Page 58 of Sun Elves of Ardani

“And then she tried to kill me,” Caradoc went on, furious.

“It’s under control,” Rhian said, her tone clearly indicating she was dismissing him. Neiryn had not been with her during her meetings with Caradoc since they’d arrived, but he was getting the feeling that they hadn’t been going well. He hadn’t realized how much she seemed to dislike the man until now. “We’ll talk again soon, Caradoc. Excuse me.” She turned her back to him to speak to Tanwyn.

Caradoc turned to Neiryn, red-faced. “Keep your woman restrained,” he said, then turned on his heel. His soldiers followed him.

Once he’d left, Rhian glanced over at Neiryn, giving him another disapproving look. He knew she was watching the careful way he was holding her. “Give her to Felmai. She can deal with her.”

“No,” Neiryn said shortly, and Rhian’s face hardened. “I’ll take her.” He could see her suppressing anger, but she didn’t argue, because she didn’t want it to seem as if he was arguing with her over something important.The image of order and control.Occasionally, it worked to his advantage.

He couldn’t tell if Kadaki needed medical attention. The person he would have normally looked to for an answer was Kadaki herself. He looked around until he found Eliyr, who was watching the scene from a careful distance away. Neiryn was glad to see how uneasy he looked. At leastoneof his people had some respect for Kadaki. “Eliyr. Come see to her.”

He came forward and held a hand over her, a spell flashing in his palm. “The collar weakened her, but she’s not injured. I think she’ll wake soon.”

“Fine. I’ll take her back to the house.”

The townspeople had inched closer, craning necks to see. There were growing whispers of discontent from the crowd.

“They’ve killed her,”someone murmured.

Neiryn’s head jerked up in alarm. The statement was strangely unnerving. “She’s fine. She’s unharmed.”

“Where are you taking her?” said one of the Ardanians. Neiryn recognized him as the nervous young man who had come to the house for help—though he looked more angry than nervous now.

“She’s being taken into our custody,” Rhian said. “We are taking her back home to her husband.”

“You can’t do that,” the young man said. “Your man was out of line. He attacked an innocent woman. The mage was right to stop him.” A number of voices rang out in agreement. The crowd was growing angrier by the moment.

Angry at the elves. Angry at him. And they were right to be angry. He was one of the villains, after all.

He clutched Kadaki’s limp body a little tighter. For once, he wished her husband was there. The people in town respected him. He would have been able to calm them. And as much as Neiryn didn’t want to let go of Kadaki, it would have been for the best if Roshan were here to take her. He didn’t know what to say to convince them that he was protecting her, and he knew that she would be furious with him if he let violence break out because of this.

The Ardanians’ voices grew into shouts. Then one of them actually put their hands on Rhian. They could not have chosen a worse person to test. She shoved the Ardanians away from her and conjured a flame. She moved her hand in an arc around her, and fire burned a blackened line on the ground. The humans quickly backed away from the flames.

Rhian lowered her fist to her side. It was still flaming. “The next person to cross that line will taste Aevyr’s fire,” she said, loud but calm. Controlled. “That is your first warning. There will not be a second.”

The crowd had gone silent. No one moved.

Rhian turned to Neiryn. “Take her back to the house. Make sure she doesn’t try to leave. The rest of us will meet up with you later.”

“Yes, Commander.”

The crowd parted for him as he turned to leave. He shot them warning looks as he passed, in case any of them were thinking of challenging him.

What hope did any of them have of winning a fight against a sun elf? What kind of fool tried to attack someone so much stronger than themselves?

The desperate kind,he thought, glancing down at Kadaki.

He was halfway through the town, far from the crowd, when he heard quick steps behind him. It was the same young man who’d spoken up earlier—the one who’d come to warn them at the house.

Neiryn prepared to shift Kadaki to one arm so he could summon a flame with the other, but the man stopped a good distance away. Neiryn scanned him for weapons. Ardanians were not allowed to carry them within the town, but plenty of things could make good improvised weapons.

Neiryn was running low on patience, so he didn’t sugarcoat things. “I suggest you don’t start something you can’t finish. Burn wounds are awful to heal and leave hideous scars, and the only healer in town is currently unavailable.”

“She lifted the curse,” the man said. “I saw it. You were there with her.”

“And?”

The man hesitated. “She doesn’t deserve whatever it is you’re doing with her.”

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