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Tyr pointed an arm at the raven. “We can’t leave him here.”
“We can’t take him unless she releases her magic,” Ana replied. The pace of her words grew desperate. “I’ve been searching for ways to free him forweeks. I don’t even know why he’s still alive, Tyr, because the others are all dust now, their hearts locked in boxes in her underground lair, like prizes to be kept.”
“Her underground...” He shook his head. “Where is it?”
“I’m not taking you there,” Ana said. She turned back toward the raven. “Var, did she sayanythingto you this time?”
“Never does.”
“Didn’t mention where she’d been?”
“The day she actually says a word to me, Ana, you’ll be the first to know.” He cackled, a sound tinged with madness. “Theonlyto know, because who else ever visits me? Unless you intend to bring your boyfriend every time? Did you tell him how I tried to take you right here by the fire?”
Tyr’s face rushed with heat. “Hewhat?”
“It wasn’t his fault.” Ana swatted the air with a dazed look. “The magic she chose for him, it was different than the other times.Everythingabout Varradyn’s capture has been different, and if I could just discoverwhy,we might find a means to end this and save him.”
“Oh, I’m dying here, no doubt about it,” Varradyn quipped, followed by another grating laugh. “This cider is good. Better than the wine and ale you’ve been bringing.”
“Thanks,” Tyr muttered. He reached for Ana, but she angled away. He couldn’t get the image of the raven trying to mount his love out of his head, nor the anger that came with it. “Ana.”
“We have to go,” she said again. She jogged toward Varradyn and knelt.
Tyr flexed his fists, restraining a foolish wave of rage at the sight of them so close, despite the chains marking the raven a prisoner, a victim.
“See if you can get her talking when she returns.”
“You’ve lost your mind if you think I’m saying one word to her.” Varradyn snorted. Then his eyes clouded. “Ah, wait. She did speak. I just forgot.”
“What did she say?” Ana planted her hands on his shoulders.
“Not to me. She was talking to herself, something about the cellar. And then off she went, down, down, down.”
“She wentintothe cellar?” Ana probed. “When?”
“Right before you two arrived.”
Ana stumbled back into a stand. “And she wentintothe cellar? You’re certain?”
Varradyn nodded. “Hasn’t come back up. I would know. Nothing else to do but watch the birds shit in the snow and the crone travel to her lair.”
“Is there a lock on the outside of the cellar by chance?” Tyr asked.
“Tried that already.” Ana screwed her mouth to one side. “She must have another way out.”
“No,” Varradyn said. “No, she always comes out this way. The day you locked her in, I watched the bolt slide on its own. She emerged looking no worse for it.”
Ana gathered the bag and the cask and shoved them under her cloak. “I have another idea.”
“Don’t keep it to yourself,” Tyr said.
“You won’t like it,” she warned. “You’re going to return to your cabin. And I... I’m going to search her room, while she’s occupied.”
Tyr’s mouth dropped open with a hard laugh. “You’re damn right I don’t like it, and you’re not doing it. Not by yourself.”
“I wasn’t asking your permission.” Ana went to him and looked up. “I’m doing my best to let you in, but there are some things I must do for myself. If she catches me, she’ll berate me and that will be it. She still needs me, for a while longer anyway—for some foul purpose she hasn’t bothered to explain. If she catchesyou, you’ll be dead. And I willnotlose you again, Tyreste.”
“Ana, no, this is foolish and reckless, and—”
