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“It’s empty.”
I turned in place, surveying the deserted outpost.
He couldn’t be dead.
I felt him.
I knew he was alive.
If he was dead, the thread would be cut.
“Where could they be?”
“I don’t know, but he has to be here somewhere.” I spun a slow circle.
“Could they have retreated?”
I clasped my hands behind my neck. “Octavian ordered them to hold the outpost.”
“Would they have retreated if the Vivi Mortui attacked?” Zaria asked.
I knew she was trying to help, but I had to think. I had to figure out where he’d gone. I hated myself for not telling her, not letting her in so she understood I was as close with Kol as I was with her, but this wasn’t the time. There never seemed to be a good time.
“Nyx!” Zaria said out loud.
“What? We have to be quiet. There could be anything listening.”
“Come here right now!”
I turned, but she was nowhere in sight. “Where are you?”
“In here.” She sent me an image of a door she’d walked through.
I jogged over, found the cracked door, and slipped inside. “What is this?”
Zaria stood over sacks of something. “Dragon’s Bane.” Terror cut off her tone.
“What?” My mind reeled. “How do you know?”
“Because these are from my village. This are how we labeled the sacks.” She reached to finger the stamp.
“Don’t touch it. We can’t risk it affecting our magic. We need to find my brother and get out of here.”
She hesitated, then said, “My village is involved in this.”
“We don’t know how that got here, so we don’t know who is involved.” I held out my hand for her. “Come on.”
She took my hand and closed the door on the Dragon’s Bane. There was nothing we could do about it now. If I burned it, it would just put it into the air and the ground to poison anyone who came here for years. We crept back to the open courtyard.
“Kol, please answer. Give me anything. Where are you?’
“Nyx!” Zaria screamed.
I whipped around, but blackness took me.
Zaria.
