Page 49 of Mother of Death and Dawn

CHAPTERFOURTEEN

TISAANAH

The village was already burning.

My tent was on the far north side of our encampment, slightly offset from the rest. By the time Ishqa and I crested the hill, the night sky was lit up with the bloody glow of flames. How did this happen so fast?

Ishqa’s stride didn’t even slow as he drew his sword. I did the same, with considerably less grace.

Serel. Sammerin. I needed to find them.

“How?” I choked out. “How did they find us?”

Ishqa gave a pointed look to my hand. That alone was enough to make the pit in my stomach drop further. “They cantrackthis?”

“I do not know. Maybe. If—”

Ishqa stopped short. I had to stop myself from stumbling into him. When I lifted my gaze to follow his, I felt sick. The soldiers were on horseback, silhouetted into four legged beasts through the thick black smoke and red glow of the flames. Human? Fey? I couldn’t tell from this distance. Leading them down the main stretch of the encampment was the dark-haired Fey from earlier that day.

They were going through each tent methodically, ripping people from each before setting them aflame. In the distance, I heard my name on the lips of shouted orders.

“They’re looking for—”

“You,” Ishqa finished. “Forthat.”

I grabbed his arm, wrenched him towards me. It must have looked comical—he was so much larger than me that it was like trying to drag a stone statue. “You need to tell me what this is.”

“That is… a complicated question that I do not have time to answer. But we absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, allow them to take it. You need to leave here. Right now. We can be miles away by the time they realize you are gone.”

He put out his hand for me, clearly intending to fly us both away, but I shook my head.

“Leave and let them burn this place to the ground? I won’t do that.”

“This is important, Tisaanah—”

Important, he says, as if my people were not.

Down the hill, I heard more shouts. Through the smoke I could make out a familiar tall, lanky form standing down the Fey, sword drawn. Filias, looking as if he was ready to take down the army himself.

He didn’t even especially like me, but he was prepared to die for me.

No. No, leaving now was out of the question. If I was going to leave, I was going to make sure the Fey saw me do it—I was going to give them something to chase and give my friends time to escape.

I was out in the street, in full view of the attackers, by the time Ishqa even saw me moving. I heard him call my name, horrified, and ignored it.

The Fey woman smiled.

“How lovely to see you again so soon.”

I stopped several paces short of her. The smoke was so thick it burned my eyes, the sky now red, the air dense. I could see little but the fire and the silhouettes moving within it. Sammerin knelt next to an injured woman, his head turning to look at me.

Don’t move, Sammerin. Not yet.

“Call off your men,” I said.

“The Threllians are my allies, not my subordinates,” the Fey woman said. “And they have been looking for your friends for a very long time. I cannot guarantee they will listen.”

I tracked movement out of the corners of my vision. Soldiers, approaching me through the smoke. I nearly flinched as one of them lurched for me, only for them to stop short, neck snapping at an unnatural angle.

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