Page 53 of An Honored Vow

Riven’s hand clenched. “And where you took Nikolai.”

Kairn grunted but didn’t say a word.

Feron let the moment stretch for a long while before he stepped toward Kairn’s head. “Very well.” He placed his hands against the Blade’s temples.

Gerarda and Elaran gasped in unison as the warmth of Feron’s magic took hold. A slithering feeling looped around our arms and then branched out from our spines.

I closed my eyes and watched as the blackness behind my lids began to swirl.

There was no source of light, but I could see the others standing beside me in the darkness. Kairn kneeled in front of Feron, not bound but silent. He crossed his arms and refused to look at us.

Feron’s brow twitched as he sorted through Kairn’s memories. The darkness lightened and gray shadows swirled all around us. The memories flew by, too quick and too many for me to understand.

Feron bit his cheek and the shadows became inked with color.

“You make it seem so easy,” I murmured as Feron riffled through Kairn’s latest memories. It had taken much more than a few moments for him to break in to my mind.

“Some minds are more stubborn than others.” He opened one eye at me.

Gerarda laughed. “She’s been told that before.”

I flicked the back of her head.

She lifted her hand to it, not out of anger, but curiosity that she could feel my touch at all. Inside Kairn’s memories, all our minds were connected.

Feron closed his eyes once more and kept searching.

I studied him as he did his work. The fluttering of his eyes behind his eyelids, the small twitches of his head as Feron discarded one memory for another.

There were no restrictions on my powers now. Any gift that a Fae had, I had too as theniinokwenar. Even though mindwalking was usually gifted to Dark Fae, Feron was certain that I could master it if I took the time to train.

I looked at my hands and thought of Vrail and Crison. Two more Halflings I had marked for battle the moment their eyes turned amber. I already had one gift that came with too much power. I wasn’t interested in gaining more.

Feron let out a short breath. And the colored shadows stilled, finally taking the form of something I recognized.

Elaran gasped as the island of Elvera appeared before us. It floated in the sky, high above the Pool of Elvera below. The newly ignited waterfall poured down in an endless shoot, feeding the lake and the Silstra all at once.

It was the day I broke the last seal.

The memory started. It was as if we were all living through that day again, except this time through Kairn’s eyes.

I saw myself trying to cut through the seal and failing. Amber blood poured down my nostrils and throat, so thick I felt the urge to choke again just watching it.

Tears welled in my eyes as Riven came and grabbed my hand. His body fell limp as he gave me every last drop of his magic through the bond. His hand found my shoulder as I cried, reminding me that he’d survived. I watched—both past and present versions of me—as Riven died.

“Take the Elf,” Damien’s voice called inside Kairn’s mind. He glanced at me leaning over Riven and started to run. Kairn grabbed Nikolai by his tunic. Nik kicked but his shouts were muffled by Kairn’s meaty hand. I watched myself as I chased after them, spent and broken hearted, but Kairn jumped into the portal. He turned back, looking over his shoulder, and we all saw the blurred image of Vrail pulling me back from the water, telling me not to chase after them. My throat burned.

I could feel Kairn’s smugness leeching from the memory. He had abandoned all those soldiers below without remorse. Fled like a coward and called himself a victor because he managed to take a hostage with him.

The sensation made me sick, but I didn’t punch Kairn like I wanted to. That would only make Feron’s job harder.

Instead, I held my breath and waited to see where Kairn had taken them. Riven’s hand on my shoulder tightened. The portal that had reopened in Elvera was a rare treasure. It could bring passersby to any portal in the realm.

Kairn could have gone anywhere. I didn’t even know if he understood what the portal was when he had jumped through it. The magic may have taken him to whatever location last flitted through his mind with no conscious effort at all.

But now I had an answer. My hands turned to fists as I watched Kairn drag Nikolai onto the shore of a lake. He kicked him in the head and Nikolai fell. His limbs splayed out at odd angles in the sand, red pooling along his lip.

Kairn panted for breath as he bound Nik’s limbs and threw him onto his shoulder like a sack of flour. Then he stood and faced a view I had seen countless times before.

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