Page 112 of The Chaosweaver's Daughter
Worry flickered in his housekeeper’s eyes. “Go, find her.”
He nodded before racing up to Nes’s room.
“Where’s the fire?” Hevva called as he hurried past her on the stairs. She joked at first, until she saw the fear in his features.
“Can’t find Nes,” he panted, throwing open the door to her room and racing inside.
“What?” She followed him.
“I didn’t even tell her I loved her!” he shouted as he rifled through her closet.
“You proposed without telling her you love her?! Youknow—”
“Not the fucking time,” he growled, emerging with a dress, one she’d worn but not yet washed.
“Did she leave? You shouldn’t chase her if she left willingly, Kas.”
He’d never wanted to shake his sister so badly. “She did not go willingly. I know it. Someone smoothed the glade, it’s too clean. This is the worst possible scenario, Hev. It’s happening.”
Hevva shook her head, forever the calm queen. “Don’t jump to conclusions, brother. We’ve heard nothing from the guards. No one’s sounded the alarm. Kas...”
“I’m sounding the alarm,” he snapped, recognizing her tonal shift for what it was: pity. WhatifNes had left of her own volition? What if she’d felt so uncomfortable after the proposal and Ataht’s injury that she fled? It didn’t feel right. “Did you do it?”
“Make Nesrina leave? Gods, no!”
“No. Did you clean the clearing after Ataht got hurt?”
Hevva shook her head. “I haven’t been out there, Kas. I’ve been with my son.”
“I think someone took her. I’m almost positive. Something’s wrong.”
“Trust your gut. I’ll speak with the staff and see if anyone saw anything suspicious.”
“The only way is an earthshaper. They could have tunneled in. Who’s strong enough for that?”
“Kas, stop thinking. I’ll handle it. Go! Go find her!”
His sister’s words refueled the fire under his arse. He darted from the room and raced to the stables.
There, Kas opened his mouth to shout for someone to saddle his horse, but the thoroughbred was already waiting. He’d have to thank Thera later, if he remembered. Before mounting, he whistled for his hounds. All threecame running. Kas had them scent her dress, and they set off into the night.
Fate, it appeared, was on his side in some small capacity, as the dogs had no trouble finding her trail. At the northern border of his estate, they barked frantically. Kas dismounted and tethered his horse to a low branch before following their yelps. An iron-rich tang assaulted his nostrils. He would have gagged were it not for the primal sense of panic that overpowered every sense, urging him forward.
Dark boots protruded from beneath a scraggly bush.A man, not Nes.Relief flooded him, followed by a barrage of guilt. A person lay dead on his property, someone Kas had a duty to protect, just as the soldier had taken an oath—had given his life—in the name of protecting them.Lellin growled softly as she nudged an eerily still military-issue boot.
Kas crouched beside his aging hound and grasped the dead man’s ankles. After freeing the body, he studied his face. It wasn’t one of the Stormhill guards, but he recognized the soldier. Aran, or Aram, or something. The young guard had traveled north with Hevva. Blood soaked his tunic, a wound gaped open at his neck, raw and red, but no longer bleeding. The soldier had cuts on his palms, but he hadn’t even drawn his blade. It was like he’d been stabbed mid-conversation, likely by someone he trusted.
Lord Kahoth stood and paced back toward his horse as indecision warred within him. He could have the hounds re-scent Nesrina’s dress and carry on, or he could return to Stormhill and raise the alarm regarding the soldier’s death.
Hevva will handle the guards.
It was true, Stormhill was more than safe in his sister’s hands. Kas urged Lellin to return home and tell Hevva what they’d found in the woods. He didn’t expect the dog to speak or anything, but he sent her with a scrap of the soldier’s bloodied tunic, so she might return to the scene with human reinforcements.
After Lellin departed, Kas had Vites and Enoth sniff Nesrina’s dress again. And they were off. They ran north toward the Dhegurs for hours until they hit a stream. There, the trail went cold. He roared into the darkness. It was late, nearly midnight, and a thick cloud cover had rolledin, so he made the gut-wrenching decision to camp for the night.
Kasroseatfirstlight. Using tracking skills un-honed since his military days, he tried to locate her trail, but failed. The dogs, however, were able to find her scent again, and they continued on. For hours he moved through the untouched wilderness, hoping they were on the right trail. For the life of him, he couldn’t find any signs Nes had gone that way. He wasn’t on any sort of path, nor did he know which quadrant of his holdings he was in.
Only an earthshaper could cover their tracks like this.
