Hello?” she said, answering the call. “Wait, is—”
Lynzi didn’t bother to wait to hear what else Sarik might say. Humans were so fragile; minutes, even seconds, could matter if Alysia was severely injured.
As for Christian, it was hard to know. As Sarik understood it, Triste witches could heal almost anything, but healing required concentration and concentration required consciousness. If Christian was unconscious, he could very well die if his injuries were severe and no one was close enough to help.
He could die.
She wasn’t at all sure how she felt about that. Her body and mind seemed numb and full of static.
“My lady?” Jeht inquired.
She told him, because she needed to tell someone. “Someone I was once close to might be seriously hurt.”
Christian Denmark was one of the most dangerous people she had ever met, in general and to her in particular. She had been so careful to keep herself in silhouette so he could not get a good look at her at the Onyx Hall and to keep him from ever seeing her face after that.
Why did she now want to run to the hospital to make sure he was okay?
Because it was too late for it to matter.
“The woman who was attacked earlier?” Jeht asked.
“She’s hurt, too,” Sarik said. “And it’s my fault. I …” How to put it into terms that the young Mistari would understand? “I chose to leave my tribe six years ago. I did not tell my father-king or the mate he had chosen for me that I was leaving or where I was going. I ran away and I hid, because I knew he would look for me. Jason ran from his … his queen … and we came here together. The woman you asked about will tell my father where I am.”
Just saying the words made her mouth dry. Scenes from her childhood—and of that nal, horrible day— flashed through her mind.
“You fear he will bring you back,
The term literally meant “obedient child,” and implied being under another’s power—
specifically, in this case, the tribe’s leader.
She nodded, which caused Jeht’s confused frown to deepen.
“Can you fight him?” he asked.
She shook her head. “He is very strong, and has many allies.”
Lynzi and Alysia had both said it: SingleEarth could not a ord a direct con ict with the
Bruja guilds. SingleEarth probably had more political power, and possibly more money, but
Kral would not hesitate to kill to get his daughter back. Sarik wouldn’t let herself be responsible for the deaths that would inevitably occur if SingleEarth tried to stand up to
Onyx.
If she tried to stay at SingleEarth, he would come for her. He might hesitate to target someone like Diana, but he would certainly kill Jason—because he would want to punish her and because Jason had belonged to Maya. For similar reasons, Sarik couldn’t run. Kral had tracked her this far. Disappearing again would put everyone she had formed a connection with during the last six years in danger.
She didn’t have a choice.
“We’re leaving,” she told the boys.
They didn’t question her; even Quean probably understood.
She had left Onyx of her own free will six years ago, and she had survived her self-
imposed exile. If she returned without being forced and declared herself independent, then by Mistari law she had to be respected as a queen. In Kral’s territory, she would still be under his command to an extent, but she could claim sovereignty over Jeht and Quean and could keep Kral from them long enough to get them back to the main tribes. If she needed to go back for now in order to keep SingleEarth safe, she would at least accomplish something by getting the cubs home.
Anger rose, at last, burning bright. It was the same anger that had sustained her growing up in Onyx. It was the fury that had allowed her to face the blood and the violence, and had erased any sign of fear from her face and her conscious mind. She had put that anger away when she had joined SingleEarth, but now she needed it.
The anger threatened to recede only once, when she went to pack a few belongings and to leave a message for Jason.
When she’d found the weapons after breaking into Alysia’s room, she had been certain that no Bruja member of such high rank could possibly be in SingleEarth without an ulterior motive. Alysia had to be there for a job, or because she was being hunted by someone even more dangerous than herself. Sarik had panicked, certain that
Diana was already gone. If Lynzi had known about Sarik’s suspicions, she would have confronted Alysia and tipped her off but then given her a chance to explain herself, because
SingleEarth was all about second chances.
So Sarik had grabbed the crossbow and bolts and followed Alysia into the storm, planning to shoot one bolt in the human’s back and then plant the others in her room.
After the weapons were discovered, her death would have been blamed on some kind of guild conflict.
But Sarik hadn’t been able to go through with the kill. Head swirling with nightmares and panic, she had pointed the crossbow at Alysia but had been unable to pull the trigger.
When the three shapes had emerged from the administration building, it had for a few seconds seemed so clear: no one needed to die. After the attack, Sarik could con de to Lynzi that she had seen a weapon in Alysia’s room, and the human would be forced out of
SingleEarth in a heartbeat.
It had only taken a few seconds to do the stupidest thing she had ever done in her life.
Everything had gone wrong, karma coming back to bite her. Jason had walked outside, and Alysia hadn’t done anything Sarik had expected. An undercover Bruja mercenary wouldn’t have run forward and risked herself to take care of other SingleEarth members.
She wouldn’t have bled to help Jason.
Now Alysia was in the hospital, and it was all Sarik’s fault.
They would hate her if they knew.
She deserved it.
CHAPTER 15
THERE WAS NO getting around it—Alysia had to ask.
“Where is
Kral just kind of nudged her, and that was enough to send ares of pain to her brain from her leg and her ribs. She gasped, trying not to pass out again … or wait, passing out might be good at the moment … but no, she stayed conscious. And when the pain pushed the drugs aside for a second, she managed to figure out what he was asking.
When Alysia had rst joined Onyx, Kral had wanted to know the same thing: the whereabouts of his daughter, Sahara. She had disappeared right before Alysia had rst come to Onyx.
“I told you before,” she choked out, “I’ve never met her.”
The fact that he might kill her had occurred to her intellectually but hadn’t really hit her yet. He might kill her. He might let the drugs wear o and just allow her to die from shock or infection. He might torture her to
