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“Come.” She forced a smile. “I’ll help you wash a bit and get some food in you before we set off for Jorvandal. We want to be on our way before nightfall.”

“Yrsa, where is Kael?” I ran a cool linen over my dirty cheeks. “How is he?”

She arched a brow. “Your brother?”

“Yes. Is he well? Safe?”

“Lyra, I thought…I thought he was with you.”

My stomach dropped. “Kael did not come with us.”

“I don’t know. I have not seen him, and I assumed he was taken with you.”

No. No. My eyes clenched. I pressed a hand to my chest. Where was Kael Darkwin? What had they done to him? He lived. He had to live.

Something flickered in my chest when the pain grew too much. Like a caress against my heart. A comfort.

My eyes snapped open. Roark.

How many times had Gunter insisted that the bond would be a draw to the other? Craft roared in my head, not to meld, but to find those threads. Heat glided over my fingertips, smooth as fine satin. The burn was a fire after a storm, a lover’s touch in the night.

My fingers danced in front of me, hidden from the princess as she gathered a fresh tunic for me to wear.

Unseen, my fingers curled around silky threads. There, crisscrossed beneath my flesh, in my blood, to my soul. I tugged. Flickers of warmth, like a splash of steaming water, spilled from my chest to my limbs.

Again, I pulled.

The burn of his eyes filled my mind, the villainous cold of his soul, and I tugged them toward me.

When it faded, my spine felt straighter. My pulse slowed. Yrsa smiled and directed me to a corner where I could dress in peace.

“You will not let me leave?” I asked before the princess abandoned the tent.

She dragged her bottom lip over her teeth. “Not yet, Lyra. We…just want to be certain you’ve returned to us fully.”

Because they still believed me to be under some sort of Draven control.

I dipped my chin, silently conceding, and stared at the flap of the tent she’d used. A dark tunic stepped in front of the gap. Another guarded the back wall. How many Stav Guards Thane brought with him, I didn’t know.

In truth, I didn’t understand how he and the princess had slipped away from Stonegate without Ingir and King Hundur stopping them.

It didn’t matter. I sat on the edge of the cot, focusing on the tent flap.

He was coming.

No doubt, my husband was hunting me.

—

“We must go.” Thane returned, a leather strap in his hand. He offered me a sheepish sort of glance. “You understand, don’t you? We don’t want you to get hurt by fleeing. You’ll feel clearer when we get back to Stonegate.”

“Do you really believe that, Thane?” I hugged my middle. “Do I look confused? Bespelled? In a trance?”

“In truth, you look a little frightening.” He held up a hand. “Gods, I don’t mean it offensively. I only mean, you look like you might bite if I step too close.”

I chuckled flatly. “I won’t.”

“See, that’s what I mean. That doesn’t sound like you. We always got on all right, but now you look at me like the enemy, and I simply want it to go back to what it was.”