Page 119 of Only Flames Remain

“Are you listening? We sent every man out searching for her. They made it to their getaway boat before we could capture them. She’s gone, Sorin. Kallias has her.”

Rensford gripped my arm with one hand, his eyes sorrowful as his other hand came up to capture my chin, forcing my gaze to meet his. My eyes were wild as I tried to escape his hold, but with Emrys’s help they were able to detain me. I growled at them, the sound emanating from deep within my chest.

Kallias has her.

“You need to calm down,” Ren urged.

“Calm down?!” A mirthless laugh escaped my throat. “How am I to calm down when they have my mate!”

“Quiet!” Rensford commanded. “The more you broadcast that, the more danger she will be in. There is only a small group of us who know. We will get her back, but not if everyone in this godsdamned kingdom and the next knows about your link to her!”

I couldn’t calm down, couldn’t leash my temper as it tore through me. My panic and rage were swirling wild as a tornado while I struggled against their bindings. I needed to speak with King Mavros. I needed to fly for Myros immediately and turn their boat to ash. They would find Kallias at the bottom of the Saltale Sea.

A prick in the side of my neck drew my attention. I saw Voirel withdraw from me, a syringe in her careful, delicate hand.

Had she…had she just drugged me?

Did no one understand?

Aveline was my mate. And she was in the hands of the enemy!

Voirel’s was the last face I saw before I hit the tiled floor of the main hall face first, and night descended.

CHAPTER 36

Aveline

When I finally woke, I was groggy beyond all reason; my head pounding. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I sat up. The divarica flower had addled my mind, and it was slow to join my body. When I finally peeled my eyes open, I could see that I was in a small cabin, and the world was moving around me.

Rocking.

I was on a godsforsaken boat.

I went to get up from the narrow cot beneath the window—a storm visible among the seas outside—but my hands were bound together with twine.

I wasn’t simply aboard a boat headed back to Myros. I was a prisoner.

How could Kallias have done this to me?

Hands still bound, I made for the door and wrenched it open, unsteady on my feet. It would be mere moments before the seasickness kicked in, as it had on my journey to Gothryn. I had every intention of finding Kallias before it rendered me a useless puddle of nausea.

“Kallias!” I called, starting down the hallway and banging on each door. “Kallias! Where are you!”

For the first time since I had run out of the tincture in Stormgaard, I didn’t feel the soft hum of magic beneath my skin. I hadn’t known what it was before, but the loss of it now only made it all the more clear.

Kallias had taken me and drugged me. Poisoned me.

He must know I have magic.

By the time I reached the end of the corridor, I determined that this level of the ship was empty. I retraced my steps, grabbing the railing and pulling myself up the steep, rickety stairs to the deck with my bound hands. We were on a small ship, less than half the size of the vessel I had boarded to Gothryn.

Kallias was at the bow, his blond hair whipping wildly in the breeze. The salty ocean spray crashed against the sides of the hull, misting the deck and those standing on it.

“Kallias!” My voice boomed with rage as I stormed forward. When I reached him, I held my bound hands up to his face. “What is this? Am I your prisoner now? Tell me what is going on.”

Kallias’s gaze held a sympathy I couldn’t quite understand, given the current circumstances. He gently pressed a hand to my shoulder, but I recoiled from his touch.

“This is for your own safety and protection. I am not sure what occurred in Gothryn that would have you so hesitant to return home—to return to me—but I intend to find out. We will be home by day's end.”