His light brows narrowed as he scanned my face, and he took a hurried step forward.
“Are you all right?” he asked, moving to my side and kneeling.
I blew out a breath and nodded. A flush rushed up my neck as I carefully set the fresh arrow in my quiver.
“Yes.” I nodded, assuring him. “Sorry, you just startled me.”
Vander’s chin dipped, as if he spotted the lie, but his lips quirked to the side.
“I thought you were heading into the foothills with the newest recruits?” I asked before clamping my mouth shut.
Vander cocked his head and raised a brow. “Keeping tabs on me?” he asked, his dimple popping as he smirked.
Birds took flight in my stomach.Yes, yes, that’s exactly what I had done, I realized in mortification. He chuckled and nodded his head.
“I was,” he responded before plopping his large pack on the dusty ground and taking a seat. “The trek back didn’t take as long as expected.”
I nodded, reaching for another arrow shaft in need of a fletching.
“What brings you to Cantor Stables then?” I asked, continuing to stare at the soft striped feathers in my hand.
His arm brushed against mine as he reached inside his pack.
“These were blooming all over the foothills. The mountains seem to be covered in them this time of year, and I never really noticed them before,” he explained as he reached into his large pack and removed a thick bunch of yellow starstay flowers.
He paused, his gray eyes soft on mine as he offered them. “But I saw them, and I thought of you. I just felt like maybe you needed a little bit of home,” he said quietly.
A vice gripped my chest as I reached a tentative hand to the bouquet, and a zap of chill bumps ran up my arm as his fingers brushed against mine. His touch lingered a moment longer than necessary, and my hand wrapped around the starstays as a flood of memories rushed forward.
Words clogged in my throat, and I blinked rapidly as tears pricked the corners of my eyes. Thank you. I should say thank you.
Instead, I hiccupped.
Vander stood, slinging his pack over his shoulder, and offered me a quiet smile. My lips fell open, but the words wouldn’t come. His kindness left me speechless. He gave me a soft nod before leaving me with the starstays and my arrows.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
LYVIA
The ability to block the mental probe of the Palaega remains their only obvious power.
– A Written History of the Itherians, by Olienna. Crystal Castle.
Lyvia – The Arx, Votruvia
Adrenaline surged through my veins as I wrapped my fingers around the glass decanter held in the silver silk at the center of the black tree. The web shuddered, whipping back and forth as I tugged the object free. Stillness stretched through the small space as the web trembled back into place, and I held my breath as my gaze cut to Kellan. His dark eyes held mine for a mere moment before spine-straightening clacking and hissing filled the air. My pulse banged against my skin as I surged toward Kellan.
The pirate lord moved to the entrance of the tree, looking back and pausing as his attention darted above my head. Hespun on his heel and leaped back into the tree. His curved blade drew a long arc through the air, embedding itself in the large, bulbous body of a massive spider.
Bile rose to my throat as he pulled his blade free, and a thick, yellow blood leaked from the center of the creature’s gray and black striped body. Its red eyes shuddered as it let out a piercing cry. A putrid smell filled the small space, and a gag crawled its way up my throat. Kellan shook the blade free of the yellow sludge and turned to me with wide eyes.
I yelped as I jumped back, another spider crawling through the entrance in front of me. Enya’s blade was an easy extension of my arm as I swung down in a long line, the edge of it clipping a thick, hairy leg. It hissed as it jumped back, and I advanced, slashing with one hand as I maintained a firm grip on the glass container.
Kellan let out an angry growl from behind, and the scratching and hissing of advancing spiders melded together in a clamor of sounds that promised death. I resisted the urge to turn around as I speared forward, embedding Enya’s blade in the center of two razor-sharp fangs clicking together in threat.
The creature sagged, and I shoved my boot into its side. The massive body slid through the gap in the branches and over the edge. My stomach pitched as I turned around to find three spiders closing in as Kellan took the legs off a fourth.
My powers bucked behind the presence of the rubelline power, their might leashed and unable to escape, but my body moved like a predator. My elven muscles lacked the fatigue normally brought on by such a fight, and I spun through the small space with lethal efficiency.
