The jerk of Bayne’s head was sharp, and his lips drew a thin line. “No,” he cut in. “I won’t risk Antares getting access to any of them.”
“You don’t have to fight alone,” Isla said sadly. “Take the ring, Bayne.” She gestured to the mind armor on the table before her arms fell to her sides, and she turned to me.
I pulled the second ring from my pocket and handed it to the king.
“One for the queen,” I explained, “if she’ll take it.”
Bayne’s jaw clenched, but he reached a hand forward. I let the ring fall into his palm. He opened his lips to speak when an urgent wave of alarm slammed into me. My hand flew to my chest, and I staggered back asAquila’semotions punched through me.
“What is?—”
A shadow cut over the golden autumn light filtering in through the wide window, and I snapped my face in his direction. We rushed to the gilded balcony where Aquila’s massive gold and copper wings splayed out in a magnificent arc against the shadowed forest beyond. His keen eyes were wild as his head snaked toward Bayne.
Panic and urgency streamed down Aquila’s Bellator bond to me, and I sent my own confusion back. Aquila wasn’t my caeluma. I couldn’t speak with him mind to mind despite feeling his emotions.
“What is wrong? What’s happened?” Isla asked, looking urgently at Bayne.
Color had drained from the king’s face, and he opened his mouth, as if to ask, and clamped it shut.
“Open your connection to him!” I signed urgently, my brows narrowing as Aquila’s emotions threatened to impede on my own.
Bayne’s lips fell open, and he stared at the massive hawk. Aquila was as much his caeluma as he was Nerissa’s. Their shared power and bond went back to the twins’ birth. And Bayne had chosen to block that bond since his soulbinding with Antares.
“Something has happened!” Isla shouted at him. “OPEN IT!”
Bayne’s mouth clamped shut, and Aquila bent his large head forward and screeched in his face. The air from his shout blew stray strands of hair from the sides of the king’s face. The force of the screech vibrated through my chest, something beyond his panic and urgency rippling through the ancient hawk’s roar.
A layer of pain and betrayal rode whatever command Aquila shouted at his Bellator. Bayne’s brows rose, and his chest heaved as he caught his breath. A rush of emotion swarmed from him—regret, fear, grief.
I averted my eyes, certain Bayne hadn’t meant for me to feel the pent-up emotions that poured from the gates he lifted as he opened himself to Aquila. Bayne staggered back, and Isla’s widened eyes found mine.
“They’re here,” Bayne barked, his hands moving quickly as he conveyed the message. “Ganmira and Renova. Nerissa and Kresida are tracking the Embodieds’ movements just north of here.”
Bayne’s green eyes were wide as Aquila spoke into his mind, and a small bud of a tear formed in the corner of one. Bayne had never allowed Aquila into his mind since his transformation, and the sudden connection that formed seemed to have shaken something out of the king.
“Get to the master of spells,” Bayne said to Isla. “I’ll rally the War Slayers and speak to the queen before Aquila takes me to where they were last spotted.”
He turned to me. “Bring back as many fighters as you can from Votruvia.”
Isla’s soft eyes slid to mine. Her ebony brows pinched up, and something flared in my chest. Her lips quivered, and I wasn’t sure why, but a deep-rooted fear slunk into me at the sight—at the thought of leaving her. Isla was practically a mystic, but if the Embodied had taken out Carina… A vice wrapped itself aroundmy chest, and my hand reached forward out of instinct, but Isla had already moved.
She hurried to the stairs in search of Khato, and when I looked back, Bayne had already mounted Aquila. They soared around the nearest sparkling turret.
The Advetis swelled within me, its power rising through every fiber of my being and pressing against my skin in preparation. My mind spun as I ran through countless scenarios on a plan of action, calculating the risks of who to bring back and how quickly, determining our best chance of surviving another attack from the twin goddesses.
An image of an onyx fireplace formed in my mind, and with a blink of an eye, my body succumbed to the twisting squeeze.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
EVONY
I’ve no idea if you can read this or if you’ll find it. But please… We need your help.
– Correspondence from Evony to Gork, left in an abandoned cave in the southern Lumerians.
Evony – Aedrialis, Sultira
Clouds rolled in above the full canopy overhead, and the growl of distant thunder rumbled through the trees and against my sternum. I picked my way through the overgrown trail as a bead of sweat drew a ticklish line down the center of my chest.
