Page 50 of The Black Witch

Lukas’s face is fierce as his eyes dart around the room, wand still raised. I begin to feel weak in the knees.

Commander Grey eyes him, furious. “Lieutenant Grey, I saidstand down!”

After a long moment of deliberation, Lukas resheathes his wand but keeps tight hold of my arm.

My heart feels like it will pound straight through my chest.

“Very clever, Lachlan,” the Vu Trin comments. “Hiding the girl in Halfix for so many years.”

“Believe me, Commander Vin,” Lukas’s father replies as he glares at his son, “it was completely unintentional.”

“No one was hiding me!” I insist with spiking alarm.

Lukas’s quick look silences me, his eyes a warning.

“If she is found to bepowerful,” the Elfhollen puts in to Lachlan Grey, “wewillbe taking her into custody.”

“No,” Lachlan firmly counters. “What’s to prevent you from killing her?”

Killing me?My gut clenches, and I stifle a cry. I move closer to Lukas and clutch at the side of his tunic.

“We could place her in the High Tower under a joint guard,” the Elfhollen offers, “until we come to an agreement regarding what to do with her.”

“Dismiss half of your guard, and I will consent to the girl’s testing,” Lachlan capitulates.

Commander Vin eyes Lachlan with amused suspicion, then gestures toward Lukas with her chin. “Dismisshim,and I will agree to it. We all know that your young lieutenant is equal to ten of us.”

Lachlan’s eyes flick back and forth from Lukas to the Vu Trin guard. “Very well. Lukas, you are dismissed.”

Lukas makes no move to release my arm.

“Please,” I beg them, the word bursting out. “I just want to see my brothers.”

“Silence, Gardnerian!” Commander Vin snarls. Her hostility sends me inwardly reeling.

“Lukas,” Lachlan says firmly, his eyes belying a steely confidence, “you will accompany the Vu Trin guard to their western base.” He raises his brow at Commander Vin. “Agreed?”

Commander Vin nods.

Lukas stares hard into his father’s eyes. His hand loosens from my arm.

I hold on to his tunic, heart racing. “No,please. Don’t leave me!”

He turns to me and places both hands on my arms. “Elloren, they’re going to test you, and then they will talk. There’s enough of our Mage Guard here to ensure your safety.”

“No!”I try to cling to him, but firm hands pull me back.

There’s a flash of indecision in Lukas’s eyes, but then his face hardens and he turns away. I watch, despairing, as he strides out of the room flanked by ten Vu Trin sorceresses and a contingent of Elfhollen.

Desperation takes hold. I struggle against the hands that restrain me, tears stinging at my eyes. “Let mego!” I insist. “My brothers are here. I need to find them...”

And then Commander Vin is before me. She stares me down, her eyes narrowed to hostile slits.

I stop struggling and shrink back from her.

“Elloren Gardner,” she says, steel in her eyes, “you will come with us.”

CHAPTER TWO

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