With that, I could empathize.
Muscle feathering in his jaw, he nodded. His wife shrieked something that sounded a lot like “don’t” around her gag. But he was weak, as all men madly in love were. Probably why Koron Stadiel had never truly loved my sister.
It was best for me to do the same, despite the secrets my heart whispered to me in the dark—someone choosing me. Andnot because I Commanded them or because they sought my title.
I threw the female away and stalked toward the fallen noble. His gaze only met mine when I yanked his long hair and forced him to look up at me. “Speak,” I ordered like he was a dog.
His eyes narrowed. For a moment I thought he would spit in my face.
But then, with deliberate slowness, his lips curled back from his teeth. “She is a Seer.”
I scoffed. “That much I know. Try again or next time that finger won’t simply be broken.”
Rage flashed in the glacial orbs that mirrored my own. “Her name is Sylaira.”
Sylaira.
The name struck me like a thunderclap. It was elegant, haunting, and prophetic. So fucking perfect for the delectable creature that had slipped through my fingers. Obsession twisted into the fabric of my being.
“And?”
Zuriel’s wife let out a choked sob. His attention flicked in her direction, only to be brought back to me with a sharp tug on his scalp. “She’s been Elessarum with Heraphia since they were young girls. You’ll never get either of them to submit willingly.”
A wicked snicker worked its way up my throat. “Do you think I expected them to surrender their sovereignty voluntarily?” I released him at last, stomping back to the female. Zuriel thrashed against the soldier’s hold as I reached down and brushed the pearlescent hair out of his wife’s face. Then, I ripped the gag out of her mouth. “Where would she go? Tell me and I’ll ensure Zuriel can visit you while you’re under my sister’s care.”
Tears flowed freely now, and she could scarcely breathe, let alone speak, for the force of her sobs.
“For the love of the Goddess,” I swore, returning to her husband. “One of you better give me some direction, right this fucking second, or I’ll ensure you never see each other again.”
“To the mountains,” Zuriel murmured, his focus on his hysterical partner.
I patted him on the cheek. He flinched away. “Was that so hard?” Snapping my fingers, I directed my crew to haul them to the wagons where the other useful ones waited.
Maelsar chose that moment to descend from the clouds, trailed by the rest I’d left in the sky. Their white feathered wings glinted in the sun as they flared them and landed with practiced ease in front of me.
“Let me guess, you lost her?” I growled as Maelsar sauntered forward, his magic disappearing with each step.
“Aye, though I think she flew toward Vaelsur,” he muttered, combing through his wind-tousled hair.
A frustrated groan slipped out of me, and I pinched the bridge of my nose. If she sought haven in the rock-hewn temple, I might never catch her. While the head priestess there had long held sympathies toward the Elessarum, she never housed entire groups. The space was simply too small to hold them all.
But a single one?
With eyes as clear as a mountain lake?
Blessed with Sight?
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind my little fugitive would be welcomed with open arms.
“We have to hunt her downbeforeshe reaches the mountains,” I groused, crescents biting into my palms.
“What do you want us to do?” Maelsar asked me.
I looked past him, to the looming peaks in the distance. Itwould take days to reach Vaelsur, even flying, and without a pack for supplies, the Seer would struggle to survive among the wilderness. And the next time I had her in my sight, I’d Command her to stop.
“You and Calrien take the rest back to Sivy. She’s just a little Elessarum Seer. How hard could it be to catch her?”
Between Maelsar’s Mirror power and Calrien’s Amplifier magic, the two of them could handle a group of pacifists on their own.
