to save his kingdom? Maybe I want to make my own future!'
Fyn shook his head. 'I won't take you.'
Isolt's eyes blazed.
He was sure she hated him. It was for the best. Without a word he turned and left, striding up the stairs.
So deep in thought was he, he almost did not hear someone running down the steps. There was just time to duck into a storeroom doorway before Piro flew past him, hair streaming behind her.
What was she up to now? Silly little Piro.
Piro jumped down the last two steps into the grotto, expecting to find it empty, but Isolt was there by the pool with the wyvern's head in her lap, weeping silently.
Isolt turned at the sound of Piro's feet, her face awash with tears. When she saw who it was, she looked away, clearly disappointed.
'He didn't come?' Piro asked.
'He came to tell me he would not take me.' Isolt's voice grew thin with anger. ' Too dangerous, he said. But the real reason is that he sees me only as a prize. Fyn meant to use me in his game of Kingdoms, just like all the others. And I thought he was different!'
'Fyn is different.' Piro knelt beside her. 'I'm sure he was thinking only of your safety.'
Isolt wiped the tears from her cheeks with tight, angry gestures and stared across the pool, refusing to meet Piro's eyes.
'Look!' Her lips parted hopefully.
Piro followed her gaze. A shadow appeared in the low arched entrance to the Ring Sea. A small boat was riding the gentle swell into the grotto.
'Fyn?' Isolt stood and ran around the pool's edge.
Piro followed. Loyalty whined uneasily.
On the next up-swell, the boat slid into the grotto and four men lifted their heads. They were not Captain Nefysto's sea-hounds. Piro had a bad feeling as two of them swung coils of rope. With a powerful stroke of the oars, the oarsman drove the boat across the pool, reaching the far side. The men climbed out, blocking off their escape.
Piro glanced to the arch — could they swim for it?
Isolt made a dash, clicking her tongue for the wyvern. A man confronted her. The wyvern reared on her back legs, roaring. The skin on Piro's arm's lifted in primal response.
The first man grabbed Isolt as she tried to duck under his arm. Loyalty leapt for him. A second man stepped in front and slashed at the wyvern, who squealed in pain and writhed in mid-air, falling with a splash into the pool.
Isolt screamed. Her captor covered her mouth. She bit his hand, and he cuffed her over the head, stunning her. His companion hefted her over his shoulder.
Piro jumped on his back, knocking him sideways. He almost fell in the pool. Someone grabbed her from behind, pulling her off him. She tossed her head back into his face, heard a satisfying crunch of bone. Her feet were off the ground and she swung them hard, connecting with her captor's shins. He grunted in pain. They already had Isolt in the boat.
Piro strained to break free. 'Isolt!'
Then she was flying through the air, thrown like baggage. She hit the ground and rolled to her feet. Turning, she found the men were all in the boat. They rowed past her, aiming for the low arch. They were leaving her behind.
Piro took a running leap and jumped, landing in the boat. It tipped alarmingly. Someone slammed their hand on her back, driving her down into the belly of the boat. She lay amidst the men's boots next to Isolt, who was pale and silent, blood seeping from her nose.
Down here Piro felt a hum of power. It set her teeth on edge with its wrongness. As they passed under the grotto's arched entrance, the power rose until her temples throbbed with each heart beat.
And just as suddenly it passed. They were out in the Ring Sea, stolen from under the mage's protection.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Fyn continued up the steps after giving Piro a few moments to reach the grotto. He'd only climbed five treads when he met Tyro coming down. Fyn was dressed to travel, and the agent was no fool. He would try to stop him. Fyn's hand reached for his sword hilt.
Tyro's gaze went to the weapon, then to Fyn's face. 'Is this how you repay the mage?'
'Let me pass,' Fyn warned, fingers closing on the hilt.
Tyro lifted his hands and Fyn felt the agent's Affinity rise. He knew himself outmatched. Still, one quick strike before the Power-worker could infiltrate his abbey-trained Affinity wardings, and it would be over. Luckily the weapons master had taught him how to draw and strike in one motion.
'I won't let you take her into danger,' Tyro said.
Fyn's fingers relaxed. 'You seem to know what's going on, but your spies don't know everything. I just told Isolt I would not take her with me. She hates me now.' He felt weary. 'Let me pass.'
Tyro lowered his hands. 'Then pass. I told Captain Nefysto to take you to Merofynia, when you were ready. Everything you've done has been according to my plan.'
Fyn frowned and his cheeks flamed as he realised his subterfuge had been for nothing. He drew breath to reply but, before he could, a terrible roar echoed up the stairwell.
'Freezing Cyena, what was that?' Tyro said.
'An attacking wyvern.' Fyn shuddered, the memory fresh in his mind.
The wyvern squealed in pain. Isolt screamed.
Fyn turned and ran down the steps with Tyro at his heels. If that wyvern had attacked Isolt, he'd kill it himself.
As Piro screamed Isolt's name, his stomach twisted in knots. Fyn leapt the last five steps, did not feel the impact as his shoulder crashed into the far wall. Rounding the bend, he came to an abrupt halt in the empty grotto.
No, not empty.
The wyvern floated face down in the pool, its blood staining the water. Fyn looked for Piro and Isolt's bodies but did not find them.
'Where are they?' Tyro said. Fyn felt the agent's Affinity build. 'My wards have been breached. I fear — '
At the sound of his voice the wyvern lifted its head and whimpered.
'Help me.' Fyn unbuckled his sword and plunged into the pool, reaching for the wyvern.
Tyro dropped into the water next to Fyn.
'I feared the wyvern had turned on Isolt,' Fyn confessed. 'But I was wrong. It was trying to protect her.'
Tyro nodded, and grunted with effort as they dragged the Affinity beast onto the broad stone lip of the grotto pool. The agent tugged his shirt off, packing it in the wyvern's wound, murmuring gently to the beast as she whimpered again.
Feeling useless, Fyn sensed waves of power roll off Tyro. The agent knelt, his head bent, lids lowered. As Fyn watched, Tyro's eyes moved rapidly under his lids and he grimaced as if in pain. When he straightened and looked at Fyn, his expression was hard.
'Palatyne's a cunning brute. He sent the Utlander to retrieve Isolt. The Utlander knew his power would trigger my wards, so he sent ordinary men in a boat with just enough power to reveal the grotto's disguised entrance.'
'You know this how?'
Tyro glanced to the Affinity beast. 'I skimmed the wyvern's memory.'
'What of Piro?'
Tyro looked down, then winced. 'She jumped into the boat to be with Isolt.' His voice caught. 'Brave, foolish
