A tiny bit more pressure and he had no doubt she’d have him in an unconscious heap at her feet. Breathing hard, he tried to speak through the echoes screaming in his mind. “Celina.”
“We’ll find her.”
He shook his head. “They caught her. I can feel it.”
“Save your fight. And stay calm.”
Nodding, he stilled his struggle. It was done. Cass wasn’t the one he needed to fight. Slowing his breathing, he carefully avoided taking deep breaths of the eerie mist. He couldn’t see anything other than the dark river of air surrounding them. “Where are we?”
“Shadows. Hold on.”
The fading swirl that preceded unconsciousness assaulted him, awful pressure blanketing him everywhere. Another instant and he was in the daylight again. Cass’s arms left him, and he sank to the ground, head falling back against a building.
He’d been running from several guards he’d fought off when he’d been wrenched painfully into the shadows.
Dizziness and nausea combined in a debilitating wave, forcing him to close his eyes against the onslaught.
“Cassia!” Hurried footsteps, and the sound of several packs thudding into the dirt accentuated the worry in Sev’s voice. “You’re hurt. Tell me how to help you.”
“I’m okay.” Her broken whisper said the opposite.
Steeling himself, Rodric opened his eyes and looked in their direction. Cass was leaning against the building, shaking so hard she was almost convulsing, limbs curled up toward her core. Sev immediately pulled her into his arms so that she wouldn’t fall on the ground. Breathing erratically like her lungs weren’t functioning properly, she closed her eyes and let Sev support her.
“You’renotokay. What’s wrong, shimira?”
“Magic. Not meant for that.” The words brought on another convulsion, and she jerked, stifling a grunt of pain. “Don’t let them see.”
Kavesh.She was right. They were going to attract notice. Glancing around, he saw that while they were getting a few looks, the guards who had been chasing him were nowhere to be seen.
“Come on, shimira, breathe for me.” Sev brushed back the dark hair that had fallen into Cass’s face with gentle strokes. “Deep breaths, like you do when no one’s watching. Count to four.”
Opening her eyes in a flash, Cass glared at Sev, but followed the instruction and measured her breath. Angry sparks lit the air around Cass in a shimmer. “Kill you. Later.”
“Looking forward to it.” Pulling her closer with his protective arm gripping her, Sev raised an eyebrow at him. “Can you help her? We need to move.”
Looking inward, Rodric found the white mist in his soul rushing about as if trying to break free. Gold swirled in motion with it, more than usual. Tremors ran through him as he tried to access it, an extension of the terror overwhelming him.
Trying to force the panic down, he pulled a tendril to the surface like Celina had shown him and gave it to Cass. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it eased the convulsions and let her straighten up.
The remaining tendrils of magic were visible, but slipped through his fingers like mist when he tried to grasp them. “I’m sorry, I can’t—”
“It’s enough. Let’s go.”
Sev picked up the packs and then slipped his arm around her waist. “Pretend you like me, shimira.”
She huffed but allowed him to support her. “I suppose you’re tolerable for the moment.”
“A couple out for a stroll will attract less attention than you limping.”
Rodric balled his hands into fists at his sides as they slowly made their way to the town’s entrance. Had Celina attempted to fight them? Was she injured?
His guilt and frustration were overshadowed by mounting anger. “You should have gone after her, not stopped for me!”
“Sorry to disappoint. But you were the one in front of me,” Cass said.
“They took her!”
“But they didn’t kill her,” Cass emphasized. “You can feel her. She’s alive. That’s all that’s important right now.”
