Page 96 of Bound By Darkness

Fin stayed silent, his gaze distant and cold before his lips parted. “Ask Ivan. I’m not the one to tell his story,” he said flatly. “Besides, I wanted to ask you if you had any news on Asa.”

Conversation change—noted. I guess I’d have to ask Ivanlater. Shaking my head, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Nope. No one has found her.”

“Not even her body?”

“Yeah. It’s like she’s simply vanished.”

Fin’s eyes widened. “What if she has?”

“I’m not following.”

He sat up, the crinkling of the cot’s mat loud in my ears. “If no one has found her alive or dead, then she isn’t here at Laias. The next plausible solution would be that the rebels took her when they’d invaded.”

My lungs froze. “Why would they want to take her?” I breathed, waiting for his reply.

“Because of her casting abilities. Imagine a healer on the battlefield. How unstoppable the rebels would be with that level of power working with them.”

I shot to my feet. “That’s a bold claim, Fin.”

“Think about it. It’s the most logical explanation. It explains why they needed to break into Laias and why they chose her. She’s defenseless, and wouldn’t be able to fight back.”

“What about the caster in the forest? He used some new pressure to lock me to the ground.” No other logical explanation existed for what the man had used to bind me against him.

As far as I knew, my sister and I were the only ones born with elemental casting. The first in centuries, but even that wasn’t public knowledge. My family had hidden Yeva’s casting far greater than mine, but for there to be people with original casting not from the Four Houses? Casting like mine?

“I don’t know what he had, but I know for certain healing casting has remained exclusively in the Laias bloodline. The rebels wouldn’t have a healer amongst them.”

“Then,” I said, my head swimming, “we’ve been wasting our time searching for a dead body when we should have beensearching for the rebels.”

Fin nodded, his face grim. “Ivan needs to know.” Reaching over, he scribbled something on a scrap of paper beside his bed, folding it neatly in half before extending it to me. “Before you go, be a doll and slip this to the medic.”

“Seriously? I thought you were writing information for Ivan, not a love letter,” I hissed.

“I’m bedridden until Aline clears me. Do it for me, please?”

Frowning, I snatched it from his hand. “Fine,” I grumbled. “Be glad I like you.”

He grinned. “Thanks, love.”

I sent Fin a quick wave, displeasure written over my face before I slipped the medic the note.

Morning turned to afternoon, and my legs grew weary as I rested against the broken fountain. My legs swung against the large stone.

I’d searched everywhere. The gardens, construction, kitchens, and outside the city walls where we had last met. There was no sign of him.

Glancing around, wooden beams were already sprouting from the ground, the citizens hard at work as they made the city theirs again. Most of the wreckage in the middle of the city had been removed and cleared.

Horses clopped against the paved streets as they dragged carriages filled with supplies across the makeshift town square. I waved to a few citizens driving the carriages, their smiles bringing one to my own.

The city began to reset, to breathe again. Even the sprites had returned, their lights filling the streets. Kicking a pebbleagainst the fountain, it rolled down the street, stopping in front of an unmarked tent.

A man exited it in a leather vest I knew far too well as Ivan squinted under the faelight, long sleeves jutting out from underneath the black material.

Another figure I didn’t recognize exited the tent, cloaked in black. It concealed their features as they darted into the main square, blending into the crowd seamlessly.

My feet moved as I called out to him, his gaze flicking to mine. He didn’t smile as I stepped closer.

“Who was that? I’ve been searching for you all day. I have news I need to?—”

---