Page 9 of Stone Sentinels

“If that’s true, that means they’ve found a way to syphon magic,” Dragan says.

I nod. “I think that’s what they’re doing with the fae they capture.”

***

CAMBION

I feel her moving through the fog. She’s like the wind itself, soundless and unpredictable. Aima is hunting me. My jaw clenches as I pace, trying to track her movements as she observes mine from wherever she hides. She’s much better than she used to be.

“What are you after, Aima? You only do this when you’re angry with me.”

“Don’t pretend like you know me anymore, Cambion.”

“So, it’sCambionnow, is it?” I snicker. “Back at Raflamir’s home, you were still calling me by my title. Has something changed your mind?” She strikes then, slashing her sword toward my neck, but I outmaneuver her and block her blow with my sword. She glares at me beneath the fringe of her bangs. She’s still beautiful.

“You have to tell Eilish.” Aima bashes the hilt of her blade into my ribcage and rolls into a fighting stance. “If you don’t, Theren will—or she’ll remember soon enough. And she’ll never forgive you for taking her memories.”

“I didn’t mean to takeallof them.” I lean out of the way of her next attack and kick her instep, causing her to fall off balance. She recovers quickly.

“So tell her that.”

I laugh without humor. “You think it will be so easy?” I pause for a moment or so. “I’m the reason her family is dead. She made a deal with a king she thought she could trust, not the man hiding behind the crown, and she paid the ultimate price.”

“Who was after them?”

“I never found out, but I’ve heard whispers that it was her father.”

“Her father?” Aima knocks the sword out of my hand and hisses in my face like a feral lioness. “Why do I get the feeling you’re offering information only when it suits you? These people are risking their lives for you, Cambion. You owe them the truth.”

“Haven’t I paid enough?” I ask as I drop to the ground and roll, grabbing my sword in the process. I’m back on my feet in a split second and I attack with a blind fury, moving my blade through the air so quickly that Aima struggles to defend herself. “I’ve paid in blood. I’ve lived a miserable existence filled with guilt and anguish. I losteverything,and they walk around here like the future is already set in stone.”

Aima drops to the ground and kicks my feet out from under me. “You know Morrigan’s fucking with your heads! She was your mentor and she watched your people fall to Variant and your brother. Don’t tell me you trustherover them.”

“I only trust myself.”

“Good luck with that when Variant’s army is knocking on your front door.”

With a flourish, Aima flips her sword and jumps out of my reach. I advance. “I need to talk to Theren. I need to know what my brother is thinking.”

“Heisn’tthinking. He’s being controlled by someone who’s doing the thinking for him. Same thing with Variant,” Aima demands.

“You sound as though you have this whole thing figured out.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t, but I’ve figured out that much.

“Thenwhois controlling Theren?”

“I don’t know.” She takes a deep breath. “I want to see Theren as much as you do, but I was just in Oronrel and he wasn’t there.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I love him and I would sense him the moment I stepped inside the palace!” She knocks my blade to the ground again and drops her sword, as well. Then she shoves my chest with unexpected strength, causing me to fall before she climbs on top of me and uses her weight to pin me down.

“I know it hurts to hear me say that, but I do. I love him,” she says.

“It doesn’t hurt me to hear you say that.”

“Once upon a time it did.”

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