Chapter 6
The silver-haired Seer was a clever little thing. She dropped her bag and sailed away, unaffected by my magic. Had she had a vision of what I was about to do? Listened to her highly attuned intuition and known?
Regardless, neither female had Seen us coming. And Zuriel? He was in so much fucking trouble.
I couldn’t wipe the sinister smile from my face as I watched the Seer flap her white wings.
In the sun, they glittered like diamonds.
Worn leather plummeted from above, and I caught it before it smacked against the ground.
The smell of crushed ghostflower drifted from within, intoxicating and reverent.
My head swam like I’d imbibed an entire bottle of sape.
Burning my nose into the fabric, I inhaled deeply, drowning in her.
The scent called to me in a way no other ever had. I knew, without a doubt, the next time I spotted her she’d be mine.
They didn’t call me the Issaraeth, the Mindbreaker, for nothing. I’d hunt her, Command her, and catch her in my arms as she fell from the sky.
Bending my knees, I prepared to race after her. She wasn’t getting away from me this time. Maelsar was already airborne, shouting at others to follow him. Blood heated in my veins as my wings unfurled.
Nothing excited me more than a chase.
And when I was pursuing something as stunning as this creature?
Well, perhaps my bed would be more comfortable tonight after all.
Maelsar halted overhead, and I flew up to meet him, scanning the horizon. Clouds dotted the azure sky, thick and swollen. A breeze tousled the strands of my hair that had come loose from the leather strap.
“Where the fuck did she go?” I snarled at the male closest to me. Maelsar soared ahead, slicing through a shroud and dissipating the wisps.
“We don’t know, sir. We saw her come this way,” he replied, fingers flexing over the dagger in his hand.
My jaw tightened. “Fucking find her.”
I flapped my wings, drifting into a cloud and snatching at nothing but vapor. The next one yielded a similar result.
Why the fuck didn’t I call for Ilae before I shot into the sky?
I’d left him to guard the other prisoners, so none could escape while the rest of us captured the real prizes. A growl caught in my chest as I returned to the male I’d left behind.
“We’ve got the other Seer and the heir to House Ilythar?. We’re not leaving without her too. Korona Iaoth will be furious if you don’t find her.”
The male blanched at the mention of my sister. “Yes, sir.”
Glaring at him, then the skies that hid the Seer, I snapped my wings shut and dropped like a stone. The freefall spiked adrenaline in my veins, and I welcomed it. The rush. The fear.
None of the pressures placed upon me—duty, power, prestige—mattered as I careened to the earth. For a few seconds, I could feel fucking something.
There was no weakness allowed for me. Control was absolute, worshipped more than the creator of all life.
Mere feet above the ground I stretched the feathers out and slowed my descent, landing with a thud in the middle of Ithuriel’s courtyard. Bronze flashed in the sun as I approached his nephew.
I jerked the gag out of his mouth, then crouched so we were level with one another. “Who is she?”
Zuriel pressed his lips into a firm line, hate evident in his expression.
A menacing laugh slipped out of me. “I can force it, you know. I’d prefer not to break your mind, but I’m not above it.”
His wife screamed through the fabric between her teeth. She didn’t need words to convey that she definitely didn’t want him to tell me.
“Actually, I have a better idea,” I purred, rising. In two smooth strides, I gripped the female’s chin and hauled it up.
“Don’t you dare touch her,” Zuriel growled like he wasn’t my prey.
I didn’t deign to look at him. “So very pretty.” I brushed the back of my knuckle over her cheek. She trembled but refused to fight back, typical for these Elessarum pacifists. “I see why you gave up everything to have her, Zuriel.”
I wrapped my hand around her throat and squeezed. Her pulse fluttered weakly beneath my fingers. Zuriel tried to leap toward me, only to be restrained by two of my soldiers. “Stop!”
I didn’t take my gaze off the porcelain skin mottling. “Are you going to tell me who she is?”
A tear leaked out of the female’s eye as she struggled to claim another breath.
“You can’t kill her. Iaoth will be furious,” Zuriel spat, but the venom couldn’t hide his fear.
It was cute that he was hedging his bets on that.
“Not as furious as if I lose the icy-eyed one,” I replied, my words smooth as glass.
“Besides, Iaoth only needs her to See. She doesn’t need fingers for that.
” I released her throat and snatched her wrist. Metal clanked as I jerked her hands overhead, forcing her to fall into me for support.
She choked around her gag and curled her fingers into her palms.
I tutted. “That’s not going to save them. How much pain have you suffered, Elessarum fool? My bet is none. Maybe some scratches and scrapes from fleeing us before. Now, you’re going to learn true pain.”
A scream tore loose in her throat as I wrenched a finger free. Zuriel shouted at me to stop. I ignored both of their protests and snapped. The muscles in the female’s neck strained. Another drip of sorrow slipped down her cheek.
I felt nothing.
After all, this was who I had been trained to be.
I was just a tool for my sister to use at her pleasure.
“Are either of you ready to speak now?” I asked, finally looking at Zuriel again.
His expression was tormented, latched onto his wife. He was desperate, powerless, at my mercy.
With that, I could empathize.
Muscle feathering in his jaw, he nodded. His wife shrieked something that sounded a lot like “don’t” around her gag. But he was weak, as all men madly in love were. Probably why Koron Stadiel had never truly loved my sister.
It was best for me to do the same, despite the secrets my heart whispered to me in the dark—someone choosing me. And not because I Commanded them or because they sought my title.
I threw the female away and stalked toward the fallen noble. His gaze only met mine when I yanked his long hair and forced him to look up at me. “Speak,” I ordered like he was a dog.
His eyes narrowed. For a moment I thought he would spit in my face.
But then, with deliberate slowness, his lips curled back from his teeth. “She is a Seer.”
I scoffed. “That much I know. Try again or next time that finger won’t simply be broken.”
Rage flashed in the glacial orbs that mirrored my own. “Her name is Sylaira.”
Sylaira.
The name struck me like a thunderclap. It was elegant, haunting, and prophetic. So fucking perfect for the delectable creature that had slipped through my fingers. Obsession twisted into the fabric of my being.
“And?”
Zuriel’s wife let out a choked sob. His attention flicked in her direction, only to be brought back to me with a sharp tug on his scalp. “She’s been Elessarum with Heraphia since they were young girls. You’ll never get either of them to submit willingly.”
A wicked snicker worked its way up my throat.
“Do you think I expected them to surrender their sovereignty voluntarily?” I released him at last, stomping back to the female.
Zuriel thrashed against the soldier’s hold as I reached down and brushed the pearlescent hair out of his wife’s face.
Then, I ripped the gag out of her mouth.
“Where would she go? Tell me and I’ll ensure Zuriel can visit you while you’re under my sister’s care. ”
Tears flowed freely now, and she could scarcely breathe, let alone speak, for the force of her sobs.
“For the love of the Goddess,” I swore, returning to her husband. “One of you better give me some direction, right this fucking second, or I’ll ensure you never see each other again.”
“To the mountains,” Zuriel murmured, his focus on his hysterical partner.
I patted him on the cheek. He flinched away. “Was that so hard?” Snapping my fingers, I directed my crew to haul them to the wagons where the other useful ones waited.
Maelsar chose that moment to descend from the clouds, trailed by the rest I’d left in the sky. Their white feathered wings glinted in the sun as they flared them and landed with practiced ease in front of me.
“Let me guess, you lost her?” I growled as Maelsar sauntered forward, his magic disappearing with each step.
“Aye, though I think she flew toward Vaels?r,” he muttered, combing through his wind-tousled hair.
A frustrated groan slipped out of me, and I pinched the bridge of my nose.
If she sought haven in the rock-hewn temple, I might never catch her.
While the head priestess there had long held sympathies toward the Elessarum, she never housed entire groups.
The space was simply too small to hold them all.
But a single one?
With eyes as clear as a mountain lake?
Blessed with Sight?
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind my little fugitive would be welcomed with open arms.
“We have to hunt her down before she reaches the mountains,” I groused, crescents biting into my palms.
“What do you want us to do?” Maelsar asked me.
I looked past him, to the looming peaks in the distance. It would take days to reach Vaels?r, even flying, and without a pack for supplies, the Seer would struggle to survive among the wilderness. And the next time I had her in my sight, I’d Command her to stop.
“You and Calrien take the rest back to Sivy. She’s just a little Elessarum Seer. How hard could it be to catch her?”
Between Maelsar’s Mirror power and Calrien’s Amplifier magic, the two of them could handle a group of pacifists on their own.
Besides, I’d bring Ilae with me too. With his keen eyesight and speed of flight, Sylaira was as good as mine by morning.
“Not at all. We’ll see you tomorrow then,” Maelsar chuckled, sauntering through the courtyard and out into the grassy lawn where the others waited.
The moment he was out of view, I reached for Sylaira’s bag and brought it to my nose again. The cool, peachy scent heated my blood. Like a ghostflower, the Seer had been elusive, blooming sporadically and retreating before I reached her meadow.
But no longer.
Something clinked in the bag, and I dug into a pocket, pulling out several small vials containing clipped leaves. Uncorking one, I brought it to my lips and sniffed. The astringent scent of virelthorn was unmistakable.
A sinister laugh rumbled in my chest.
So the little fugitive didn’t want to See?
Judging by the quantity, she’d be desperate for some of her herbs within days.
And I’d be happy to provide them…for a price.