Page 104 of The Bound Mage
Araya flinched as Jaxon reached for her, bracing for a killing blow—but instead, his hand closed around her uninjured arm, hauling her upright.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Starling.” He laughed, smearing his thumb through the blood that coated her face. “Do you really think I’d kill you after everything I’ve done to keep you? Now—go stand over there with Kai.”
He gave her a little shove, sending her stumbling across the blood-slick floor toward Kai. The other mage just gaped at her, clutching Eilwen’s son tight to his chest as if he could shield him from the violence.
“Jaxon—” Kai said, his voice strangled. “What are you doing?”
“I’m taking vengeance for our High Inquisitor, of course.” Jaxon turned, his sword still dripping blood. “After our double agent brutally betrayed us all and tried to rescue his queen.”
Eryn’s eyes widened, his hands coming up. “Wait—” he said as Jaxon started toward him. “You don’t have to?—”
Jaxon’s sword punched through his chest.
Eryn’s eyes went wide, his words dying in a wet wheeze. Jaxon yanked the blade free, his face impassive as Eloria’s spymaster collapsed at his feet, falling face-first into a spreading pool of his own blood.
“He forced my hand,” Jaxon said. He lifted his dripping sword, pointing at each of them in turn. “You saw all saw it, didn’t you?”
No one answered. Even Eilwen had stopped crying, her violet eyes fixed on Jaxon like he was her worst nightmare come to life.
“Get them ready to go.” Jaxon leaned down, wiping his sword on Eryn’s shirt. “And find Caylin. We’re leaving without the children.”
His gaze settled on Araya, hot and possessive.
“I have everything I came for.”
Araya slumpedagainst the cart wall, the rough wood biting into her back with every bump. Her limbs hung useless, each shallow breath scraping her throat like broken glass. The dull throb behind her eyes had sharpened into something meaner, until it felt like her skull would split open.
“Are you alright?” Kai asked.
Araya almost laughed. She’d nearly died the last time she’d been drained like this. At least she’d been unconscious for most of that.
“Of course I’m not alright,” she snapped, hissing as the cart bounced over another root, jostling her shoulder.
Kai shifted beside her, still holding Selan in his arms. “I didn’t—” He broke off, swallowing hard. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” Araya forced her eyes open, ignoring the way her vision swam. “Why are you even here, Kai?”
“Jaxon asked me to come.”
“And why do you think he did that?” Araya laughed despite the pain, bile burning the back of her throat. “You’re not a soldier, or an inquisitor. You’re the one who always looks the other way for him. It’s easier that way, isn’t it?”
Kai looked away.
Araya shook her head, her gaze falling on the baby still cradled in his arms. Selan’s chest rose and fell in steady breaths, his small hands curled into fists by his mouth as he slept.
“Are you really going to do it?” she asked. “Are you really going to put aly’ithrarune on a baby?”
Across the cart, Eilwen made a soft, choked sound, burying her face in her knees to muffle her sobs.
Kai stiffened. “It wouldn’t be me?—”
“Standing by is just as bad.” Araya closed her eyes, dropping her head back to the rough wood behind her. “I’d know. Wouldn’t I?”
“What exactly do you expect me to do here, Araya?” Kai demanded, his voice low. “He’ll never let you go.”
Araya cracked her eyes open, turning her head just enough to meet Kai’s anguished stare.
“Not me,” she said, flicking her eyes to Eilwen “Just give her back her son when we reach the tree line.”
