23
"Left," Azrail called from behind Maia while she ran as fast as she could, her heart sprinting out of her chest. Her mate was hurt, could be bleeding to death, could already be in pieces, and she should have beenwith him.
She took the next corner, following Az's directions, and shivered when magic raced down her spine, coating her senses until she could taste it. What had happened? Wherewashe?
This was the right road, and the house they were supposed to find the soldier in was obvious. A pale grey stone, it had a blue door, dirty windows, and neglected flower boxes on the sills. But it flashed with a sheen of opal magic, and the whole place stank of ozone.
An arm banded across her middle, drawing her back before she could launch across the street.
"Think, Maia," Azrail barked, in full rebel leader mode. "If you go in there, you'll be caught in the trap, too."
"Trap," she echoed, her pulse loud in her ears.
"It's a basic enchantment," he explained. "I've seen a dozen of them over the years. They're a pain in the ass to dismantle, but it won't hurt Ark."
Maia slumped against Azrail, dragging in a breath of his leather and tea scent to settle herself. She tasted sweet licorice on the air too, and her stomach tightened. She didn't dare look at Jaro, didn't trust herself to keep her expression even. He deserved her anger, her resentment, but she knew there was no way she could hide her disgust and he deserved better than that. Most was aimed at her bastard cousin, anyway. If sheevermet Yeven again, she'd rip him apart and stomp his entrails in the dirt.
And that was if he'd been one of Jaro's good clients. If she found out he was one of the ones who hurt him, who wielded cruelty like a blade until Jaro bruised and bled ... there'd be a reckoning the whole Saintlands would hear about.
"Maia," Azrail growled, thick with dominance, but Maia barely heard him over the ringing in her ears. Her heartbeat was louder than the crack of thunder that filled the sky.
"Maia," Kheir shouted, too, his fae growl overlapping with Azrail's until Maia caught her breath and—and released the magic rampaging through her chest. Her hands shook as it spiralled back into her core, as wild and bright as her silver soul power but ... sharper.Stranger.
She was the saint of life and souls, but what kind of lifewasthis magic?
"Shit," Bryon muttered.
Maia blinked until the street came back into focus, until Yeven's perfect sneering face faded, and she inhaled sharply.
It hadn't been thunder cracking, but the ground beneath their feet. It had split apart in a deep fissure, tall oak trees and wildflowers rioting from the crack and spreading to the house her Ark was inside.
The flowers covered the whole exterior of the house, smothering it.
"That's one way to kill the enchantment," Azrail joked, but it was half-hearted at best. He squeezed Maia's shoulder, scanning her face. She kept nothing hidden, was too raw to even try.
"I didn't mean to do that," she admitted, swallowing as she looked at the pastel flowers crawling across the street. They were so thick that she couldn't even see the stone beneath. She'd done that—grown these trees and flowers just by thinking about Jaro being hurt. "I can't control it."
Azrail kissed her cheek, and air filled Maia's lungs. "We'll figure it out."
"Is he definitely in there?" Kheir asked, coming up on her other side. Maia noticed Jaro kept close by his side, as if he only felt safe there, and her stomach knotted.
She didn't want to punish him, but she couldn't bear it. Any of it. Not yet.
"He's in there," she confirmed, pushing her sickness aside and crossing the street.
"Shit," Bryon muttered. "People are noticing the sudden glade in the middle of the road."
"Let them," Maia replied, stalking through a patch of grass and flowers.
"And if someone reports to your aunt that the Sapphire Knight isn't in Vassalaer, and she decides to set her Foxes on the compound while it’s vulnerable?" Bryon barked, hurrying after her and throwing a stern look at Az.
"She won't," Azrail argued.
Maia shut them out. She could only think about Ark's pain and Jaro's secret.
Kheir caught up to her as she trampled flowers, struggling to drag air into her lungs. The petals carpeted the ground all the way to the house, crushed under her feet as she raced faster down the path, panic a living thing in her chest.
"Breathe, Maia," Kheir said, catching her arm. "Take a breath, dearest."