She was a breath away from a rampage, and if she lost control, she would kill indiscriminately—Sennalaiths, Cobblepinions, Evander himself.
Evander braced, waiting for the right moment, but someone touched his shoulder.
“Let her,” Samara hissed in his ear.“Let her eat them all.”
“She’ll kill us next,” he replied.
Samara sighed. “Do you need a distraction?”
Evander nodded.
Samara moved to the outer edge of the group and began to sob. “Please! I don’t want to go to war! I’m so afraid!”
The soldiers turned toward her, and Evander broke from the group and charged toward Hera.
“Hera, down!” he cried. A wave of magic burst from his hands, like water released from a dam, and blasted him backward. He landed hard on the stony ground.
For five long years, he had struggled along with weak magic, barely able to give simple commands. But with the dark magic gone from him, his old power surged through him again. It was cold as a winter gale and stung his skin, like holding ice.
Hera paused, mid-breath, blinking down at him in disbelief, then she lowered her heads and blew a puff of steam from her nostrils.
“Good girl. That’s my girl,” Evander continued, standing and edging toward her. “I’m here. I won’t let anyone harm you.”
Hera let out a deep purr and thrust her nose into his chest.
Then a deep voice boomed, “Get him back with the others!”
Hera’s eyes narrowed.
“Look at me, Hera,” Evander said, his hands tight on her jaw. “It’s alright. You and I are going to stay right here, calm as can be. No one is going to hurt us.”
The soldiers poised around him, wanting to pounce, but too frightened to make the first move.
There was a temptation, startling and cold, to heed Samara and let Hera have her way with these men. Evander owed themnothing, and he could either escape to find Valenna or return to Silvanlight and entreat the queen regent to negotiate with Cadmus.But if Valenna had offered Hera to her father as part of the deal, and then Hera never arrived, what would Cadmus do to her? Evander couldn’t risk it. If he could soothe the hydra, he could follow her to Valenna.
The soldiers moved within range of Hera’s tail. She grew restless under Evander’s hands, and his anxiety grew. An entourage of dangers marched through his mind. She could lash out, and he might not be able to control her. The soldiers could hurt her. She could kill him accidentally in her terror, and then Valenna’s attempt to save him would end in tragedy.
“Hush,” he murmured with mounting urgency. “Hush, girl. It’s alright.”
Hera’s gaze locked on the closest man, and her lips curled away from her jagged teeth. She began to lift her heads until Evander drew her nose into his chest. Control the center, control the beast. His father had taught him that. If he could keep her center head calm, he could keep all of her calm.
Hera grumbled, eyeing the soldiers as they edged closer.
Then a deep voice rang out. “Get him with the others! Line them all up on the shore!”
A chorus of jeers went up from the Cobblepine conscripts as they were prodded into a line, and then one voice, high and imperious, rose above the others.
“Cobblepine is a sanctuary on neutral ground; we answer to no one!”
Lysander had stepped forward, his arms crossed over his narrow chest.
A big officer with dark hair faced Lysander down. “Get into line and hold out your hands.”
“Certainly not! I will not be bound by you or anyone!”
The soldier huffed. In the flashing light from the burning village, Evander tried to make out his face because something about him was familiar. Evander squinted into the darkness and then caught his breath.
It was Haldir. Haldir Bournemuth, here, in Cobblepine, wearing a Sennalaithic officer’s uniform.
