He would pass out soon; Frazer’s application of pressure points was flawless. I had to speak quickly. “I’m sorry, but I’m not your possession. You don’t get to decide what’s best for me.”
Hunter’s eyes found mine. His hand stretched out for me. Help me, help me, he seemed to say.
I noted the seconds and held his pain-riddled gaze. Anything less would’ve made me a coward. Hunter’s clay-eyes slid back into his head on the count of four.
A sigh mingled with guilt and relief rushed out of me.
Frazer pushed him back with a look of deep disgust and paced over to me. Without saying a word, without making eye contact, he scanned me carefully. He even turned me around in a rough spin to stare at my back.
Bewildered and annoyed, I asked, “What are you doing?”
“Checking.”
I clucked my tongue and batted his hands away. “I’m fine. Now I need you to go on a hunt.”
A tiny smirk and a raise of the eyebrow. “What am I hunting?”
“Wilder, and the fae bastard who took him: Tysion.”
Frazer let out a belly growl.
“Go after them! Before it’s too late,” I pleaded.
He was unyielding. “Not without you. Grab your sword and we’ll go.”
I made an impatient noise and went to sheath my sword. Then, my eyes snagged on Hunter, and the bow. My hand itched to take it. But it was the weapon that had ripped through Wilder’s wings like they were gossamer silk. A second of wavering.
It’s meant for you, Auntie whispered.
No doubt.
Hunter’s body was slumped against a tree and I felt nothing. Well, okay, a little sadness. And a lot of anger. So I wasn’t gentle as I pulled the bow and quiver loose from his shoulders. I made one last snap decision and set the kaskan and quiver on the ground to root through the pockets of his leathers for the quartz crystal. He hadn’t said if it would work for anyone who possessed it, but I hoped it would. It could go a long way to helping us on the road ahead.
“What’s that?” Frazer appeared at my side.
“Concealment charm,” I said, shoving it into my bag.
“Good.”
No interrogation. I could’ve kissed him.
Frazer’s eyes went to the kaskan. “Why take the bow? It’s just extra weight.”
I paused. “It’s been enchanted to never miss. And it’s mine.”
Frazer picked up the quiver and bow from the forest floor, shouldering them. “I’ll carry them. We don’t want it to get damaged while you’re in my arms.”
I began, “But you just said—”
“We can’t leave a kaskan behind.”
He lifted me and finally, we were sprinting, chasing after Tysion.
Dreading the answer, I asked, “Can you track them?”
Frazer looked strained, but he gave me a curt nod. “Just, but their scent’s disappearing.”
Shit. “Already?”
“This forest muffles everything. I lost yours halfway in and had to rely on our bond to find you.”
After a minute of being jostled around and furiously wiping Wilder’s blood off my cheek, I choked out, “D’you really think we can catch up?”
I was prepared to hear a no.
“Adi’s waiting at the edge of the forest. She might be able to stop him.”
A spring of hope welled up, and my curiosity finally trumped my fear. “Why is she here? Why are you here?”
Frazer chuffed. “Did you really think I wouldn’t follow when I thought Wilder might be a traitor?”
I wanted to smile, but the muscles in my face had frozen. “How did you catch up to us?”
Something, a memory, shone through the bond. It was difficult not to gasp aloud. You let Adi carry you?
His lips thinned and the pressure on my legs and back intensified. To my humiliation, yes.
My mind reeled. I knew his character. To have submitted to that would’ve been excruciating for him. I loved him even more for it.
Frazer continued aloud. “We didn’t even need to track you, since we knew where you were going. It nearly killed Adi though, trying to keep up with Wilder. She was frothing at the mouth when we arrived.”
My stomach flipped over. “Why didn’t she come into the forest with you?”
Frazer’s laugh was wheezy and thin. “I’m faster on the ground, and she didn’t want to run into Wilder. Ever the obedient student,” he said with a sarcastic lilt. “But she volunteered to watch from above and keep an eye out for signs of an ambush in the surrounding area. Although if she’d picked up Tysion’s scent, nothing would’ve kept her away.”
Silence fell between us after that, and the minutes ticked by until the first ribbon of sun trickled down to bathe the earth. Scanning the gaps now appearing in the canopy, I couldn’t bear to voice the question that was tearing me up inside. So I whispered down the bond instead. If Tysion’s already flown off with Wilder, will we be able to track him?
Frazer’s reply was soft; so soft. You already know the answer to that question.
Heat prickled my eyes, and my head slumped against his shoulder. I went utterly limp and despondent while memories of Wilder shielding himself with his wings, his body, floated to the surface of my mind. Unbidden and unwanted.
My heart was aching, bleeding. Gods, it hurt so much.
It’s my fault.
Frazer’s words were a gentle murmur. Almost a lullaby. No, sweet one. Morgan is to blame for this. No one else. We shouldn’t be punished for those we love. It’s as much in our control as the turning of the tide, or the rising of the sun.
I nodded, vacant. Lost to a waking nightmare.
Chapter 28
Because of You
Signs that we’d soon be free of the forest emerged. More watery shafts of sunlight filtered through and a breeze, fresh and glorious, broke Attia’s spell. The brightness lifted the lifeless, oppressive mood, waking me up, helping me breathe again.
“Can you still smell them?”
Frazer’s nostrils widened. “Yes.”
No inflection in his voice.
“They’ve gone, haven’t they?”
Frazer remained silent, but he picked up speed. There was my answer. All hope and pretense shattered and a heart-rending grief unfolded, a pain that threatened to flood and wash me away in its mighty force.
The trees thinned, and as we reached the last of their skeletons, the firelights left us, and my head went up, scanning the open skies. Nothing.
A sob got twisted in my throat, becoming more of a whimper on the exhale.
Frazer set me down, cupped my chin, and moved my head to the left.
There was Adrianna, crouching over Tysion’s unconscious body. Examining him. Wilder lay next to him. Still unconscious.
But he was there. Not being dragged to Morgan.
There weren’t words …
Adrianna saw us and stood, beckoning. We jogged over, and I went straight to Wilder’s side, gently checking his wounds. The fraying skin and torn muscle at his bicep had begun to knit together, thanks to the healing abilities of the fae. But his wings—they weren’t faring so well. The delicate membrane had clotted, yet the holes were still visible. The sight felt like a shard of glass piercing my gut.
Adrianna spoke first. “I hope you don’t mind.” She booted Tysion’s leg. “As soon as this bastard came hauling ass out of the forest with Wilder slumped over his shoulder, I dropped out of the sky and smashed him over the head. Thankfully, his skull isn’t as thick as you’d think.”
I looked up to find Adrianna patting a weighty and wicked-looking crossbow. The harsh lines of her face were fierce and unforgiving. A warrior’s mask.
A harsh cackle—part relief, part hysteria—croaked out of me. I clapped my hand over my mouth as Frazer touched my shoulder, in comfort and solidarity.
“So, what d’you want to do with this worthless worm?” Adrianna crinkled her nose and bared her teeth at Tysion’s still form.
My voice was hardly human as I uttered hoarsely, “Let him rot. If Hunter doesn’t track him down and silence him, then his father’s reaction to his failure will be punishment enough.”
“Father?” Frazer echoed.