Page 92 of To Kill a King
Grabbing the younger elf’s shoulders, he shook them. “Lindir, wake up.”
The medic, eyes narrowed, shoved Elessan away. “Stand back, mountain elf. Lindir’s hurt. He shouldn’t be moved.”
“Lindir!” Elessan’s voice broke as he fought to reach around the physician and shake the man again. “Answer me! What happened to Aliya?”
Lindir stirred with a groan.
The healer shifted her attention to the prone man.
Lindir cracked his eyes open and turned his head to face Elessan. He swallowed, licking his lips. “She’s human,” he whispered.
Elessan leaned closer. He had no time to explain the truth. “And?”
“A man…with a jewel on his forehead and white eyes…took her.” The archer raised a trembling finger and pointed past his feet before his arm flopped down. “That way.”
Elessan’s heart thudded once in his chest and crashed to the ground. Brooks, Malkov’s Arcane Inquisitor. Valek. He shouldn’t have assumed the enchanted forest would keep the man out of Filathas. Somehow, Malkov had discovered a way to breach the elves’ best line of defense.
He’d worry about that later, after he found Aliya.
“Get back!” The medic pushed Elessan out of the way as she brought a cup of liquid to Lindir’s mouth. “Here, drink.”
Elessan stood and walked in the indicated direction. At the edge of the clearing, he located three sets of prints leading into the woods.
“Svialto? What’s going on?” Tsara’s voice came from over his shoulder.
“Aliya was here, in the fight. The assassins took her.”
Tsara frowned. “Are you sure? Three pairs of footprints doesn’t mean they kidnapped her. She’s probably back at home, wondering where you are.”
He shook his head and turned to face the princess. “Lindir says they did.”
“Why take her? Why not kill her and be done with it?” Tsara’s eyes widened. “By the Lord of Light. The king wants to steal her magic?”
He bit his lip and nodded. “I’m going after them. Will you help me?”
She pressed her lips into a thin line and stared into the forest beyond. “I will. But I think it would be best if we waited until morning.” Tsara threw him an apologetic glance. “Not all of us can see as well in the dark as a mountain elf.”
He studied where the trail disappeared into the darkness. “I can’t leave her out there tonight. If something happens, or they hurt her, I’ll never forgive myself.”
Chapter 19
Aliya
“Brooks, do you know where you’re going?”
The familiar baritone voice rumbled through Aliya’s bones. The hard ridge of the speaker’s shoulder jammed into her gut with every step. Her headache shoved two spikes deep into her brain at the temples. She bit back a groan. The longer her kidnappers didn’t realize she was awake, the more time she had to figure out an escape plan.
Hopefully Lindir had survived. Her stomach twisted, sending a dagger of ice through her heart as she thought of Cressida’s cooling body lying in the middle of the clearing. She’d been Aliya’s last best hope at learning to control her magic, now ripped from her grasp by her own stupidity.
And she’d killed two people.
A tear worked its way free and spilled from the corner of her eyes.
She was a murderer now. Even if it had been in self-defense and lost in the throes of emotion, that was no excuse. She’d taken two lives. Her hands would be forever stained with their blood. Nausea roiled, sending a bitter aftertaste up the back of her throat.
“Shove it, Stephen,” Brooks grumbled from somewhere up ahead. “Just cuz you couldn’t find your way out of a beer stein don’t mean the rest of us’re lost.”
Aliya swallowed. She was a terrible person and would never be able to look any of her friends in the eye again.