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“I freed you, too,Glacian!” The words come strangled, desperate. “Or do you believe that pin was left in your shackles by mistake?”

Dawsyn doesn’t much care for Ruby’s notions of claimed heroism and presses the blade down an inch to prove it, ready to silence her, as she ought to. Ryon, however, suddenly grasps Dawsyn’s wrist, holding her still.

“You did that?” Ryon asks Ruby, dubious.

“Of course!” Ruby gasps.

“And what of the inn owner then?” Ryon growls. “How did you find him?” His voice, the authority in it, rankles Dawsyn once more.

She peers down at his hand still wrapped around her wrist. “Let go of me,” she warns him.

With a grimace, he pulls his fingers away, his expression stony.

“Why don’t you spare me your interruptions, hybrid, and go where you might be wanted. Find Baltisse. I do not need your help here.”

Ryon dithers, torn. “And what will you do with the captain?”

Ruby’s eyes flit between them, her breathing erratic.

Dawsyn considers the woman. “It won’t be difficult to dispose of her.”

The captain blanches. “I… I helped you!”

“And you have yet to give a convincing explanation,” Dawsyn replies. “How am I to believe that the Queen’s captain has truly shifted her allegiance?”

Ruby shakes her head. “If my aid in both of your escapes is not proof enough, then I can only ask for your trust.”

Dawsyn shakes her head at the woman, bewildered. “What possible desire could you have to follow me up this mountain? Are you running from something?”

Ruby shudders beneath Dawsyn’s hold. No doubt the snow is beginning to bite her exposed skin. The woman grimaces. “It seems I am possessed by some moral obligation. I just… I must see for myself. I cannot keep guarding the Queen if she is what you say. If I’ve spent my life in servitude to a tyrant, then I must know.”

Moral obligation. Dawsyn knows that madness well. Still, this could be trickery. Some concealed intention likely lurks where she cannot see. Dawsyn just can’t quite grasp it.

Ruby splutters again. “The mage! You said she was here, somewhere, did you not? You may ask her if what I say is true. When we made our plans, she did not think me ill-intended. She can confirm what I did to help!”

Dawsyn narrows her eyes. It is a compelling thought. If anyone were to glean this woman’s true intentions, it would be Baltisse and her mind reading. “How could you have possiblyfoundthe mage? How could you come to know of her existence?”

Ruby hurries to explain. “Once the Queen became aware of you, she ordered that I learn where you might stay. I sent a guard to tail you back to that inn in the forest where you had lodgings. I went back there myself looking for accomplices, and I found Baltisse, the inn owner, and a rather peculiar man in a blonde wig.”

Salem. Esra.

Ruby continues, grasping for anything that might save her. “The mage told me things! Entrusted me with them. She told me about your necklace! She asked me to ensure it was not taken from your neck.”

As one, all three look to the simple silver chain that can only just be seen at Dawsyn’s throat – the necklace Baltisse had gifted her before Dawsyn’s capture and imprisonment.

“She said that you would be wearing a necklace. She said that it had been charmed so that one could track it!”

Dawsyn narrows her eyes. “Liar. The necklace has not been charmed.”

“It has,” Ryon murmurs.

Dawsyn’s fingers loosen ever so slightly from the blade. She turns and inflicts upon Ryon a most sinister glare. “What did you say?”

“I had Baltisse charm the necklace before we left for Glacia. I needed a way to find you if we were separated. The captain tells the truth.”

Dawsyn glowers with a ferocity to rival a god, searching for deception in him. There are flecks around his irises, and they disappear as his pupils dilate. His eyes become nothing but black, depthless holes – easy to fall into. The hybrid does not even have the decency to look ashamed.

“You’ve had metracked, this entire time? Like an animal? A pet?”