“I don’t want him to have a way to escape,” Henry said evenly.
Kara inhaled sharply. No escape meant Sebastian would fight harder, even more dangerously, if her plan went wrong. They tethered their valmares and started up. The mountain rock was cold under Kara’s palms, the wind tugging more violently at her the higher they went. Her breathing was coming fast now, stinging her lungs, and her legs burned – but still she climbed. Somewhere above, the faint metallic clang of steel echoed down.
“He’s fighting the guards,” she told Henry, and they quickened their pace.
As they neared the top, Kara caught his arm. “You can’t let him see you.”
Henry nodded once and stopped at one of the ledges off the staircase. “Shout if you need help. I’ll come running.”
The metallic ringing stopped abruptly. Silence. The fight was done. Kara’s chest tightened. This was it. All the miles, the planning, thesecond-guessing – it had all led here. A single path. The last few stairs. No more time. No more hiding.
This was the most dangerous thing she’d ever done. But she urged her feet to move the last few steps.
To where Sebastian Thorne was waiting.
CHAPTER 15
THE CAPTURED WARRIOR
A Thorne taken alive has not yet lost.
–Thorne Code of Honour, Tenet VII
Gods, there he was.
Kara found him alone. Standing right in front of her. She almost forgot how to breathe. After everything, the chase, the villages, the climb – there he was. Just... standing there. And all she could think of was the night in the apple grove, the way he’d looked at her.
She’d practised what she was going to say in her head a hundred times, telling herself she was ready for this. But she wasn’t. Not even close.
He hadn’t seen her yet; his back was turned, the wind pulling at his cloak. The sight of him made her pulse race. She wanted to close the distance. Gods, she did. Her hands itched to reach for him... to hold him, not trap him.
What am I doing?
Henry’s voice echoed in her head:Now we know exactly how dangerous Sebastian Thorne is.
She stopped out of sight, dragging in a breath to steady herself. Forced herself to remember why she’d come. She had to. Even if every part of her was screaming not to.
The Air Shard pulsed on its crystalline platform, held at the edge of the high plateau. A dome of Fatàn’s ruby magic surrounded it – a deceptive calm to the destruction before it. Several Thorne guards lay unconscious on the floor.
Not dead. He didn’t kill them.
Sebastian had walked towards it, stance tense, but his sword was sheathed. He reached out and crossed the Fatàn shield as if it weren’t there. Kara didn’t understand. Only those of Fatàn blood could cross the shields.
How is he doing that?
He gazed at the Shard and she faltered, her feet refusing to move. She should step out, speak, do what she’d come here to do.
But instead, she reached for the magic Henry had taught her – like pressing her palm against a locked door – and pushed, gently, carefully. There was a faint whisper... a shadow of awareness that wasn’t hers. Kara tried to catch it, but a barrier came crashing down, shoving her forcefully away.
Damn it.
She drew back her magic and watched him silently. If he’d felt it, he gave no sign. Without hesitation, he closed his hand around the Shard. Light flared against his palm, warm and alive. She’d known he would, but to watch him take a Shard of the Arcanth felt like a physical blow. The wind howled in response, rocks shuddering loose, the force of it nearly pushing her over. The land reacting violently to what he’d done. He didn’t even flinch. She stared as he tucked the Shard into the leather satchel he wore across his body – she guessed the other two were in there as well.
Now. Before you lose your nerve.
She forced her feet to move, taking one careful step forward. The gravel crunched under her boot; he spun fast, a storm of crimson magic already lighting his palms – ready to strike.
She raised her hands to show she was unarmed. “Sebastian – don’t! It’s me.”
