Page 100 of A Legacy of Storms and Starlight

Arnir’s men would have been all over the mountain range, were likely already in the forest. They were all taking a risk, staying there with her, but when she’d protested on the first day, Raif had told her they were all there because they wanted to be.

Zylah rested a hand on Saphi’s arm, pulling herself to her feet. She wouldn’t be a burden. Raif was at her side immediately, one hand at her elbow.

“I’m fine,” Zylah said through gritted teeth, testing the pain. “I need to try.”

Saphi watched her and Raif from the lounger but didn’t reach out as Raif had. “You need to rest.”

Kopi called out, the call far away in the forest, but it was enough to send Zylah’s heartbeat racing. She took a step towards the door, and he called out again. Raif reached out to stop her, but she brushed him away, making for the door as Kopi called out a third time, much closer now.

Zylah wasn’t dressed for snow. She only had a pair of Saphi’s slippers covering her feet, but she didn’t care. She ran out of the cabin, a few steps into the icy powder, then stopped.

For the first time, she saw theperimeterthey’d all been talking about. Vines and roots twisted over and over each other as if they’d been pulled right from the forest floor, weaving together so thickly they formed a wall right around the cabin. Zylah had to tilt her head back to see the trees; the wall reached higher than Raif. Only magic could have made something like this. Holt’s magic.

She felt Raif beside her, but he didn’t reach out for her again. He was listening. Something was wrong.

Zylah looked up into the canopy for any sign of Kopi, just as Holt evanesced himself and Rose back inside the perimeter.

“Arnir,” Holt said, weapons appearing in each hand from wherever he’d summoned them. He handed a sword to Rose, the other to her brother before summoning two more.

“How many?” Raif asked.

Holt’s eyes flicked to Zylah for a moment and then back to Raif. “Fifteen, maybe more.”

“Zylah, get inside with Saphi. Lock the door.” Raif’s hand was around her wrist, gently easing her back towards the cabin.

She shook him off. “My brother. He could be with them.”

Kopi cried out again. Saphi had come out of the cabin to join them, her gaze snapping to Rose first.

“The bounty hunter who took me, he used a spell to conceal his scent, to mute any sounds he made—his breathing, his footsteps,” Zylah said quietly, so quietly she knew only Fae ears would hear her.

They all looked ahead as branches snapped in the forest.

“Esteemed friends,” a voice called out. King Arnir. Zylah would never forget his voice. Saphi touched a hand to her elbow, just as Raif positioned himself in front of her.

The king cleared his throat. “Let me propose a simple trade. My hostage for yours.”

Her brother. He had her brother. “Zack!” Zylah called out, just as Saphi’s hand clamped down over her mouth.

“It could be a trap,” Saphi murmured.

“Prove it,” Holt called out. “Let us hear him speak.”

A moment of silence stretched between them all.

“Zylah?” It was Zack’s voice, and Zylah held a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob.

Holt raised a hand, and the vines creaked and cracked. It was the sound Zylah had heard when he’d brought her there a few days before. The vines uncoiled from each other slowly, until a space wide enough for a single person to walk through opened up in the wall. Beyond it, Zylah could see a handful of Arnir’s elite unit, weapons drawn.

“Now, now, perhaps a little show of faith. You can’t expect my men to walk in there one by one, can you?” Arnir called out.

“I don’t expect any of them to walk in here at all. Hand over Zack, and we’ll allow you to leave with your unit intact,” Holt said firmly.

Arnir clicked his tongue. “That will never do. Drop the walls, or he dies.”

“Holt, please,” Zylah pleaded.

Holt lowered the wall further, and it was only Saphi holding her back that stopped Zylah from running to her brother. He was bound, his face bloodied, kneeling at Arnir’s feet like a dog.

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