Page 75 of A Song of Air
Weylyn stepped forward, his overwhelming scent crowding Bryson, though she didn’t flinch away.
“This world is no place for the likes of you,” Weylyn whispered, low and deadly. “Shall I eliminate you?” He started forward, his hand darting out—
Bryson grabbed it, and the touch of his skin against hers burned.
“You aren’t killing anybody,” Bryson hissed.
Weylyn’s eyes flicked over her, the golden depths flaring alongside his nostrils. “Are you going to stop me?”
“If I must.”
They stared at each other.
Up close, he appeared even more formidable than in the visions he liked to send out. It wasn’t so much his stature, though he was rather tall. It was in the expression. The way she could tell there was something lurking beneath his eyes. Like a beast hidden within darker depths of waters, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
“Fine.” Weylyn pulled his arm gently away from Bryson’s touch and he looked up at Otis. “Only because she asked so nicely. Otherwise you’d be dead.”
“You owe the child an apology,” Bryson told Otis. “Your actions were uncalled for.”
Otis scoffed in disbelief. He glared at the Resistance, the same way Arlo did.
Arlo’s reach touched more than half of the entire camp. It wasn’t surprising. There was something very convincing about him, and he locked everyone else within the perimeters of his own views. Nobody thought fondly of the Resistance, and she doubted he’d apologize at all.
“Otis,” she snapped, wind stirring at his feet.
Otis huffed a breath. “Fine.”
Bryson stepped aside to allow him his chance to apologize.
“Basil?”
Bryson jerked her attention back to Corvina’s distressed cry. Her head was flailing wildly from side to side, almost as if she were looking for someone.
“Basil?! Where is he? He was right here and now he’s gone!” Corvina picked up the ends of her skirts, jerking her gaze around.
As if Basil would appear out of thin air.
Bryson gave a slow turn, squinting her eyes, wondering if she’d see the blurry sight of a small body.
“Basil!”
“Where is he?” Had he moved and they hadn’t noticed?
“Children don’t just disappear out of thin air!”
“We have to find him!”
“Basil!”
“No, Mana, please, no!”
So many voices rose at once, the panic evident in every single person. But Bryson didn’t feel it. She felt a strange sort of calm wash over her. She raised her face to the air and pushed her magic out, letting swirls of wind waft all around her and fill every sense.
She caught the faint whiff of Basil’s scent. Something similar to oranges. Her brows furrowed in confusion. His scent should have been much closer, unless he’d torn away in silence without anyone else realizing it. Her face slowly turned in the direction of the forest.
His scent was strong in that direction, though she wondered why nobody else had sensed it yet.
Steady, she walked over to a panicked Corvina and took the water Elemental’s hands in her own. She gave them a strong squeeze.
