“Where… are…” he inhaled sharply, “we?”
“We’re in a refuge. You’re out of Lux.”
His one eye blinked rapidly as he took in my words. Then, all of a sudden, he snapped. He sprang up in bed, wincing and cursing from the pain, but it didn’t slow him down.
“Where… is… she?”
“Grey, sit back down.” He tried to stand again. “Shit. Greyland, stop.” He was going to reinjure his ribs and any work the healers and menders did would have been for nothing.
He kept scanning the tent. “Is she here?”
“Iswhohere?” I asked, trying to push him back down. A few healers saw the commotion and started sprinting toward us.
If he was looking for our mother—if I had to break the news to him that she died…
“Lilia—” he breathed. “I couldn’t get their parents, but I left Lilia in the woods—” His voice faded as a mender injected him with a tranquilizer, and he passed out again.
Fuck.
I’d completely forgotten about Peter’s family, and I knew he was preoccupied with Vallie. He probably didn’t even have time to register what happened to them.
I called to my powers, working through the camp until I found the mind I wanted.I need your help,I said.
Sie?the voice was puzzled.
Yes, meet me outside the healer’s tent.
I turned toward the nearest healer. “Don’t let him wake up. Keep him sedated until I get back.”
I waited for her to nod before I reluctantly left my brother.
Kallon was waitingwith Rainer outside the tent. I scanned the latter. He looked so at odds with the damage he could do with his abilities.
My body tensed as it remembered what it felt like to have aflicker of his power pulse through me. I’d never experienced pain like that before. His power was so strong, so debilitating that I was glad electric users were super rare.
And I only felt the remnants of his ability tapered down through Scotlind, who was feeling it through Kole. I didn’t want to know first hand what the full capability of it felt like. The little bit I did feel left my hands scarred. Seeing him now, he didn’t seem capable of having such destruction living under his skin. Before that day, I had never seen him fight. I knew he was in the Luxian army, and by default, he had to be strong, but I underestimated him.
Kallon had her arms crossed and one thin brow arched beneath her bangs. “What do you want, Sie?”
“Do you have a portal set up anywhere near Tennebris or any mortal territory that can get me close enough to it?”
“Why?”
“Just answer the question.”
She scoffed. “I don’t think you’re able to make the demands. Seeing as you want something I have, and you’re bothering me when the camp is super busy. So answer my question first, why do you want to know?”
“We’ll eventually need a portal close enough if we’re going into a war with them,” I lied. I didn’t want to tell her what I planned unless she could deliver. If she couldn’t, I’d have to think of something else. I thought about telling Peter, he’d be able to help, but I didn’t want to get his hopes up.
“You’re so daft. What is so important that you need to know in the middle of all of this?” She gestured around us. She wasn’t wrong. I’d never seen Brighta so hectic. There were Advenians everywhere, some still naked, some bleeding on the grass. I was certain there were a few dead bodies not yet dealt with. “And no more lies.”
“I need to rescue Peter’s little sister,” I answered honestly because clearly avoiding the topic wasn’t working, and I washoping I could manipulate her with sympathy. “She’s a defenseless rank zero. Her family is tied to mine, and if the Council captures her, they’ll kill her on the spot.”
“And what makes you think she’s not in their hands now?” Kallon asked.
“I know she’s not. My brother got her to a safe house in the woods. She’s been hiding there. I just need to get close enough to the continent so I can get to it.” I hoped it was true. I needed the healers to have waited ten more seconds before they injected Grey, but I assumed that’s what he meant. I told him if things went bad, to bring our families to the cabin, and I just had to pray it was where Lilia was now.
“What woods?” she asked, her yellow eyes widening a fraction of an inch.
