Now they had us both.
Chapter 26
I lookedpast Vorn and saw Larana with her hands being bound, two of Vorn's men holding her arms, a third with a blade at the back of her neck. Her face was expressionless as they restrained her.
Our eyes met, and I saw the fury within them.
The image of that smaller tent flashed in my mind, a woman tied to a pole. I felt sick. I couldn’t let them take her.
I looked at Vorn.
“If I come willingly,” I said slowly, knowing what I was giving up. “You let her go.”
“Amarya, no.” Larana’s voice was a flat warning. She wasn’t afraid for herself. She was afraid for me.
I couldn’t ignore that and it made me even more sure I was doing the right thing. “Do we have an agreement?”
Vorn studied me. “We had an agreement last time.”
“Don’t be a prick. You know I never broke it.” I tried to loosen their grip on my arms, but they gripped me harder. “Vorn? I’ll come, but you have to let her go. They won’t come for me. They’ll come for her, though. Do you want that? Do you want them to chase you?”
His eyes narrowed in speculation, and he glanced at Larana.
“Amarya.” Larana’s voice was harder this time despite the blade pressed at her throat. “Don’t do this.”
“Tell your captain what happened,” I said to her, still looking at Vorn, knowing who Larana’s captain was. “Tell them not to worry about me, I'll find my own way back home.” I looked at Larana then. Her jaw was set, and her eyes were burning with anger. I tried to smile. “I'll be fine.”
“You don't know that,” she said, and I saw her mask slip, and she looked worried. Genuinely worried for me.
“I never know that,” I said with false bravado. “I go anyway. It’s part of the job.”
I turned back to the man who was now in front of me.
“Vorn, you leave her here.” I met his gaze with a hard one of my own. “I won’t run,” I told him steadily. “But you do not take us both.”
“You’re negotiating?” he asked with a small smirk.
“I’m giving you my terms,” I told him flatly. “Or I swear to the gods, I’ll leave you in the depths of winter and walk away whistling.”
He looked like he wanted to say something. His hand came up and curled loosely around my neck, squeezing once. My heart skipped a beat as fear surged. He saw it and liked it. It was in the way he smiled, and I was beginning to think I might be fucked.
“You’re willing?”
It was the way he said it that made my nerves spike. “I willwillinglyfind you the trail you seek,onlythe trail. That’s all you get from me. Keep your hands to yourself, and you let her go.”
“Amarya!” Larana called out, struggling against her captors.
“It’s fine, Rana,” I told her, holding Vorn’s stare. “He’s going to let you go. He has what he needs. Don’t you?”
Vorn watched me, and then he nodded before turning away. I saw one of them strike the back of Larana’s skull, and she went down in the dark.
I surged forward, but strong hands held me back.
For a second, I couldn't move.
Larana was down in the snow, and the men who'd been holding her were already stepping back, already done with her. I stood there, my hands gripped by Vorn's people, and felt something cold move through me that had nothing to do with the temperature.
She'd looked worried.
