Page 110 of Silverbow
“You foul, hateful-”
“Careful,” the witch taunted, beaming with savage delight. “It would be a shame for you to stop crying and grow some backbone.”
Colm's jaw fell open as Enya reeled back and punched Hylee squarely in the mouth. The witch staggered a step, shock banishing her glee. As terrifying as her gifts were, it seemed they had their limits because Covwood’s Seer didn't duck.
Oryn finally ripped from his grasp, his gifts exploding from him in a wave of power that made the air around them tremble where they crashed into Hylee’s shadows. A wall of air a foot thick sprang up between the girl and the witch, and Oryn’s spirit gift wove around her like a brilliant, shining shield.
The witch wiped black blood from her lip with the back of her hand. Where droplets splattered into the grass, shadows hissed and swirled. Hylee glared at her, murder flashing in her violet eyes, but she took a step back andlaughed. Her voice was muffled by the thick barrier between them when she said, “Well done, girl. I didn’t think you’d have it in you.”
“Enough, Hylee,” Oryn snarled.
“Is it?” The witch arched a brow. “Are you going to do what you must, girl? Or are you going to let the Prince of Ashes pack you off to Drozia to spend your insignificant mortal life lounging on pillows?”
“I will burn you,” Enya seethed.
Hylee gave a wry grin. “Not yet.”
“Tell me where he is.”
“You’ll have to leave your dear Liam to me.”
Horror twisted across Enya’s face. “You leave him alone.”
Hylee hummed. “He can bleed out in that alley, for all I care. The necessity of his song is questionable at best.”
“Wait-”
“Destiny waits for no woman. Tick tock.”
A pulse of power shattered Oryn’s wall, but Hylee held up a hand to halt the new wielding he spun together. She snapped her fingers. Enya’s chains fell away in a heap of glittering dust. Colm held his breath as she beckoned Oryn forward. Hesitantly, he approached, his hand resting on his sword hilt. Hylee cupped a handand whispered something into his ear. Colm couldn’t see his face, but his knuckles went white as a broad smile split Hylee’s face. With a dreadful look of pure, savage joy, she spun on her heel, her cloak swirling as she strode toward Midbury.
The demi-elves watched her go, the silence between them so tight, it felt as solid as Oryn’s wall of air. Enya’s face was pinched and twisted by the kind of devastation that would buoy Hylee’s power for weeks, maybe months. And when Oryn turned, his own face had crumpled into a look of utter ruin.Years.
Oryn took an unsteady step toward Enya, his hands extended as he wielded air, water, and spirit, melding them deftly into his healing song. Colm pitied him. The kind of wounds Hylee had just inflicted, wounds to the soul, could not be undone as easily as the marks on her flesh.
Enya leapt back, her eyes flashing with cold hatred. “If you touch me with those hands, Oryn Brydove, I will cut them off and send them to Covwood.”
“Enya-”
“Do. Not.”
“Let me heal you, Enya, and then I can explain. Please."
She laughed bitterly. “I don't need your explanation,Princeling. Isawit.”
Gods above, she showed her his bargain.Hylee’s laugh floated back to them across the grass.
"Enya-"
"I hope you burn!"
“Moonflowers,” Aiden muttered at Colm’s shoulder.
He dragged his attention from her. “What?”
Aiden pointed to the little white blossom in the grass at her feet. “Have you noticed they appear when she cries?”
Colm scratched at his jaw and eyed the fire wielder. He hadn’t, actually. No one ever did give Bellas’s son enough credit, but the boy was perceptive when he chose to be. Moonflowers didn’t grow anywhere but Ilargia, the High Seat of Trakbatten House. He should have realized they’d been carpeting their path since Windcross Wells; since leaving Renley Ryerson behind had broken her heart.
