Page 92 of Truth's Blade

She tilted her head back, about to say something rude, when the wooden floorboards began to vibrate beneath her boots.

She looked down. “What?—?”

Theo lifted his head sharply, then set her away from him and ran out the study.

Her gaze caught sight of the tiny box, and she suddenly understood.

Someone had triggered the web across the track.

Stupid. Stupid.

She raced after Theo, saw he’d gone straight out of the open front door, and leapt off the porch, heading straight for the forest.

“Stop!”

He turned, running backward as he faced her. “It has to be the Commander.”

“The trap!”

Her words finally sunk in, and he stopped a few steps from the spell on the path that shone weakly in the morning light.

He look at the path, then turned back to her. Shook his head. “I forgot.”

As he said it, a wall of riders emerged from the trees, and he spun to face them, hand out.

Gallain rode in the front line, as well as Jacinta, and Melodie saw a grim-faced man in his early forties in the center of the group.

They pulled up at the sight of Theo.

“There’s a magical trap here. You need to go around.” Theo pointed and the riders streamed forward, curving around the spot, and came to a stop in front of the house.

Melodie wondered who had tripped the web across the road. Gallain and the others knew about it. “If we hadn’t already dealt with Marchant, he’d have been warned you were coming,” she said.

Gallain shook his head. “One of the younger soldiers in the group apparently wasn’t paying attention when that fact was relayed.” He glanced back at someone, who squirmed in their saddle. “Why do you think we came in so fast? It was to give Marchant as little time as possible to react, if he was still around.”

Theo jogged back, his whole demeanor relaxed as he called and joked with the mounted soldiers, until he reached the porch steps again.

“Commander.” He put his fist over his heart as the grim-faced man slid from his horse.

Another, older soldier had dismounted as well, and he pulled Theo into a fierce hug. “Where’s the bastard?” he asked.

“Dead.” Theo pointed to the prison.

“And this is Melodie.” The Commander was watching her, and he seemed less grim now. Perhaps because he knew Marchant was dead.

She gave a nervous nod.

“You gave yourself in exchange for my daughter,” he said.

“For everyone,” she corrected, and he gave a nod of acknowledgement.

As they spoke, most of the soldiers dismounted, and a slim woman moved to stand at the Commander’s side.

It was a face she knew. A face she had never forgotten.

Melodie blinked. “Sue?”

“Avasu,” the woman said. Then she climbed the steps and put her hands on Melodie’s shoulders. “That’s what my friends who are Venyatux call me.”

---