To lay beside her and name new stars.
You can’t cage her,Zarrek’s voice echoed.She’s too wild for that.
His breath steamed in the cold. His pulse pounded like a hammer in his throat. Void preserve him, what was he supposed to do? Just stand there andwatchher destroy herself? She’d bled herself for him. Again. Quietly.Alone.And he hadn’t even noticed until morning. Just like the first time, he’d nearly missed it as she faded from his sight. What kind of guardian did that make him?
He paced along the edge of the armory crates, thunder rolling low above the grassland. Rain slicked his shoulders, soaked his tunic, plastered his hair to his scalp. He didn’t care. He needed tofeelsomething that wasn’t this helpless, churning fire inside him.
How do you stop the wind from blowing?
You don’t. You can't.
Which meant he would have to watch her die.
The thought struck like a blade to the gut—pure and deep and sudden.
He staggered.
Scratched at the scar, digging so hard he drew blood.
A shout interrupted his dizzying spiral.
“Commander!”
A scout came barreling through the mist. He dropped to one knee, signing automatically in respect. “Resh’Agar, the horses—”
“What about them?”
“They’re agitated. Pacing the lines. One of the handlers thinks it’s the storm, but something is wrong—”
Resh didn’t wait to hear the rest. He was already moving, boots pounding mud as he cut toward the stables. Anything.Anythingto stop the cataclysm inside him. If he could justdo something, the world would stop unraveling beneath his feet.
But the moment he stepped under the overhang of the corral, he froze. He searched the tent, pitched in haste to keep the animals dry from the storm.
Astenos is gone.
There was no mistaking it. His massive black war steed wasn’t just missing from the line—his lead wascut.
His heart stopped.
She wouldn’t.
He bolted.
Through the pelting rain, past the stunned stares of the men, past tents and wagons and weapons half-oiled and forgotten.
Back to the tent.
He didn’t need to look inside to know what he would find.
Emptiness.
The cot was cold. Her satchel was gone. Her ribbon tucked beside his pillow.
She had taken everything she needed.
Everything buthim.
25
