Page 100

Groaning, he pushed himself to his feet. "Ow." He side-eyed Tye as he rubbed his head. "You wouldn't have actually ripped my arms off, though … right?"

Tye just shrugged, which made Liam's eyes go wide, and my laughter started back up again.

Both men turned to stare at me, and something in my chest tightened.

Liam looked none the worse for wear, and Tye looked … more alive than I'd seen him in months. He was staring at me in growing concern, eyes intense and brighter yellow.

"You okay, Witch?"

I nodded, shaking out my arms to stop the laughter. "Yes, yes. I'm sorry about that. I'm not sure what came over me."

Liam just grinned.

Rolling my eyes, I pointed at him. "Now," I said, other hand on my hip. "Tell us what Della told you."

Liam let out a big breath, those green eyes vibrant and warm, as he nodded.

"Lady Valtru figured out that humans on the verge of turning into a wraith strongly attract that monster like flies to refuse," he said. "Putting a corrupted person out in the open draws the thing, and once it gets a sniff, almost nothing can distract it from its meal."

My jaw dropped. Was that why all those cages were empty? Were theyfeedingthe thing?

"Also," Liam continued. "They've noticed that whenever it shows up to feed, it has injuries. Injuries that are gone by the time it leaves. My theory is that it feeds to heal itself between raids on Dragon's Peak."

My brows drew together. So why had it stopped its meal when it noticedme? I wasn't even corrupted …

Besides that, though, the intel made sense. But would it be enough to satisfy Frexin?

I turned to Tye.

He was staring at Liam with a thoughtful expression. "Hmmm. You may be on to something."

Liam's shoulders stiffened, but Tye continued, gaze turning to me. "It would explain some strange behavior we've noticed, like the time between raids. It always comes back at full strength, so we assumed we couldn't hurt it. But if our weapons work and the creature just heals quickly … then maybe we just need to adjust our approach a little to get the job done."

"Also, isn't Frexin the most corrupted human on the Isle?" I asked. "Could that be why it seems to hunt her most?"

Tye nodded, brow drawn, but Liam shook his head. "I think it's more than that. There's something about how it's so fixated on her —" He rubbed the back of his neck. "It almost seems … personal, doesn't it?"

A creature howled in the distance and Tye stiffened.

"We need to get going," he said. "If we move fast, we might make it back by midnight. We have the intel, now, but if Korym convinces Frexin that you turned against her — even that might not be enough."

Chapter 30

Kaiya

"Almost clear," Tye said softly from just ahead. His body was a shadow, only silhouetted by the pale glow of the moon, save for his eyes, glowing a dull yellow.

I searched the dark thicket of trees to the side of the road ahead of us, trying to make out the ghoul he'd seen shuffling away from us, but it was too dark. And with the damn collar still on, I couldn't sense anything beyond myself and my damn bonds.

The sun had set soon after we set out for Dragon's Peak, and for the last hour, we'd moved quietly through the forest under the light of the two moons — with only a few metal bars as weapons.

Without Tye and his enhanced shifter eyesight, we'd be blind and practically defenseless.

He'd taken the lead without question, though, navigating through the dark forest, helping us avoid threats.

And he'd been right about the wraith's numbers being reduced.

From what we'd seen, shades — or soul wraiths as he preferred to call them — were rare on this part of the Isle. And mind wraiths, as unmoving as they were, were even more rare. Only a few ghouls — body wraiths — remained, and we'd managed to avoid two on our path so far.