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Nowhere left to run. They were going too fast for her to jump out, even if she wanted to hike on foot to the nearest town or outpost.

He rushed at her again, iron poker raised for a blow.

Essie braced herself and flexed her fingers on her derringer. He was bigger than her. Stronger. Even wounded, he could probably subdue her. She only had one shot. It had to count.

Raising her gun, she leveled it at his chest, held it steady, and pulled the trigger.

ESSIE PACED the quartersshe’d been given in Fort Defense, the nearest military outpost to the destroyed warehouse. The commander said he sent soldiers, though he wouldn’t let her go along. As if, after shooting the engineer and hiking her way here all by herself, she was a wilting flower who would faint at seeing the aftermath of a battle.

She’d seen one before, after all.

If Farrendel was there...if he was hurt...she could save him. She needed to be there, to grip his hand and use the force of their heart bond.

Rest, the commander had told her.Rest.

As if she could, knowing Farrendel was out there somewhere. Hurt. Captured. Dead.

It had been hours since she escaped. How long did it take the squad of soldiers to go to the exploded warehouse and back?

Boots sounded on the floor outside a moment before the door thunked with a knock. “Essie? You awake?”

Essie just about yanked the door off its hinges as she flung it open. “Avie.” She threw herself forward and hugged him, burying her face against his shoulder as she used to do as a little girl. He was only seven years older than her, but since their father died, Averett had been her shoulder to cry on, her protector, her big brother. “I don’t know where he is and he might be dead or the trolls might have captured him and they might be torturing him or he got blown up when I blew up that warehouse. What if I killed him?”

Her voice cracked on the last word.

Averett rubbed her back. “He’s not dead. At least, they didn’t find his body at the site. You didn’t blow him up.”

“Then they got him.” Essie’s voice fully broke this time. Farrendel’s worst nightmare. Was he being tortured even now?

Averett hugged her tighter. “We’ll get him back, Essie. We’ll get him back.”

Two more hands rested on her shoulders. Julien and Edmund, letting her know they were there for her.

Essie tried to choke back her sobs, muffling them against Averett’s shirt. She shouldn’t spend her time crying. Not when there was so much she should be doing instead.

Yet here she was crying anyway. Because her hearthurtin a way she’d never felt before. As if her ribs were about to cave into the emptiness in her chest. Logic didn’t stop the tears. She couldn’t simply will the ache away.