“Where are your parents?”
“Still alive. They stayed with the group now at Igneothenia to start rebuilding. They are not warriors either.”
“Why did you decide to fight?” Raine asked.
“I heard stories of how Eorhan used to be. I wanted to help make it that way once again.”
“We all do,” he said softly.
Shouting erupted nearby, interrupting the moment.
“Spy!” someone yelled.
Raine was on his feet in an instant. A heartbeat after he and Maeryn emerged from their shelter, a spear of ice shot straight for him. A blast of lava melted it before it could hit its target.
“You’re welcome,” Maeryn said.
“Do not kill the spy!” Raine yelled, sprinting toward the source of the ice.
A fae from Frosthaven raised his hands, a flurry of frozen crystals swirling before him. Raine conjured a vine from the ground, wrapped it around the man’s feet and pulled him to the ground.
Their enemy raised his hands again, but Raine wrapped him so tightly in a cocoon of green, he didn’t have another chance to attack. Raine and Maeryn approached, preparing to haul him to a tent for interrogation. The man struggled, spewing filthy curses as he fought against the vines.
Maeryn leaned over him. “You will be—” But she was cut off, stumbling back with a yelp.
Raine snapped his head to her. Blood dripped down her arm, her shoulder impaled with a dagger of ice.
A wildfire of rage consumed him. Someone hurt her, but it wasn’t the man laying before them. His hands were still bound. Someone else must have come with him. And whoever it was, Raine was going to kill them.
“I’m alright,” she insisted as he scanned for the other intruder.
There.
Raine met eyes with the other ice fae, giving him a feline smile. The man shot more of his icy daggers, but Raine dodged each one as he prowled forward. A flicker of fear passed over the man’s face.
“You’d better be fucking scared,” Raine said, whipping out a hand and wrapping a thick root around the man’s head and torso. With a flick of his wrist, he snapped his neck, sending him crumpling to the ground.
“Are there any more?” he asked the soldiers around him.
“No, there were just two. They were trying to steal the maps.”
“Prepare the other for interrogation.”
Maeryn strode up and stopped beside him. His eyes immediately fell on her shoulder as he faced her. The ice was gone, though blood still oozed down her arm. Fierce protectiveness almost overwhelmed him. Though he’d felt that way with Finnick, this was stronger, deeper…desperate. How in the world did Casimir bear it whenever Ava was in danger?
Raine was beginning to understand it now. The way he wanted to whisk Maeryn away and hide her from those who wished her harm. It was bottomless; all-consuming.
“May I look?”
She nodded.
He pulled aside her tunic, revealing her toned shoulder. A shudder went through her when his fingers brushed her warm skin. He did it again, to see if he’d imagined her reaction. A light brush of the tip of his fingers. Her breath hitched as heinspected the injury. Fortunately, it wasn’t deep and had already begun to heal.
He straightened, carefully pulling her shirt back over her shoulder, and reluctantly let go. “Would you like a healer?”
With a shake of her head, she crossed her arms. “It’s a mild injury. I’m quite resilient, no?”
He tilted his head. “Is that so?”
