Kaelun, yes. You? Not until they got what they wanted. But Artton and me…” He shook his head again. “Let’s just say that Wymond isn’t stupid enough to kill one of Caius’ commanders.”
“Just capture and torture them,” I mumbled.
“Yes. But remember, Artton can’t physically give away any court secrets.”
“That’s not as comforting as you think it is, Sidrick,” I shot back.
“Either way, we need to get back home. The sooner we do, the sooner Wymond will be forced to release him,” Sidrick said, and although it was the only sane path forward, it didn’t stop me from feeling sick to my stomach over abandoning Artton.
Chapter 46
Little Mouse
Mercifully, we crossed the length of that gods-forsaken valley without further incident, and I’ve never been so happy to be under the canopy of changing leaves. As the sun slipped lower and the golden hue of the sky painted the pristine landscape with its softness, the aspens gave way to massive trees with leaves the size of my torso. Plucking one of the smaller discarded giants by, I marveled at its color as much as its size, the crimson vibrant enough that even the fleeting sunlight reflected red onto my leathers.
Spinning it lazily between my fingers by the stem, a soft whisper of air fanned my cheeks every half spin as the leaf went around and around. “What kind of trees are these?”
“Maple,” Kaelun and Tarrin answered in unison as they trailed me.
“Maple,” I parroted, consolidating the word with their beauty. “They’re stunning. They don’t grow in the Nettorian Mountains, do they?” I asked Tarrin.
“Nah, it’s too cold that far north,” he answered from the back. “They don’t start until a day’s ride south of Thaddeus’ palace.”
“Hum,” I mused.
I released the leaf, watching as gravity united it with its fallen brethren. I’d never been that far south. In fact, Thaddeus had only taken me to the lake, which I now realized wasn’t for my benefit—stars he’d played his cards well, each one of them a trump I was helpless to defend against until I was finally forced to fold. I’d like to believe that if I did it all over again, I’d be stronger, see through his masks, but I wasn’t sure that was true. Even now, I worried about silver tongues and the sweet nectar of promised belonging offered by others.
Or did I?
