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Chapter Sixteen
The fog rolled in withthe dawn, thick and dense. While that might not have seemed unnatural, it lay against Sorin’s skin, heavy and thick and reeking of a foul magic. On his tongue, he tasted death and misery and he’d learned never to question his instincts when it came to such things.
Amy sat on the stoop that led to the cabin, her face pale and taunt, but her eyes oddly peaceful.
From time to time, she’d glanced to the south, following the route Gia had said she’d take, but Amy rarely spoke and she showed no sign she regretted the choice that had led to her staying here.
“She’ll take care him,” Sorin heard himself saying.
“I know.” Amy offered a faint smile before looking back to the thickening fog. “You know, a part of me always knew it would come to this. I’ve been preparing for this for...years. I think it’s part of why I resented her so much. She’s much more equipped to raise Wyn to be the man he needs to be than I am.”
Uneasy with the direction the conversation had taken, and uncertain why, he shifted from his position leaning against the wall. “He’s a good boy. He’ll be a strong, good man. You did something right or that wouldn’t be the case.”
“That’s his father,” she muttered, shaking her head.
“Didn’t his father die when he was still a baby?”
“His father was strong,” she countered. “I’m not.”
“My father was a dragon. But I never knew him. My strength came from my mother.” Sorin felt blood rushing to his cheeks at this confession, made to a mortal woman responsible for the deaths of so many. But he didn’t look away. “Blood might beget power, but power doesn’t always equal strength, and power rarely begets decency. That has to do with the love a child receives, and the guidance. You raised a boy who knows the value of love, human. That matters.”
Her gaze fell away as she said huskily, “Thank you.”
But before he could figure out how to respond, she jerked upright, spine arching unnaturally. “She’s...I feel...”
The rest of the words locked in her throat.
But Sorin had already felt the creeping, crawling brush of an ugly power rub against the very outer edge of his reach, something that slid and probed against the walls he kept erected around himself. When it didn’t find purchase, it slid away toward Amy.
“She’s found us,” Sorin said coolly. “About bloody time.”
Amy’s teeth chattered. “She has men with her. A lot of them. And she’s angry, ready to kill.”
“Good.” He bared his own teeth as he looked toward the human. “I’d hate to make this boring for her.”
With a weak smile, Amy said, “Heaven forbid.”
He smiled, the sardonic curl of his lips revealing nothing as he turned to face her. “Are you ready?”
“No.” Her laugh was shaky and her mouth had a pinched look but her gaze was level as she looked at him. “But I’m not going to run, either.”
No, he could see that. With a nod, he angled his chin to the strip of earth of he’d prepared earlier. Gia had coaxed him through the steps of building a basic glamour and a quick look showed the ground to be nothing more than muddy, churned-up earth, like the rest of the ground around them.
But looks were so deceiving.
Under the rough glamour, there was a hole, a deep one, dug with a dragon’s strength and claws. Amy didn’t understand her power well, but in the short time Gia had worked with her, she’d discovered that Amy had a great deal of raw potential when it came to earth magic. The trap was roughly thirty feet long and fifteen feet deep with little more than boards from the now-destroyed smaller shelter and a couple of small trees to brace up the rough walls.
Once the people hunting them fell into the trap, they’d have a few, and only a few, options. Give up and retreat, and Sorin would let them live. Or they could persist and they’d be like landed fish in a dry barrel.
“You remember your part?” he asked as she came to join him.
“Yeah, although I’m not so sure you should rely on me to get this part done.”
He grunted and shrugged one shoulder. He didn’t look away from their crude trap, mind running through the steps for easily the tenth time. He wanted to be done with this so he could return to Gia, but he had to see her—and the boy—safe.
And he’d made a promise.
He had told Amy he’d see her son safe, that he’d help her find justice.
