They stirred at her call. Thana made a little cry as the groundbegan to tremble. More cries came from outside, prompting Sylph to hurry evenas the earth had no such concept. The rumble became a crash, a shuddering roar,then the scream of long dormant stone rising past its fellows. She daredanother look.
The Order was on their feet, crying out as spears of stone rosearound them. Calla’s wide eyes met Sylph’s, and she pointed, mouth open toaccuse. But now that the stone was free, Sylph taught it how to be as water,and it flowed around the Order, snuffing their campfire and entombing them.
Well, not quite. She commanded windows to open on the structure,apertures too small to climb through. When she eased everything into stillness,she couldn’t help a smile.
In the light of the candle, Thana seemed in awe, and part ofSylph considered it might be worth embracing the forbidden if she could seethat look all the time.
“Curse it, Thana,” the prince yelled. “What are you playing at?”His pale face shone at one of the windows.
“I…” Thana licked her lips but crawled out of the tent, Sylphfollowing. “I think you may have been manipulated by a pyramid, Gun.”
“You have gone mad.”
“By Calla,” Thana said, her chin lifting as if confidence wasrushing back. “This cousin I’ve never heard of.”
“Clearly, we don’t tell each other everything,” he said, thewords clipped. “Nothing you told me of Lady Sylph included her masonry skills.Now let me out.”
“She cannot,” Sylph said. “They are my masonry skills, after all. The stone isunder my power.” She bowed. “I must beg your forgiveness, Highness, for I willnot set you free until Thana is certain your mind is clear.”
He slid his lip through his teeth, no doubt holding in a wealthof expletives. “And do you possess a mind pyramid?”
Thana glanced at Sylph and swallowed. “No.”
“Then how, in your spirits-cursed brain, do you propose to clear us?”
Luckily, his angry tone seemed to make Thana more determined, areaction to an angry royal that Sylph had never witnessed. “If I’m right, I’llsteal one when Calla’s cohorts catch up to us.”
“Curse you, I don’t have any cohorts,” Calla yelled from anotherwindow. “And if you haven’t heard of me before, trust me, you’ll remember meafter I get my hands around your neck.”
Sylph’s gaze shifted back to the prince. He didn’t censure hisso-called cousin for threatening his friend, but that could be for manyreasons, the most obvious being that he wanted to strangle Thana, too.
“Highness,” she said, ignoring Calla. “We are acting in the onlyway that makes sense to us at the moment. If you have not been hypnotized, I amcertain you will understand in time.”
Several cries of protest came from behind him. He closed hiseyes, then opened them and said in a calmer voice, “And what do you intend todo when these supposed cohorts arrive?”
“Best if you don’t know,” Thana said quickly. She pulled Sylphsome distance away. “What should we do now?”
Sylph blinked and nodded at the prison. “This concludes what Ihad planned.”
Thana ran her free hand through her hair. Sylph took the candleso she could pace and gesticulate as she liked. “Well, I have some pyramids,and you have your stone power. If anyone tries to cancel our pyramids, you canturn it against them. And Calla is unarmed.”
“Quite.” Sylph was still proud of that.
“And it’s not cold, so the Order won’t be that uncomfortable. Andthey’ll live.”
“Yes.” She suspected Thana’s questions were rhetorical butthought she should contribute something.
“Traps,” Thana said, snapping her fingers. “You hunt. You canmake traps.”
Sylph frowned, casting her mind back to the hunt but findingnothing useful. “I believe riding down prey and shooting it is a separate skillfrom laying a trap.”
“Makes sense,” Thana said with a sigh. “And it’s just our luck.Illis is the person I’d ask, but I don’t think he’ll be in the mood to help.”She lifted her arms, dropped them, and blew out her cheeks.
Too adorable. Sylph bent slightly and kissed her, lingering forjust a moment before she stepped back.
Thana smiled. “What was that for?”
“Inspiration.”
She tilted her head as if confused, still grinning before hereyes widened. “I may not know how to lay a complex trap, but I know how to diga pit.” She tapped the stone pyramid. “If you don’t mind, of course.”
Sylph found she didn’t mind, not even a little, not in thismoment. “For you? I never mind.”
* * *
Sylph’s abilities were awe-inspiring, worship-worthy, and a thingof beauty to behold.
And Thana was so jealous, it felt as if she were eating her ownliver.
Before, she’d been too swept up in the moment to ponder howunfair it was, but now, as she waited among a sea of wide pits and a prison ofstone, she could really sink her teeth into some old-fashioned envy.
As Sylph had dug the pits, Thana had labored with her hands,covering their work with piles of branches. Sylph had covered other holes witha brittle crust of earth that wouldn’t hold any weight. And now came thewaiting, the pondering, and the spirits-cursed jealousy, the kind that couldeasily bake into resentment and kill a relationship.
As if they had one.
Now that the crisis had been temporarily suspended, Sylph hadgone back to silence, though it didn’t seem as tense as before. Thana didn’tknow what to do. Their every interaction seemed a lot harder than arelationship should be.
She wandered to the prison. Gunnar leaned against his window, thepicture of idleness, but she recognized his coiled grace, the ability to reactat a moment’s notice when his enemies didn’t expect it.
“I’m not your enemy, Gun,” she said. “I’m trying to help.”
“I know that’s what you think. What you’re actually doing iswasting time, and you’re not even doing that in your beautiful lover’s arms. I don’tknow if I can forgive that.”
Partly a jest but partly not. It stung. “I don’t know what to doabout her. When I need her, when there’s action to be taken, she’s there. Whenit’s over, she…freezes, and she says things that make me want to smack her.”
“Are you seriously asking my advice
