Page 105 of The Bound Mage
Kai’s eyes widened as Eilwen’s sobs abruptly choked off, her bright violet gaze whipping between them. “You’re asking me to?—”
Araya cut him off. “You knowexactlywhat they’ll do to him in those camps, Kai. Give him back to his mother. Let her run—you don’t have to do anything else. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“And how are you going to do that?” Kai hissed. A muscle in his jaw twitched. “You can’t even sit up, Araya!”
“Just be ready,” Araya said.
For a terrible moment, Araya thought he wouldn’t do it. His gaze darted toward the front of the cart, to Eilwen’s desperate face and the sleeping child in his arms. Finally, he swallowed hard, holding Selan out to her.
None of them spoke again. Araya stared up at the sky, focusing on staying conscious as the light shifted and the tree canopy opened overhead. She held her breath, counting each jolt in the road. One. Two. Three.
She let herself fall.
The world tilted, the ground rushing up to meet her. She hit shoulder first, bone crunching as she cried out. Someone shouted, the wheels of the cart squealing as it lurched to a halt.
A boot slammed into Araya’s ribs, driving the breath from her lungs and flipping her onto her back. Caylin stared down at her, her beautiful face twisted with seething rage.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing, halfblood?”
Araya gasped as Caylin’s boot connected again. She curled around the hurt, choking on a cry as the woman wrenched her upright by her injured arm.
“Caylin—” Kai grabbed her, his silhouette nothing but a blurry shadow through Araya’s watery vision. “She’s injured. She fell?—”
“Don’t be stupid,” Caylin snapped. Her sharp nails dug cruelly into Araya’s bicep. “She didn’tfall. I don’t know what she gains by throwing herself out of a moving cart, but she’s nothing but a tricky little halfbloodslut?—”
Araya coughed, bile burning the back of her throat. The world pitched around her. She barely managed to twist her head before she vomited—spattering Caylin’s shining black boots and the hem of her pristine coat.
Caylin shrieked.
Araya sagged against her with a moan, going boneless. “Sorry,” she croaked. “Lost my balance.”
“You—” Caylin’s lip curled, her face turning an ugly, mottled red. She dragged Araya behind her as she stormed to the edge of the path, scraping her boots against the dead grass there.
“What’s going on back here?” Jaxon rounded the corner of the cart, his voice tight with annoyance. “Why is she out of the cart?”
“We hit a rut,” Kai said, turning to Jaxon. “She fell?—”
“She’sfakingit,” Caylin practically shrieked, still trying to scrub her coat clean with a handful of dead grass. “She jumped out of the cart and threw up all over me?—”
But Araya didn’t hear the rest. A shout tore through the trees, one of the inquisitors pulling the cart racing past them.
“She slipped out the side,” he shouted over his shoulder. “She’s running—” his voice cut off in a sharp curse as he tripped over a root that hadn’t been there a moment before. Branches tore at his partner, bristling with wicked thorns, and vines slithered across the ground like snakes, wrapping around ankles and dragging down anyone foolish enough to enter the trees.
Jaxon swore viciously, slamming his fist into the side of the cart.
Araya sagged in Caylin’s grip, trying to keep the satisfied smile from reaching her face. She’d done it. Kai had done it. Eilwen was gone—safe. And so was Selan. They’d never catch her. Not when she could call on the forest itself to protect her.
“Did you give her back her child?” Jaxon demanded.
Kai just stared at him, his eyes wide. “She wouldn’t stop crying. And then Araya fell?—”
“That fae bitch just stole from me!” Jaxon roared. “And you—you handed her the chance to run on a silver platter!”
His hand shot out, grabbing Araya by the front of her bloodstained tunic. He slammed her against the side of the cart, sending white sparks flashing across her vision.
“We’re not wasting time chasing your little friend,” he snarled. “She can starve to death behind the blockade we’re going to set up for all I care. Your belovedmateisnevergoing to make it to you in time. You’re never going to see him again, Starling. You’re mine. And Ineverlet go of what’s mine.”
Araya bared her teeth, the iron tang of blood thick on her tongue. “I’m not yours. Not anymore.”
