Page 113 of The Chaosweaver's Daughter
The day bore on, and a steady rhythm of anxiety beat alongside his heart, rendering food an afterthought as he searched for Nesrina. Still, he forced himself to chew on dried meat someone had stashed in his saddle bag. He had to keep his energy up and be prepared to face her abductor. He hoped it was only one person. Even up to four shouldn’t be a problem. But what if there were more? He should have brought backup.
The dogs, who’d bounded ahead in pursuit of Nesrina’s scent, sounded somewhere in the distance, their barks alerting him of their location. Kas turned his horse their way and carried on.
Sniffing the air, he peered through the trees.Smoke.It wasn’t long before a dark shape emerged at the edge of the tree line a few hundred yards away.A cottage.Ramshackle and clearly disused aside from the small wisp of gray escaping the chimney. His hounds bounded back to him, yapping. He signaled for them to stay and await his return, confident they would obey his command.
Gods, please let this be a kidnapping.While the thought was astoundingly morose, he had his reasons for it. If she’d run off with an earthshaper by choice and he was about to waltz in on a romantic rendezvous... he’d rather tear out his own heart. Worse yet would be a murd— Kas smashed that concept down before he’d even finished thinking the m-word.
Approaching cautiously, he took a wide arcing path toward the small building, sticking to the shadows of the tree line. He kept his horse at a walk until the moment a cloaked figure raced away on a mount of their own. Bent low to avoid being hit by branches, Kas took off in hot pursuit. The trees seemed to part for the mysterious rider, and it wasn’t long before an insurmountable distance grew between them.Fucking earthshaper.He’d been right.
She’s not with them.
Panic for Nesrina’s life sizzled, leaking into his blood.Nes.He turned his horse back in the direction of the cottage and made haste.
A curl of smoke still rose from the hut’s tilting chimney.Please let her be all right. Please let her be all right.He swung down from his thoroughbred and tied the beast to a tree before drawing his dagger and calling up a swirl of air.
Head dipped low and a primal growl rumbling from deep in his chest, Kas rushed the cottage like some sort of escaped bull. He roared smashing through the small door with a blast of magic.
Tramping into the dilapidated building, Kas stepped over bits of broken door, his knife at the ready as he gave his eyes time to adjust to the dark, bleak space.
She lay upon a blood-soaked bed.
Anguish tore through him, and he rushed to her, knees cracking against the floor when he dropped beside the shoddy cot. There was blood everywhere. Oh, gods.Nes was preternaturally still. His absolute worst nightmare was coming true. Afraid to touch her, not sure where she was injured, he patted her face with little bursts of wind, willing her to stir.
She did not move.
Kas bellowed, so loud that the shack’s single window rattled. Unable to hold back, he lay his hands on her face. She was cold, so cold.
“Who did this?!” he shouted, leaning over his beautiful, ephemeral love. Tears dripped down his cheeks as he bent to kiss her forehead with his hounds barking somewhere in the distance.
His lips pressed against her cool, waxy skin, and she vanished. She simply... winked away. If there was apop, Kas’s heart was racing too loudlyto hear it. A restorative sort of heat took up residence in his chest, chasing away the acrid blob of torment that had been eating away at him from the inside out.
Facing the fireplace with its fading flame, he noticed something on the floor: Shattered chunks of opalescent black stone littered the planks near the fire. The largest intact piece was in the shape of a semicircle.A shackle. Heartstone.
She got away. She escaped.A crazed laugh bubbled up in his throat. His brilliant and brave Nesrina had escaped.
The barking of Kas’s hounds drew his attention outside.Her scent.His bloody dogs hadn’t heeded his command to stay, but Kas didn’t mind at all. He loved them all the more for it.
thirty-nine
Nesrina fears she is dead.
Nesawokeinadark tomb. Her head pounded and she breathed in the repulsive smell of rotting flesh.
Oh my gods, I’m dead.
She flailed, half out of panic and half to see if she could. It worked, and she ended up falling off her cot, onto the floor.
A low, rumbling growl rent the air.
Shit, shit.Nesrina stayed on the ground, hoping to the gods that her captor would go away. Another rumble. A snore. She sighed into her arm before breathing in again.Oh, ew, comfrey.
It hadn’t been rotting flesh she’d smelled, but a healing poultice bandaged to her forearms. The room was dark, and she couldn’t see much of anything, but if she was right, the cold hearth was ahead, and the door was to her right. Shewouldescape. She had to. Kas Kahoth, connoisseur of fine facts, definitely needed to know about her recent breakthrough on the subject of love. He deserved the knowledge.
Nesrina’s attacker snored loudly. He sat in a chair facing her cot. She could make out the darker form of his silhouette in the black room. He had a horse outside, somewhere. She’d need it to get away. With a quiet but necessary round of calming breaths, she steeled herself for what had to be done.
Drawing on her chaos, Nes wove a large dagger, closer to a short-swordthan a pocketknife. Carefully, on bare feet, she crept around behind the sleeping figure.Where are mylenedshoes?She’d had them on earlier.
Her kidnapper shifted, and a surge of energy jolted her into action. Deftly, she yanked his head back and placed the sharp edge of her blade against his skin. The man’s eyes snapped open, their whites barely visible in the gloom. A burst of wind propelled Nes back, but she clung to her captor for dear life. While its intention failed, the bluster had the secondary effect of clearing away the smell of her poultice. Nes inhaled as she prepared to slide the blade against her attacker’s throat. His scent overwhelmed her, a heady blend, familiar and cozy.
