Page 37 of Burdened Bonds

“Miss Wence, you are not. Let’s not beat about the bush. This is going to be dangerous and you have no combat experience.”

“No combat experience?” Winnie huffs. “What was I doing then when the academy was attacked?” Stone goes to answer her question, but she cuts right through him. “Plus you said yourself, I’m a good magical.”

“You are,” Stone says. “You’re also important to Rhi and seeing as we’ve already managed to mislay two of her fated mates today, we’re not losing you too.”

“Which is why I should come with you.”

“No,” I say firmly. “You’re staying with the car.”

“And what the hell am I meant to do if you don’t come back?”

“If we’re not back by daybreak, you get the hell out of here.”

“And go where? Those men at the academy tried to arrest me.”

“Back to your family.”

She looks at me, a hard look a mere scrap of girl like herhas no right to make, and then throws that same hard stare Stone’s way.

“Fine,” she says, “but I don’t like it. And if you need me to come rescue you–”

I snort. Her rescue us? Less than likely.

Winnie points a finger at me. “Then you send up a flare. The colors of the academy crest.”

I have no intention of doing that. Stone’s right. We have a duty to keep this girl safe and we’ve already risked her well-being bringing her this far. Still, I nod my head, just to avoid an argument.

“Find somewhere to hide the car,” I say, tugging on the door handle and climbing out of the vehicle.

I wait for Stone to join me and then we head off, leaving the road and plunging into the trees.

“You know where you’re going?” Stone says.

I close my eyes, take a deep inhale searching for scents on the wind, hunting for traces of magic. I catch a hint of both. Southeast.

“This way,” I tell him and he follows me through the woodland.

The trail grows stronger the further we travel, and twice we’re forced to lay down low among the dead leaves to avoid passing patrols catching sight of us.

It’s Lowsky’s men. No soldiers here. But something is wrong. I can tell by their skittish behavior, by the unease I smell in their scents.

Have they heard that Lowsky’s dead? Is that what’s bothering them?

Or, if they were working with the forces in the West, as we suspect, do they fear retribution now the invasion has failed? Are they alarmed, like the rest of us, at my uncle’s sudden rise to power? The chancellor was ruthless with notime or patience for the gangs but he was a mere pussycat compared to my uncle.

From a distance we follow three gang men as they trample through the forest, muttering to each other in concerned voices and soon we see the high fences of the compound in the distance.

From what I can make out, it’s not as well-fortified as I’d expected, a few gang members lolling around the entrance and a few circling the perimeter.

“This doesn’t seem right,” I muse.

“What doesn’t?” Stone asks, crouching beside me.

“Why are there so few of them? Why aren’t they properly organized?”

“I’m telling you, Az, Lowsky is dead. Their leader has gone. They probably don’t know what the hell to do.”

I rub at my chin, watching the men. They look unsettled.