She turned on her heel. “Goodbye, Sienna,” she said, stalking off – fear and fury burning in equal measure.
Sienna didn’t call after her this time. Kara was glad of it. She didn’t want to fight. She wanted answers.
Answers that only Sebastian Thorne could give her.
Kara’s hands were still shaking by the time she reached the stables. Henry was already waiting with Whisper and a grey valmare she didn’t recognise – but it looked strong and well-rested. Wordlessly, she took the reins and mounted, pulling her thick travelling cloak tighter against the cold.
“Ready?” he asked.
“It’s three days’ ride to the Water Shard,” Kara said once she was settled in the saddle. “We need to make it in two.”
“We should talk about it,” Henry said as he mounted with careful precision, clearly less practised than her but determined not to show it, sitting straighter and steadier than she expected. When she said nothing he continued, “What we’re going to do when we find him.”
“We can discuss it later, when we make camp,” she replied curtly.
“It wouldn’t hurt to have a plan,” Henry insisted.
“Well, you plan. I’ll ride.”
“Kara–”
But she cut over him. “It’s quicker through Sorrel territory. We need to ride hard.”
“I’m with you,” he assured her.
Don’t slow me down.
She bit the thought back but he caught her expression, and smiled slightly. “What? I can keep up.”
“You’d better,” she said. Without another word, she urged Whisper forward through the gates of Vallenna City.
The fields beyond were still green even with the brittle edge of frost, the changing leaves crisping at their tips, though autumn had only just begun. The icy air stung her cheeks as the city walls fell away. Somewhere ahead lay Sorrel’s borderlands, and beyond them, the road to Lyra – and the Water Shard. If Sebastian reached it first...
She didn’t know how the land would react to the Water Shard being taken but if the Durent and Sorrel reports were anything to go by, the consequences would be dire. She couldn’t let that happen. So she kept riding. Towards Sebastian.
By late afternoon, they crossed into Sorrel territory. Kara had thought they might make camp here – the Providers’ lands were usually rich, easy to source food from.
Not anymore.
Merrick hadn’t exaggerated. Some of the fields were healthy enough, but others stood in ruin – stalks blackened, leaves curling in on themselves, as though a disease had swept through in the night. And it was spreading. Creeping towards the edges of the healthy fields. The people were wary. The smell of wood smoke carried from farmsteads, but their shutters stayed closed. Those working in the fields stared as they approached with narrow, suspicious glances. More than once she spotted people gathering up the healthy crops and hurrying them away in baskets under cloaks, avoiding strangers’ eyes. That kind of hoardingdidn’t happen in Vallenna. And never amongst the Providers. The people were afraid. As they passed through a village square, she caught muttered fragments from worried townspeople.
“First the fields, next it’ll be our magic,” an old woman said, clutching her pail.
“They say the ground shook in Durent,” a younger woman added. “Whole buildings fell.”
“That Thorne did this,” a man muttered, sharper than the rest. “We should string our bows and hunt him ourselves.”
The younger woman looked stricken. “But the Council will catch–”
“If it were up to me–” The man cut across her, dragging a thumb across his throat in a wordless, vicious gesture, earning a few grim nods.
Kara’s fingers squeezed around the reins and she shot Henry a dark look. Both pulled their hoods lower, spurring their valmares to a quicker pace. Their orders weren’t public – and the last thing they needed was to explain themselves in Evelyn Sorrel’s lands, or worse, let word reach Sebastian. As the light failed, they found a sheltered hollow surrounded by trees at a field’s edge, and made camp. The evening grew bitter as Henry gathered firewood and Kara tended the valmares. By the time the fire was lit, the silence between them had grown heavy. She sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring into the flames. Her thoughts were loud, full of questions she couldn’t voice. When she found Sebastian – if she found him – he wouldn’t simply tell her the truth. He’d lie. Deflect. Maybe even fight her. But what if she could find out the truth without needing him to speak it?
“Henry... I want you to teach me your magic.”
He frowned. “My magic?”
“Mind-reading. Or at least the basics.” She lifted a shoulder in a casual shrug she didn’t feel. “We’re going to be married, aren’t we? I should know how it works. You can read me easily enough–”
