She stepped forward, holding out the money in her non-dominant hand. And then she stumbled, jerking forward.
A pale blue blur shot forward as Hadima threw her forging. Iryana held her breath. With the imbued poison she’d have dipped it in, the dart would just have to graze Karvek.But he deftly stepped to the side, the dart disappearing before it even hit the ground.
Iryana sucked in a sharp breath as Karvek quickly covered the distance between him and Hadima. Seized both her wrists.
“Who is your contact in the 18th?” Karvek demanded, his voice cold.
“I can’t tell you,” Hadima cried, trying to pull away.
“Tell me!”
Hadima sobbed out, “I don’t know! I don’t know.”
Karvek shook her, and Iryana was sure that would be the moment Hadima sprung into action.
It wasn’t.
“You’re useless,” Karvek growled, knocking her across the clearing and just out of sight.
Her skin a sweaty inferno beneath her clothes, Iryana summoned her bow and an arrow. She drew back, waiting for a sign that she had to step in.
Her fingers twitched, wanting to release the string, but letting Karvek know it had been a trap would be dangerous if she didn’t land a killing blow. Could she do it? Her hands were shaking far too much for her to trust her aim with her sister’s life.
Then Karvek walked up to Hadima and leaned down. Iryana struggled to see or hear what was being said. Had her sister killed him?
A sharp yelp echoed through the clearing, and for a moment, Iryana thought her sister had done it, had stabbed Karvek. But then she heard a rumble of Karvek’s anger, and another of her sister’s cries.
Hadima.
Karvek landed blow after blow, losing any sense of control or plan. The glimpses Iryana saw of his face were twisted in a dark rage. “Tell me!” He demanded, kicking her again. Hadima’s cry stabbed into Iryana’s heart. It sounded like she was trying to fight back now, but not well enough.
Iryana leaned, trying to get a clear view, but it was no use.
If she stepped in, Karvek would know. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. He wouldn’t hesitate to wipe out her entire family. She reminded herself of this over and over while she listened to her sister’s cries. Tears ran hot down Iryana’s face. If she were strong enough, good enough, Iryana could stop Karvek herself. But she couldn’t.
As panic drove into her, Iryana no longer cared that she wasn’t enough to defeat Karvek, that her whole family could be destroyed if he saw her. The only thing echoing across her mind was that her sisterneededher.
She waited as long as she could. Until she knew Karvek had moved far enough away not to hear her. And then she released her forgings and scrambled back toward the trunk of her tree to climb down.
She had to save her sister, had to get down there quickly.
But part-way down, a strap of her armor got stuck on the tree. Panic flooded her instantly, and Iryana struggled to free herself. She could still hear her sister’s cries as Karvek beat her. Iryana grew increasingly frantic, her hands slipping off the strap as she tried to undo it, failing to find purchase. Her whole body was shaking now, her breaths coming in too quick and shallow.
Then Hadima stopped crying out.
Chapter Thirty-Six
With a panicked jerk, Iryana shoved herself away from the tree so hard the leather ripped. She fell the rest of the way, landing with a muted thud on a bed of needles. A shock of pain coursed through her, and something was stabbing into her side. When she went to move, her ankle screamed.
She dragged herself up, fingers digging into the needles and dirt, ignoring the ache radiating through her body. With a stumble, Iryana threw herself into the clearing, spear summoned in her hand.
But the clearing was empty, with only Hadima’s limp form collapsed in the center. For the length of a breath, Iryana scanned the trees around the clearing, seeing no one. She might have heard Karvek in the distance, walking away, but she wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter.
Iryana raced to her sister’s side, hands trembling as she felt for a pulse, for a breath. A sob shook her as Iryana felt nothing, but then, there—there was thefaintest hint of a pulse.
Iryana looked over her sister, desperately hoping she wouldn’t find any fatal injuries. Her hands slid over Hadima’s stomach, along her arms and legs. With a groan, Iryana pulled her sister onto her side and searched her back too.
The trampled grass and flowers around them were splattered with blood, but not enough to have come from a stab wound. There was nothing Iryana could do then, not there in that clearing with no supplies. It was almost good news—but Hadima was barely holding on. The thought of internal injuries made Iryana’s vision darken.
