My breath stops. This can’t be how I lose him. Not now, not with the scent and feel of his body still imprinted on my skin.
Not ever.
I slowly stand, resolve burning inside me.
A part of my mind catalogs that Darnen didn’t knock me or Trick to the floor, even though we hold weapons. Perhaps he doesn’t see us as a threat.
He’ll regret underestimating me.
“You’re finally here,” Darnen says. “Show me the amulet, girl.”
“You can’t—” Elianna begins, but he points at her, and she stops speaking. I don’t know if her silence is voluntarily or magically imposed, but she remains silent and shakes her head when I look at her.
When I stand, Trick steps between the druid and me, his face hard. This journey has honed my cheerful, carefree friend to a serious, deadly version of himself.
“You will stay away from Soli,” he says calmly. “Or we will have words.”
Darnen raises a hand but then just laughs dismissively. “Try something, and you die.”
I put a palm on Trick’s arm. “We have to do as he says for now. I can’t lose you. Let’s just see what he wants,” I murmur. “Storms pass.”
“We will never quit,” he whispers and stands aside.
“Let’s try to avoid the pain this time, okay?” I say with more confidence than I feel. Which is to say, any confidence at all.
“Wise choice, girl,” Darnen says. “I don’t want much. Just to see the amulet and show you a prize of my own.”
Igive up any idea of pretending not to know what he’s talking about. Everyone here has more knowledge than they should of who we are and what we’re doing. So, I slowly pull the amulet from beneath my shirt, being careful to show only it and not the first key. The druid didn’t mention the key, so maybe that’s at least one thing he’s ignorant about. I’m not about to give him any information he doesn’t already have.
“Do you want to hold it?” I ask, careful to project wide-eyed innocence.
He sneers at me. “Nice try. Come here, slowly. Leave the knife behind.”
I casually lean down and drop my dagger next to Kaelen’s outstretched hand, an extra weapon for if—when—he wakes. Then I cross the marble floor to the druid, Elianna on one side of me and Trick on the other.
The amulet is still warm but doesn’t emit even a hint of light. Maybe Darnen won’t believe it is what it is.
“Stop there,” he demands when we’re within six paces of him. “I don’t want to catch fire by mistake.”
He believes.
Up close, the druid doesn’t look at all like what I would have expected an evil fallen druid to look like, had I ever had occasion to think about it.
He has hard, acetic features, with high cheekbones and a long, straight nose. He might be someone’s stern grandfather. Or a scholar who studies only the most serious texts.
Instead, he’s a fallen sorcerer who deliberately gave himself to Corvynne’s terrible cause.
“Finally!” He rubs his hands together like a storybook caricature of an evil villain. If he cackles next, I’m going to punch him in the face, druid or not. My insides twist into an impenetrable knot, and I’m probably going to throw up at any minute. If Chitai were only awake, she could tease me about incapacitating emesis.
Please, let them all wake up to tease me again.
“What now?” Elianna demands. So, shecantalk. Good.
“Now, I throw you all in a stewpot,” he crows.
Igasp, and he rolls his eyes.
“A bit of druid humor. Relax. Now, we’re going to the top of the temple, and you will help me retrieve a certain key I’ve spent nearly half a century trying to capture. This way, please.”
