Dayton stumbles back.
“Too close to the heart?” Laughter sounds in her voice as she turns to her knights. “Bind them.”
“We gave you what you wanted!” Kel roars.
“You havenoidea what I want.”
Dayton and Kel exchange looks as the Sapphire Knight unclips two steel manacles from his belt and strides towards them.
The Nightingale waves a slender hand through the air. “Resist and I’ll kill her, so on and so forth.”
The Sapphire Knight pushes Kel and Dayton to their knees, hands bound behind their back. His helm tilts toward Ezryn’s body, bloody and broken. “What of the Spring Prince?”
“Leave him for the wolves. I got in enough trouble with Kairyn last time.” She points to the Bronze and Sapphire Knight. “Deliver these two to Kairyn, with regards from his little bird. I’m going to the monastery.” With bouncing steps, she walks over to me. I shudder, surging my magic through the briars, trying to get something to catch, to spark. “I want to have some fun with my new pet.”
Then all I can hear are Dayton and Kel’s screams as I’m whipped away beneath the earth by briars beyond my control.
PartFive
Vengeance
91
Ezryn
The darkness is retreating.
No … No. I must hold on to the shadows.
Without it, the pain comes. The remembering.
There are voices drifting through the edges of my mind.
“Where’s that salve?”
“I’ve got it. Here’s the poultice, made just as you said.”
“Good, good. Now, pass me the waterskin, dear. Thank you.”
Light glimmers and ripples on the fringes of my vision. These voices are familiar.
“I think he’s waking up.”
“You’re all right, chap. Bit of a tug on your brow as I stitch it. Don’t move.”
“Heart rate is stronger, isn’t it?”
“His breathing, too.”
“Hang in there, Prince Ezryn!”
Who … Who could say my name without disgust? Who is left that can bear to look at me? Not my father or brother. Not my people. And after the shame I brought upon her, not my mate.
My mate.
Gone.
My eyes open.
