Page 74 of Fractured
I’d left without strangling Lyall and his soldiers that morning. The dogs and horses had been the first ones towake upafter mefrom whatever Nilah’s magic had done. I’d taken two horses to carry Hessa, Merenith and Ergen—the only people who were still alive.
I’d taken them away, hidden us in another cave, this one on the ground and dangerously close to the water, but I’d had no otherchoice.
The mermaids had only watched. Whether it was because they could sense my magic—I wasn’t sure. I didn’t really know how much of it outsiders could feel because I hadn’t had it my entire life to understand the effect it would have on the people around me, but I took it.
Hessa and the others had woken up a while later, and Lyall and his soldiers hadn’t followed. I knew because I was there, hiding in the trees, watching and waiting—just in case someone had somehow hidden Nilah while I was out. Just in case.
She wasn’t there.
The soldiers and Lyall had been completely disoriented, and they’d searched the mountain and the forest three times before they went back toward the Seelie Court. Nilah was most definitely not with them.
I’d started my search in the Mercove, which was only reasonable, but she wasn’t there, either. I crossed into Mysthaven next, and I searched every inch of its forests and its houses and its towns. Sorcerer magic was powerful and could be used to shield and hide things and beings perfectly, and that’s why I’d had to stop every few feet and expand my senses, focus on them, to make sure that I wasn’t being fooled by magic. That’s why it had taken me almost three days to get through this fucking place.
I stopped again, closer to the edge of town. Light flickered inside windows now that the sky had turned completely dark. Hunger made my limbs a bit weak, but I didn’t mind. I hadn’t eaten since I came into Mysthaven, but I still had energy to travel all across the realm. I would not stop until I found her.
Eyes on the back of my head, but I didn’t turn. Instead, I closed mine and focused on my senses, on the magic that Ifelt spreading all around me like a large wave,searchingfor the energy that was uniquely hers.
It wasn’t there, not within half a mile radius.
But somebody else was.
My eyes opened again, but this time I didn’t urge the horse to move forward right away. I turned around, looked at my surroundings, at the sorcerers who moved away from their windows or the streets, pretending they hadn’t been looking right at me. Even the animals they had here, caged or free, didn’t make a single sound as I scanned the area.
He wasn’t in plain sight, Lyall, but he was there. He’d found me, and he was in this very town with me. I knew his energy just like I knew Nilah’s, and he was most definitely somewhere behind me.
A bitter smile stretched my lips. I pushed my heel against the horse’s side and continued forward.
Before her energy changed,Ifelther, could almost see where she was with perfect accuracy. I could send my magic to search for her and it would always find her—but maybe that’s just because I knew where she was? Just like the little bird I made for her had found her in the palace’s jail cell—but I’d known she was in the palace.
Now I had no clue. Whether it was because of whatever the werewolf scratch had done to her or only because I didn’t have the slightest idea where she could be, I didn’t feel her anywhere. Like she suddenly stopped existing—which was where the rage came from ultimately.
And then there was Lyall.
I was certain that he didn’t have Nilah, as I’d seen himwalk away defeated with my own eyes from the top of a tree, but now he was here. He’d followed me to Mysthaven, which didn’t surprise me. I hadn’t tried to hide a single time, and it would have been easy for him to pinpoint my location.
But the fact that he’d followed mepersonallywas what made me hesitate. The fact that he hadn’t sent soldiers or a messenger made me curious.
Which was why I had stopped a few feet into the woods at the edge of town, the same woods that bordered with Blackwater. The horse was tied to a branch a few feet away and I was leaning against the tree with my arms crossed, my eyes back between the buildings through which I’d come minutes ago.
He wasn’t trying to hide, Lyall. I didn’t think he was.
And when he finally appeared there on his horse, I knew that he knew I’d be waiting for him right here.
His deep red cloak looked black in the dark. The hood hid half his face, though I didn’t think he’d wanted to hide his identity from passersby. He was no longer faking his death, after all. News had spread. By now the entire realm would have heard about him.
He didn’t have guards with him from what I could see and feel, not close. He was all alone, and he jumped off his horse just at the edge of the buildings. With the reins in hand, he pushed down his hood as if he thought I might not know it was him, and he made his way toward the woods slowly.
Summer fae couldn’t really see in the dark, and I expected a few fae lights to come out of his hand the moment he stepped onto the forest floor. They were small, barely let out light, but his magic would be able to feel where I was standing, and his step didn’t falter.
I kept control of myself, my body relaxed, muscles loose, magic at the ready. It had shaped itself like an arrow ready to launch at him at any given second—but first, I had to know why he’d bothered to follow me all this way.
“Hello, friend.”
His voice irritated me, which hadn’t happened before. He took his time tying the reins of his horse to a branch near mine, and then stepped forward with his chest out, his hair combed back, his eyes glowing golden just like always.
The sight of him irritated me, too.
“You’re nobody’s friend, Lyall.” I pushed myself off the tree and stepped forward—I wasn’t afraid of him. Not only had Inever beenafraid of him, even when I knew his magic was superior to mine, but now I knew that I could kill him with ease if it came to it. The feeling in my gut that insisted I protect him at all cost be damned—I would watch the light fading from his eyes not only because of my magic, but because of my pain as well. He’d tried to kill me when he threw me in the Hollow with a giant, and I could forgive that.
