Ninia continued to face Asher down. Her eyes gleamed in the lamplight, and she suddenly looked much older than fourteen. “Elias had plenty of opportunities to attack me over the past days,” she said finally. “But he didn’t take any of them. Just like you, people can change. Elias isn’t the same man who tracked us into The Forest of Fallen.” She glanced over at Ryana, her gaze pointed. “Something’s shifted in him ever since he arrived here.”

  Ryana didn’t answer. She didn’t trust herself to.

  Ninia shifted her attention back to Asher, chin lifting in defiance. “I know Nathan won’t be pleased about this, but I’ll deal with the consequences.”

  19

  Hunted

  RYANA LEFT ASHER and Ninia arguing in the alleyway.

  They didn’t notice her go.

  Pushing past the company of guards who’d just trooped in off the street, Ryana clenched her jaw so hard that a sharp pain darted through her ears. Out in the wide thoroughfare, still thronged with revelers and fire displays as if nothing had happened, she turned right and marched toward the city gates.

  Reaching the gates, Ryana found them barred and a row of hard-faced soldiers blocking her path.

  “Let me pass,” she greeted them curtly.

  “No one out or in,” one of the soldiers replied. “King’s orders.”

  Ryana’s pulse accelerated, panic rising within her. This wouldn’t do. She had to get out of the city.

  Shoving down the urge to barge past the soldiers, Ryana raised her right hand, revealing the Star of Darkness on her palm. “His Highness has sent me out to hunt the Anthor prince.” she replied, her voice tightly controlled now. “Just in case he’s managed to get outside the city.”

  The guards exchanged dubious looks.

  “Every moment you waste counts.” Impatience boiled within Ryana now. She was close to gathering the Dark and blasting these men aside. “If Elias of Anthor is indeed beyond these walls, you’re making it harder for me to apprehend him.”

  The guard nearest met her eye, before his mouth thinned. “Open the gates.” His order rang out, and a moment later iron groaned as the bolts drew back.

  Favoring the guard with a brusque nod, Ryana stepped through the breach.

  The heavy iron gates boomed shut behind her.

  The fires atop the walls illuminated the world for a few yards, but dense shadows lay beyond the city’s edge. A half-moon bathed the land in a soft silver light, yet even so the darkness had a brooding, watchful edge to it.

  Shadow creatures no longer stalked the night, as they had a year earlier, but Ryana felt herself tense nonetheless. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, for it was her ally. Even so, she wasn’t used to venturing out blind like this, without even a torch to light her way.

  Ryana drew in a deep breath and gathered the Dark, grabbing at it rather than using her usual gentle summons. The shadows lunged toward her with a growl, boiling around her feet. She’d always cautioned Ninia against treating the Light or Dark so roughly. However, it was difficult when she was this angry.

  Fury writhed in her belly, longing for an outlet.

  Elias.

  I’ll get you … you bastard.

  Just the thought of the prince filled her with a killing rage that made it hard to breathe, hard to think. All his talk of peace when in reality he’d been biding his time to strike. Ninia could have been killed.

  She should have paid more attention. She should have never let down her guard.

  Breathe, she counselled herself. You can’t work in this state … focus.

  Around her the Dark gradually settled to an irate chatter. Some of it, she sent ahead. As her scouts, they would search the road and the surrounding hillside and warn her if they found Elias. The remainder of the Dark, Ryana pulled around her in a cloak.

  Its nearness steadied her. Heaving in another deep breath, she stepped out onto the road, traveling west.

  Ryana’s scouts didn’t come back for a while.

  The Royal City lay many furlongs behind her, and her feet where starting to ache, when they finally returned. To the east, the sky was starting to lighten. Dawn was approaching.

  Sensing the chatter of the approaching Dark, Ryana halted, tensing as it swirled around her, whispering to her.

  Moments later she allowed herself a tight smile.

  She’d done the right thing keeping to the road.

  It seemed that Elias had taken the same route, waiting till he was a decent distance from the capital before he struck out south.

  Ryana’s smile hardened. Of course, he’d be heading for the border.

  Whispering her thanks to the Dark, Ryana sent out fresh scouts in the direction those returning had indicated. She wanted to know exactly where Elias was. She didn’t want any surprises when she approached him.

  Stepping off the highway, Ryana lengthened her stride, her tired feet forgotten. Brow furrowed, she walked up the hill and into a dense pine thicket that covered a narrow valley between two mountains. It was the best route south. She wasn’t surprised Elias had taken it.

  She needed to move fast. The king’s men would soon dispatch a hunting party. She wanted to find Elias first.

  Elias knelt by the stream and splashed water over his face. It was ice-cold, splintering the fog of exhaustion that had settled over him. He’d been traveling all night, and now that a red dawn filtered through the trees, he wanted nothing more than to stretch out under one of the surrounding firs and sleep for a while.

  He couldn’t rest though. They would be hunting him now.

  He’d yet to hear dogs, but he knew they would have picked up his scent. He’d be lucky to make it to the border.

  Behind him, a twig snapped.

  Elias straightened up, his right hand drifting down to the blade in his boot. Unsheathing it, he rose to his feet and slowly turned.

  The stream ran through a mossy glade. Dark conifers rose around him in a wall, the air heavy with the scent of pine resin.

  Elias frowned as he swept his gaze around him. He sensed a presence, could feel someone’s gaze boring into him, but he couldn’t see them.

  Resheathing his knife, Elias cocked his head. “You can come out now, Ryana.”

  Silence filtered across the clearing. Elias made no attempt to fill it. Now that he knew who lurked in the shadows, he was in no rush to speak.

  Eventually, a tall figure stepped out into the clearing. Ryana stood before him, her cloak of shadows sloughing away.

  Their gazes met. “How did you know it was me?” she asked. Her voice was sharp, forced.

  Elias barely recognized the woman before him. Her face was pale and rigid; her skin was pulled tight across her high cheekbones. Those grey-blue eyes that could twinkle with mirth or darken with pleasure were like two chips of ice.

  “Only you could have found me so fast,” he replied. “I should have avoided the king’s men and their hounds for a while longer.”

  Her mouth twisted. “So you guessed?”

  Elias huffed a soft laugh. “Aye … you could say that.” He paused then, his gaze narrowing. “Did you speak to Ninia?”

  A deep groove formed between her eyebrows. “I did … but don’t think that changes anything. You owed her.” She took a slow step toward him then, her gaze burning. “You should have kept away from me.”

  Elias drew in a slow breath. “I probably should have,” he admitted. “Yet I couldn’t help myself.”

  “And I’m supposed to be flattered by that?”

  He held her gaze steadily. “It’s the truth.”

  Ryana’s expression grew darker still. Elias noted how the fingers of her right hand’s flexed. She was readying herself to attack.

  “All those days pretending you wanted peace.” Her voice turned into a snarl. “But it was one big lie.” She took another, aggressive step toward him. “A goshawk flew in from Veldoras yesterday.” Ryana paused, a muscle bunching in her jaw. “When I told you of Gael, you acted as if you didn’t know him. But in reality he’s your father’s right hand. He’s rallying the enchanters of Veldoras, readying them to fight alongside those of Mirrar Rock. Reoul doesn’t want peace. He’s planning to take on Rithmar using Stynix.”

  Elias tensed. In truth he hadn’t understood much of what Ryana had just said. Confused, he frowned, before deciding to address Ryana’s ex-lover first.

  “I told the truth about Gael,” he said after a long pause. “I’ve never met the man.”

  “Liar.”

  Elias shook his head. “I also know nothing about this coalition between Anthor and Thûn enchanters … and I’ve never heard of Styx.”

  “It’s called Stynix,” she spat at him. Ryana was glaring at him now, her self-control slowly slipping. “It was once used to enhance enchanters’ abilities, until they realized that it’s a poison. Apparently, Gael has discovered a way to neutralize its dangerous effects.” Her mouth twisted. “Your father didn’t trust your ability to finish Ninia off … the Stynix would ensure his enchanters can take her on if necessary.”

  “I knew nothing about any of this, Ryana,” Elias countered, alarm coiling in the pit of his belly. “You must take me at my word.”

  “Must I?” she spat. “Every word that comes out of your mouth is treacherous. You let us all believe there would be peace between our kingdoms. You even convinced me. But you’ll do anything to further the glory of Anthor … nothing and no one else matters. Valor, Honor, and Loyalty indeed.”

  Elias shook his head. Ryana’s fury was an impenetrable wall between them. “I make no apologies for who I am,” he replied, his voice clipped. His own temper was fraying now. “But I didn’t plan any of this. All the work I put into those peace negotiations was real. My father isn’t likely to be interested in any of it, but I’m tired of following his lead. I did it for myself, and I spoke to Nathan in good faith.” He heaved a deep breath. “And as for you … that wasn’t planned either. But I’ll not regret it.”

  In response, Ryana gathered the Dark in one swift movement and hurled it at him.

  Elias had no time to react, or to even try to defend himself. A moment later he found himself lying on his back in the stream, a coil of shadows wrapped around his throat.

  Reaching up, Elias tried to pry off the garrote—but it was like taking hold of quicksilver. He couldn’t get a grip on it. All the while it tightened, slowly crushing his windpipe.

  Ryana approached, stalking him. He’d never seen her this way. A huntress: fey, beautiful, and as wild as the shadows she wielded. She waded out into the stream and stood over him. “It’s time for you to meet the same end as your brother,” she snarled. “I can’t think of a more fitting death for either of you.”

  20

  And There Was You

  RYANA STARED DOWN at Elias and slowly drew the fingers of her right hand in toward her palm.

  The Dark obeyed her, tightening its grip on his throat.

  Elias’s lips parted. He was struggling for breath, grappling with the garrote. He was strong, but he couldn’t break it.

  And yet he didn’t beg to be released. Even on the edge of death the man was stubborn and proud. The Shadows take her, but she loved that about him. The realization made Ryana even angrier.

  “Killing me won’t change anything.” Elias’s voice was a rasp. “Alive … I’m more useful to you.”

  “And why is that?”

  The pressure on his throat increased, and Elias’s dark eyes widened, panic flickering in their depths. His face turned taut. “I can get you to Gael,” he managed. “Together we can stop Anthor from attacking Rithmar … I will … make my father see sense.”

  Those final words were be barely audible. Elias gave up speaking then. His body arched back, his legs kicking as he started to suffocate.

  An instant later Ryana released him.

  With a gasp he collapsed back into the stream. The clear water bubbled over smooth grey stones and eddied around him. Elias paid it no mind. He rolled over onto his side, choking, wheezing, and clutching his bruised throat.

  Ryana watched him.

  Her fingers itched to tighten once more, to have this arrogant, ruthless, and deceitful man at her mercy. But the red fury that had descended upon her as she’d stepped into the clearing started to ebb.

  She couldn’t kill him.

  Watching Elias struggle to recover his breath, she wondered if she’d come to regret her decision.

  Elias pushed himself up into a sitting position. He was soaking wet but didn’t appear to notice. His gaze fastened upon her, and she caught the baleful glint in his eyes. She’d have to be careful around him now.

  The mask had slipped. He’d likely want his revenge upon her.

  “So … you can get me to Gael?” she asked finally.

  Elias nodded.

  Ryana stared back at him. She tried not to think about his betrayal, his lies. It was too raw.

  Instead, she focused on Gael. Just the thought of the enchanter made her belly ache. Gael was like the Grey Ravage, a plague that you couldn’t rid yourself of—he kept turning up and poisoning everything he touched. After those knives Dain had sunk into him, the enchanter should have died that day in the cavern under the Shadefell Mountains. Yet somehow he’d lived. And not only that, his ambitions had merely shifted elsewhere. Now that releasing Valgarth was no longer possible, he’d appeared at Reoul’s side.

  It occurred to her then that this would be her only chance to stop the man.

  This wouldn’t be vengeance; it was unfinished business.

  “When did Gael ally himself with your father?”

  Elias swallowed, wincing as the act pained him. “I don’t know. I told you … I’ve never met him.” He paused here, before he rose unsteadily to his feet. “It’ll be recent … after my departure for Rithmar.”

  Ryana’s mouth thinned. She still didn’t believe him.

  Elias stepped out of the stream, his waterlogged boots squelching. Even bedraggled, he was distractingly attractive. His leather breeches and silk shirt clung to his muscular frame. However, Ryana was grateful for the stony expression on his face. It reminded her who this man really was.

  Silence fell in the clearing, broken only by the whisper of the breeze through the pines and the chatter of the stream.

  Hurt rose then, crushing her chest and making it difficult to breathe—but Ryana shoved it aside. She would lick her wounds later, when she was far from this man.

  Ryana’s brow furrowed as she considered the way forward.

  She could try taking Elias back to The Royal City and handing him over to Nathan.

  The thought appealed.

  But it wouldn’t get her to Gael.

  “Gael has no allegiance to anyone but himself,” she said finally. “He’ll use your father to his own ends. He must be stopped.”

  Elias gave a brusque nod. On one thing they agreed. “So come with me to Veldoras,” he replied, his voice still hoarse. “I’ll speak to my father and try to persuade him to avoid conflict with Rithmar. In the meantime, you track Gael down and kill him.”

  Ryana’s anger surged once more. Elias was trying to take control of the situation, but she wouldn’t let him. “I don’t need you for that.” The fingers of her right hand flexed, and the shadows under the nearby pines whispered back. “Maybe I should just finish what I started … here and now.”

  Elias withdrew the slender blade from the back of his boot once more, his big body coiling. He wouldn’t let her catch him off guard again. “You won’t get into Veldoras without me,” he pointed out. “My father will have the city locked down.”

  Ryana scowled. She could always cloak herself in shadow and try to sneak in, but it would certainly be easier to travel south with his help. “So your father will listen to you?” she asked finally.

  “I’m likely the only person who could convince him,” he replied.

  She moved back from him, glancing up at where the sun now peeked over the tree tops. “We’d better get moving then. We’ve a long journey before us.”

  She glanced back at Elias to see him watching her, his gaze wary. “So you’ll travel to Veldoras with me?”

  “Aye.”

  “And what of Nathan’s men? They’ll hunt us down before we reach the border.”

  Ryana cast him a humorless smile, letting the mask settle firmly in place. “Not if they don’t pick up our scents … I had my shadows erase any sign of our trail so I could finish you before anyone arrived.”

  Elias glanced up at the hard blue sky, squinting into the glare.

  It felt like the hottest day of the summer so far. The sun was almost as searing as it could be in Anthor. The heat had dried his wet clothes, although now they had itched and chafed his skin. It was late afternoon, and the heat had reached its peak. Sweat slid down his back and turned his silk shirt into a second skin once more.

  He led the way down yet another forested vale. The highlands were vast. They still had another day of them, before the land would open out. Ryana followed around half a dozen yards behind Elias, silent and surly.

  Apart from a few terse exchanges when they’d rested briefly at noon, they hadn’t spoken since leaving the clearing. Elias didn’t mind that—he wasn’t uncomfortable with silence. However, his temper had slowly been simmering all day.

  Ryana had tried to kill him.

  When she’d first attacked him, he hadn’t been overly concerned. He’d thought she’d just been letting off steam. But when that garrote of shadows had tightened around his throat, he’d realized she was serious.

  Elias clenched his hands by his sides, remembering the incident.

  The mad bitch had nearly gone through with it. That was the closest he’d ever come to dying. Even when Darg had tortured him inside the Dim Hold months earlier, it hadn’t been this close. He itched to take out some form of retribution upon her. He would have if it had been anyone else.

  But underneath Elias’s outrage lay a deep disappointment—in himself, and in her. The woman he had enjoyed flirting with, the woman he’d bedded, had disappeared.

 

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