43
The world stopped the second the dark saint closed that metal around Jaro's throat. Maia's mate knelt in the mud as if he no longer had possession of his own body, and her heart snapped as she watched the emptiness in his eyes. First because of a trauma Maia knew too damn well herself, and then … just empty. Flat. Full of nothing. Like Vawn's eyes.
Maia had screamed and roared and snarled, but now she was too horrified, too choked with terror, to make a single sound.
An indenture around a beastkind's ankle was enough to paralyse them with pain so they never disobeyed. What would an indenture big enough to collar someone do? If he stepped out of line, would it kill him?
She tried to form his name, to call to him, but she couldn't choke it out. Couldn't look away from the flat emptiness in his eyes. Where was her Jaro? Was he still in there?
"What have you done?" Ark snarled.
"Nothing yet," the saint replied with a snort, throwing a smirk at her companions—the sadist and the miser. "Well, Enryr? We're all waiting. Let's see if you can back up all your boastful claims."
The broad, squat saint snorted, and released his rough grip on Maia's hair. He’d dragged her head up, forcing her to watch.
Stalking towards the centre of the circle, now he moved his tanned hands in a tight circle, creating … something that hurt Maia's head to look at. She returned her gaze to Jaro, inching through the mud now she wasn't trapped by the sadistic saint.
She needed to get to Jaro, needed to beg him to fight, to not leave her. She grasped the bond that linked their souls, but even her soul was shaky and weak, and there was something unfamiliar about Jaro's soul. Like it had iced over, full of shards that would cut her if she got too close.
Maia didn't care if she bled; she needed to get to him, and get him out of here.
"There," Enryr said with a smirk. "Try it, now. And remember it'sallof them."
"Mmmm," the black-haired woman said, turning in a circle and contemplating them with a twisted little smile on her dark face. Maia could only look at her from the corner of her eye, everything about the saint designed to appeal, to entice, to kill.
The saint cleared her throat, and with a flash of delight in her endless black eyes, she said in a ringing voice, "Kill the person you love most."
"Ohhh, that's good," Enryr praised with a beaming grin.
The other, grey-haired saint just leant against the sacrificial stone and sighed, his eyes rolled skyward. As if this torment that Maia couldn't stand with a single fibre of her being wasboringhim.
Maia jolted out of her silence the second Jaro took a step, his body moving like a machine. She understood all at once—whatever Enryr had done with that power had given Ismene's bestie control of the indenture around Jaro's throat.
Indentures couldn't be used like this—all they could do was send a shock of pain to stop a beastkind disobeying. But Maia couldn't help but remember that conversation she'd overheard between the dark saint and her aunt. It had sounded like Ismene had passed the law to subjugate beastkind on the saint's orders.
For this reason?
Oh holy fuck. What had the saint said?Kill the person you love most.
Maia needed to fight through the dizzying pain and get to Jaro, to stop him finding Isak. Even if they weren't on great terms right now, he'd never forgive himself for hurting the brother he'd spent half his life fighting to get back to.
And there was a part of Maia that tightened painfully when she thought of losing her mate, even if she wasn't particularly attached to Isak. Her matesmeantsomething to her, no matter who they were. They were part of her soul, and she'd be damned if she let anything happen to them.
Especially not Jaro.
A hand gripped Maia's shoulder so hard it must have left bruises, and Maia dragged in a gasp at the feeling of icy lightning moving through her muscles into her bloodstream. The pain made her dizzy, made everything fuzzy and indistinct, but when she dragged her stare to Ark's strained, golden face, the edges of her vision seemed to sharpen.
Ark, whose saint was the Lady Justice, who abhorred injustice and fought for honour, who had his own healing magic…
Maia met his gaze and swallowed the lump in her throat, using the rush of power and healing he gave her to surge to her feet and stumble towards Jaro.
Someone growled a warning—Bryon, maybe—but Maia took another step, only realising Jaro wasn't striding for the gaps between standing stones to chase down Isak when he was three feet in front of her.
"Stop!" Kheir growled, full of dominance that made Maia's steps hitch.
Ark growled his own warning, fighting like hell to stand. But he'd given her too much of his power, and though Maia was standing, blinking her eyes into focus, Ark was still wavering on his feet, struggling through whatever agony poured through him.
"Jaro," Maia breathed, watching him, her heart stuttering when his pace didn't slow, when his path didn't veer or falter.