Some stop to stare as our group approaches. Jasce dismounts first, then helps me from his horse’s back. I stretch my muscles and look over my shoulder, needing to set eyes on Everly again. She clings to the metal cage and stares straight ahead. The Hematite with the scar unlocks the door and jerks his chin at Everly.
“Come with me,” he says.
I step forward to rescue her, but Jasce grabs my arm, yanking me to his side.
Everything in me screams with the need to follow her, to protect her.
“Stay here,” Jasce warns.
Calm down.
You cannot help her if you’re dead.
Jasce leads me through the camp, drawing more stares from some of the soldiers but no one stops us. He pauses near a fire and speaks to a young man who is sitting on a log, staring into the flames.
“Go to Dharhavva, Jude.”
The younger man glances up, and I recognize him as one of Jasce’s brothers. Jude has the same black hair, bronzed skin, and dark eyes, but instead of gold flecks, his are the deepest shade of amber, as though forged near the earth’s core.
A scar cuts through his bottom lip, and his hands are adorned with a tapestry of tattoos.
“Why?” Jude asks, his voice slurred.
Jasce steps closer and kneels until he’s eye level with his brother. “Gather your men and go to Darhavva.”
A frown deepens across Jude’s mouth. “I just arrived.”
“The tide is shifting like the ocean, and I want you away from here.” Jasce straightens and grabs my arm again.
The younger man scoops up a stick and throws it into the fire. Embers scatter and settle against the parched earth as he stands and walks away, leaving me alone with Jasce.
I glance over at him, studying the emotions in his eyes before he blinks, and they fade.
“Are you the oldest?” I ask, curious to know more about Jasce.
He nods and leads me to a circular-shaped tent, guarded by two burly Hematites.Jasce tightens his grip on my arm and directs me inside, where Everly already sits tied to a huge stake in the ground. Knots coil and tighten in my chest as Jasce brings me to the stake and ties my ankle to it.
As I settle next to Everly, she scoots against me and looks up at me with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. The hope I never want to squash. I wrap my arms around her, drawing her close.
After Jasce leaves us, my mind races with the possibilities of escape, but it will not be easy with a camp full of warriors. I look around the tent for anything that might help, but I find nothing.
There is only the stake…and Everly and I tied to it like animals.
“Sol,” Everly says in a soft voice. “Please tell me you can curse them.Please.”
I swallow back bile and shake my head.
“Why not?”
“Because one of them took my bag.” That horrible truth screeches through my ears, that reality I cannot escape.
“I cannot even create a portal without something living,” Everly says.
“I know.”
Everly’s body trembles as she leans her head against my shoulder. “I’m scared, Sol.” Her voice breaks, shattering around her as she continues. “Scared, we won’t get out of this. Scared, I won’t return to Cenric. Scared, he won’t forgive me even if I do return. And frankly, I hate being scared.” Her tone turns harder, angrier. “I hate it so much.”
Gently, I run my hand against her back, trying to comfort her. “It’s all right to be scared.”
