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Sterling’s gaze drifted to the night sky. “If you could, would that be such a catastrophe?”

Jarek thoughtfully glowered at the plantations glow breaking across the top of the rise. Lilith’s desire for him was as infectious as she was enticing, so when he foolishly decided to give way to it, he didn’t think about the immediate, or long-term, implications.

By the time he had the book in his hands, he’d completely forgotten he intended to leave afterward. That was when Sterling’s first assumption crossed his mind. Maybe all he needed was to relieve some tension, but the longer he fantasized about threading a finger in the knotted lace at her chest, the more he started to feel irredeemably selfish. If it was simply an itch, Jarek had access to anyone else who was willing to scratch it, but picturing such a scenario fizzled out that interest entirely.

Then she had to go and vocalize her concern for his wellbeing—for his life. A gesture he, of all the people she irrationally clung to, deserved not an ounce of. It resonated with him, bringing up the same uncomfortable warmth that swallowed him the night she stitched his arm. That feeling alone almost drove him away, but Jarek quickly grappled with the fact that everything about her drew him in like a moth to a flame. The more receptive she was to his presence, the more he tired trying to avoid her light.

He supposed chaining himself to her indefinitely wouldn’t feel catastrophic. Euphoric, wanted, but not possible. The look on her face as she backed away from him proved that. He believed everything she told him was true, but she knew as well as he did that they needed to cut those thoughts off like a dying limb.

All of it left Jarek thrashing in the damnation he sought from the moment he awoke from the Coffers, except the fire didn’t burn his skin, only his insides.

“This is ridiculous,” he finally said, dejected. “I’ve done enough damage to this Flare. There will be nothing else. No markings of any kind. No connections. No—”

The Serpent sent a shiver up his spine. Jarek quieted himself and a curious Sterling with a hand to make sense of it.

The Wraith… He couldn’t feel it. At this distance, he should be able to. Jarek picked up his pace, honing his gaze, stiff and anxious at what was ahead of him. Half a dozen or so Terin soldiers scattered around the entryway of the plantation house, chattering nervously amongst themselves.

Jarek dropped what he was carrying and manifested within the confines of the property. He stumbled out of the shadows, tired from the energy it took.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

A dark-skinned, blue-eyed woman approached first. “The Evelian encountered an issue.”

“What sort of issue?” His heart thundered when no one answered. “Where is she?”

“She went out back.” Estelle stood at the top of the steps, dropping her fearful gaze when his attention turned to her. “After Ivy. I-I grabbed one of the men to go after her, but…”

“Neither have returned,” the woman finished. “I’ve sent a search party into the woods—”

Jarek’s stomach twisted as he heard nothing else the woman said. Ears ringing, he pushed through the crowd and into the house.

Jarek burst from the kitchen onto the back patio. He raced through the dark, following the movements of Sterling’s men as they searched, shouting for her, but with every passing moment he couldn’t see, hear, or sense her, his worry burned out of control.

His mind ran quicker than his body could, panicking over each scenario that couldn’t possibly have happened because he would have known about it. He cursed Lilith more than once for failing simple instructions, and himself for ever leaving her side.

Jarek slowed at the edge of a clearing, kneeling when he caught sight of something among the wood’s debris.

Her rifle.

He picked it up, shouting her name again while he examined the space, but found nothing, not even a sign of a struggle in the fallen leaves. Footsteps fell behind him.

“She’s gone,” Jarek said in disbelief.

Sterling traipsed into the area, kneeling and taking the rifle from Jarek’s lax fingers. He rotated the gun, then dropped it over his knee, craning his neck around. “She couldn’t have gone far.”

“A Stalker found her.” How? He’d been so careful. But it was the only explanation. Lilith wouldn’t leave on her own again… Would she?

“Atwood,” Sterling said.

Maybe while at Caiven’s estate she had found what she was looking for. An escape from the corner Jarek corralled her into.

No… she wouldn’t leave Luka. No matter how much she might detest Jarek or Amalia or the Wraith. He rose to his feet. “We need to check that all of the men are accounted for.”

A hand fell on his shoulder, holding him in place. “Jarek. Slow down.”

He met Sterling’s soul, as steadfast as aquamarine yet to be mined.

“I need you to keep your head. Look.” Sterling gestured to the undisturbed earth with the rifle. “If it was a Stalker, Lils would’ve resisted. There’s no sign of a struggle. No disturbed earth, broken branches… Stalkers are also users. We’d be able to smell escence if one had been here.”