Where are you, my love?
Her response came back, sounding muddled:I thought someone was calling me. Beyond the fire.
I silently slipped past where the Red Phoenix fire burned low and beyond, to the edge of the forest. Panic rose in my chest. Where was my tygress? Finally I spotted a glimmer of copper and gold at the base of a tree and ran to Flame. Kneeling by her side, I passed my hand over her fur, feeling the tension in her muscles as she lay down.
Something felt off.
“Easy, girl,” I whispered, but my own nerves were on edge. Her unease reached out through the Bond.
A cool wind made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Flame let out a low growl, her golden eyes narrowing as they fixed on a shadow just beyond the trees.
Blazing hell.Why hadn’t I put on my ribbon wands before coming out here?I’m never unarmed, I’d said to Blake. What an ashbrain I was.
Flame flinched, shaking her head, and that’s when I saw a faint gleam on her jowls, something oily that hadn’t been there earlier.
Open your mouth for me?I asked.
My heart pounded in my chest, my breath coming faster as I examined her tongue. The substance was subtle, nearly invisible in the moonlight, but I could feel its dark magic.
Drugs.But who, and why? I saw more of the substance across her fur.
“Flame,” I whispered urgently, running my hands over her. She huffed, shaking her head again, her body tensing as if she could feel the drug working its way into her system. Was it poison?
My mind raced. I needed to stop it, neutralize it somehow.
I ripped off my cloak and quickly began rubbing her down, trying to wipe the vile stuff away. My hands shook as I worked, and Flame let out a soft, pained growl.
I feel so dizzy.She sounded weak in my mind.I’m just going to close my eyes.
I won’t let them hurt you, I vowed, though fear clawed at my chest.Stay with me.
I felt my thought come up against a wall. The Bond was tethered to darkness. This had never happened before. Even when Flame was asleep, I could usually feel and speak to her.
I shook her, shouting down the Bond.Flame! Fla—
A blur of movement in the darkness and I froze.
Three large masked figures silently appeared out of the night with their weapons drawn.
I barely had time to react before they were upon me. One of them threw a net over Flame, binding her while the other two lunged for me. My body moved on instinct, ducking beneath the first strike and rolling to the side. Their blades gleamed in the moonlight, coated with the same oily drug that had been on Flame’s fur.
I grabbed for the cloak to block and twist around one attacker’s wrist. I managed to disarm him, but the other figure slammed into me and I stumbled back, barely keeping on my feet.
The man to my left lunged again, and I just managed to spin out of the way. His partner lunged at me in seconds, and I felt the cold sting of a blade slice across my forearm.
I gasped, my vision blurring.
The drug from the blade seeped into my bloodstream, its effects almost immediate. My head spun, my body growing weak, but I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t let them win.
The magic inside me stirred, a flicker of music rising in my chest, but I already felt so groggy, my tongue heavy in my mouth.
I lashed out, catching the second intruder in the leg, sending him sprawling to the ground. But the third man, the one who’d bound Flame, turned on me, his dagger flashing toward me.
I ducked, but not fast enough. The knife caught me across theshoulder, sending a searing pain through my body. I stumbled back, my vision blurring further as the drug spread through my veins.
As everything went dark, a quiet, low chuckle followed me down.
—
