Valek dressed in warm clothes and opened the door. Onyx stood there dripping wet and dragging his reins. The wonderful horse. Valek hugged him then led Onyx into the barn. The noise woke Yelena, who slept on a bed of straw in Kiki’s stall. The pain tried to escape its box, but he shoved it back.
He hitched Onyx and rubbed him down before finding an extra saddle in the tack room.
“We need to leave for the Citadel.” Valek saddled Onyx. “This weather is good cover.”
“How far?” she asked.
“Two days. I have another safe house about a mile north of the Citadel. We can set up operations there.”
Yelena prepped Kiki. They worked in complete and utter silence.
* * *
Two days later, they arrived at the safe house in the Featherstone Clan lands. Yelena planned to go into the Citadel and contact Councilor Zaltana, finding out why the council followed Roze’s orders. And to get a better sense of the danger. Valek gave her a long sleeved plain linen dress and a sand-colored cloak, disguising her as a Featherstone clanswoman.
He styled her hair into an intricate knot favored by the Featherstones and held it in place with her lock picks. It took all his will power not to kiss her neck. When she left, she had said she’d return that night.
She didn’t. Unable to sleep, Valek paced. Then he went to the barn and groomed the horses. Twice. What if she’d been captured? He chopped firewood. The sun rose and there was no sign of Yelena. Chopping more wood, he worked until his muscles burned. What if Roze was interrogating her, shredding her mind like Marrok’s? Valek walked around the house and barn. How long should he wait before searching for her? Should he take Kiki or go alone? Valek cleaned the tack, mucked out the stalls, scrubbed out the water and feed buckets, and fixed a hole in the siding. What if the warpers had cut out her heart?
By the evening, his body was exhausted, but his mind whirred with a hundred horrific scenarios. He sank onto the couch, deciding he would go to the Citadel at dawn.
When Yelena and Bavol Zaltana entered the house, Valek stared at them. She was alive. He held still just in case it was a hallucination. Bavol spotted him on the couch and balked. Ah, not a vision.
“You set me up,” Bavol said, taking a step back.
“Relax, Bavol. If Valek was going to assassinate the council, you would be dead by now. He’s helping me.”
Valek snorted and was suddenly angry. “I am? Funny how I forgot. Or is it because someone forgot about me?” Sarcasm spiked each word.
“We don’t have time for this. The Daviians have kidnapped the councilors’ children and spouses. They’re threatening them if the councilors don’t obey the Daviian’s orders. It’s not Roze influencing them. I’m going to try to find out where they’re keeping the children. I brought Bavol here because I can’t use my magic that close to the warpers or they will find me.”
Valek’s fury dissipated as fast as it had arrived. He had overreacted. At least they knew why the council had agreed with Roze.
Yelena turned to the Councilor. “Bavol, sit down. Close your eyes. Think of your daughter,” she ordered.
Valek watched as Yelena’s gaze grew distant. She sat still and silent. The minutes stretched and he worried. A familiar scent reached him. It took a moment for him to place it. The smoky aroma of a campfire. Except, only a pile of cold ashes was inside the hearth.
Alarmed, he strode to the window. Smoke billowed from the stable. Valek dashed from the house and threw the barn’s doors wide. Kiki was already out of her stall. Flames whooshed up the back wall. Opening Onyx’s stall, Valek stepped aside as they bolted outside and toward the pasture. He followed but paused when he spotted a man—a warper—standing near the burning barn. Valek pivoted, reaching for his knife.
“Kiki!” Yelena screamed.
Valek stopped. Yelena ran toward the stables.
“Yelena! She’s not there!” he yelled.
But she didn’t slow. When she reached the burning building, she dove right into the fire.
CHAPTER14
Valek gaped at the burning building. With no thought to her own life, Yelena had plunged into the flames to save her horse. Breaking from the shock, he raced to the fire, determined to pull her out. But the flames had doubled in size, creating a wall of searing heat. He glanced at where the warper had been standing. The man was gone.
It would cost Valek precious seconds to chase the warper. Instead, Valek ran to the house, yelled at Bavol to help, grabbed a bucket, and then dashed to the water pump. However, a single bucket of water had no effect on quenching the fire. Still, he had to keep trying.
Yelena. Must. Not. Die.
That became his mantra.
Trip after trip after trip, he worked as the flames consumed the wooden structure. Sweat and soot streaked his skin and clothes. Sparks burned holes in the fabric. His world blurred to an orange and black smear. The fire eventually sputtered and died. Not due to his efforts. No. There was nothing left for it to consume. Embers pulsed.
