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I frowned, a foreboding sensation twisting in my gut. What did the mind mage have to do with this mission?

I narrowed my eyes at the men. They were being strangely cooperative.What were they up to?

Holden smirked at me, and Korym rubbed his tired-looking eyes. "Have a good day, Savior."

Whatever. They could do what they wanted. I had enough of myownproblems to deal with.

Forcing a long, slow breath, I nodded, then raced on to the wall just ahead.

Enormous gashes had been torn along the stone barrier and ballista wreckage littered the ground.

"Higher!" yelled a guard, gesturing towards a dozen prisoners using rope and pulley to raise up a large chunk of stone. "It's not high enough!"

Behind them, a handful of prisoners carrying tools dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding a dozen soldiers on horses barreling out of the fort.

Soldiers leaving to help capture the monster …

Stomach in my throat, I urged Mae forward.

Frexin. I needed to focus on Frexin.

Reaching through the bond, I tried to push a sense of warning to Tye to stay away. There was no response. The last thing I needed was him coming here, though — teeth and claws bared. Frexin wouldn't hesitate to collar or, gods forbid, kill him.

Making my way through the gate, I turned Mae to a newly erected staging area.

Frexin was there in dark blue, and next to her, in a brown muslin uniform, was that mind mage. They were poring over papers on a large table while soldiers worked around them, packing crates and preparing more wagons.

The soldiers worked in complete silence, and I could practically feel the fear emanating from most of them. A few of them pulled green bushes from the area, clearing walkways and roofs.

Had those berry bushes been there before?

I slid down from the fleiral, then did my best to tidy my hair and straighten my wrinkled uniform, careful to keep the mark on my neck hidden.

It would have to do.

"Lady Frexin," I said, walking up to her.

She looked up, a warm smile spreading across her face.

"Miss Maderoth!" she said, shooing away the mage and stepping around the table to meet me. "Welcome back, my dear."

I dropped to a curtsy, throat tight. It was the last thing I wanted to do right now, but I needed to pretendlike everything was fine — toignoremy fear for Tye and the simmering anger over what she'd done to him.

Come on, Kaiya. You're so close. Just hold it together for a little longer.

Don't think. Don't feel …

Reaching out, she grabbed my hands, her own encased in a pair of dark blue gloves.

I tensed, all too aware of what those hands could do.

"I'm sure you're impatient to free the prisoners, dear. Did everything go alright?"

Her stoney gaze traced over me slowly, as if searching for something, and my heart skipped a beat.

Did she know what I was hiding?

I barely resisted the urge to double check the mark was covered.