Did they find the men I killed?
No. All hell would be boiling over if they did. It must be a change of the guards.
Rolling my shoulders, I command calmness to settle over me like a blanket. We’re so close.
I remove the snow-covered rock with my magic and reveal the small bag of magical stones. My hand brushes rough fabric as new vibrations skitter over the ground.
Steps.
My head snaps up, trying to make out the figure that waits for me in the shadows.
I stuff the speaking stones into my pocket as Abet appears. The tension that had been coiling inside of me eases like a serpent unraveling.
"Amigo,"?1 I say, straightening and brushing my hands over the front of my dirty, threadbare shirt. Grateful I had reapplied the glamour.
"Rasa," he says gently. "I thought that was you."
I let out a long breath, allowing the air to cloud in front of me. An invisible thread tugs me backward toward the trees where I left Melisa.
Make this quick,I urge silently. My soul longs for the comfort of my family, small and fragile, safe in my embrace before all hell breaks loose.
"What are you doing out so late?" Abet asks.
I cast him a strange look. "I needed to relieve myself."
Abet nods thoughtfully. "That's strange because you never came to bed."
The chill from the ground spreads up my legs, freezing my muscles.
"Why do you care?" I ask.
He shakes his head.
"Things aren't safe tonight. I've been hearing all manner of strange things. You should go inside and sleep."
I look at him, watching the way he shifts his weight from one foot to the other.
"I'll be in soon," I say uneasily.
Something cracks in Abet’s face. He swallows thickly. Then he opens his mouth and lets out a yell.
“HE’S HERE!”
Time stops.
Half a dozen pairs of feet I didn’t sense pour out from around the men’s sleeping quarters. My head whips left and right before settling back on Abet. He backs away toward the building.
The betrayal is swift like a dagger. The truth unfurls before me, each revelation mocking the friendship I’d believed in. Realizing that I have been a fool is almost more unbearable than the act itself. Nothing is left but a hollow ache where trust used to live.
"What the fuck is going on over here?" one of the giant guards shouts.
Melisa. Thea. Wren. Must protect.
My eyes lock with the shortest of the group. His lips curl back, and he charges.
Magic sizzles in my veins, still hungry after what happened at the cabin. It beats to the aching of my Enduar heart. Eagerness has the ground fracturing and cracking into large, icy chunks. They lift, ready to destroy.
The wind of the movement almost blows me back, but shoots of earth come up to brace my legs.