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“ This was a mistake,” Kalyani said.

Rohan lowered the elf’s head to the pillow and looked at his younger sister. Her deep brown curls were kept away from her face by a strip of gray cloth. She had always hated her hair. When they were younger, he would chase her around, tugging on the ringlets just to get a rise out of her.

But they weren’t children anymore. There was no time for playing such games.

He looked into her brown eyes, so dark they were almost black, and said, “ It was our only option.”

“ You should’ve told me what you planned.”

“ You would’ve stopped me.”

She clenched the bowl in her hand and bit out, “ Aye . I would have. Because it was foolish. What were you thinking to purposefully get taken?”

“ It was the only way.”

“ Stop saying that,” Kalyani said angrily. She rose stiffly from the stool and walked to the table, her back to him. “ What if it hadn’t worked? Then you and Lata would’ve been taken from me.”

Rohan watched her shoulders droop. She was as frazzled and worried as he was. The difference between them was that everyone in their village looked to him to fix problems. He had to act, and there hadn’t been time for a debate. “ But it did work.”

She turned to him, her face set in hard lines. “ I want your word that you’ll tell me about any such reckless plans in the future.”

Rohan looked down at his clasped hands and sighed. Then he met Kalyani’s gaze. “ You have it. I’m sorry. I thought it would be easier if you didn’t worry.”

“ You were wrong,” she snapped.

He nodded. “ I see that.”

All the anger left her then. She jerked her chin to the Wood Elf . “ And if she doesn’t live? Her fever is high.”

“ She’ll live.” He’d damned well make sure of it.

“ You always take on too much, brother. Usually , you find your way out of it, but I’m not so sure this time.”

“ Because you don’t believe me capable?”

She rolled her eyes. “ Because there are forces at work you can’t stand against. Your strength and conviction won’t bend the type of wickedness that has pervaded Shecrish .”

“ We’re not part of Shecrish .”

“ Ugh ,” she said, throwing a towel on the table. “ You sound just like Dad . I hate to break it to you, but you can say that all you want. It doesn’t change the facts.”

“ We live separate from them.”

Kalyani put her hands on her hips and looked out the window to the ocean. “ That hasn’t kept our people from being taken, has it?”

Rohan was silent as she walked out the door. He didn’t have an answer. He hadn’t had one for the last two years. The abductions had begun slowly: one or two of their people disappearing at a time. Then , things ramped up, and groups were taken.

Their village was difficult to get to, but it didn’t stop the kidnappings. It didn’t matter what protocols he put in place, the guards stationed day and night, or even the walking patrols. People still went missing.

Rohan had been vigilant about his sisters. They didn’t go anywhere if he wasn’t there to watch over them. Lata had chafed at such measures. It was expected of adolescents. Still , he believed she understood why such methods were necessary. He trusted her. Yet she and a few others had snuck away in the middle of the night to go to the beach.

He only knew that because one of the guards had woken him. By the time Rohan got to them, Lata and her friends were gone—five more taken from their rapidly dwindling village. He eyed the Wood Elf . Her red hair was tangled and limp from illness. She would survive. She had to. Because without her, he might not get to Lata in time.

Rohan rose and walked around the narrow bed to the table. He didn’t want to waste time healing the elf. Her kind was the reason his village lived as they did. And yet, her life was in his hands. He could let her die. She was close. All he had to do was stop tending to her. It would be easy. He never would’ve taken her at all if she weren’t the key to finding his sister. But the elf had to live, whether he liked it or not.

He gathered more dried leaves from a jar and crushed them with a mortar and pestle, pulverizing them until they were powder. Then he added water to make a paste. Rohan walked back to the bed and sat on the stool. He looked down to find the elf’s face turned toward him. Her skin was ashen. In the sunlight, he knew it would have a coppery sheen. What would make a Wood Elf leave the forests for the Dark Elves ’ underworld?

Rohan studied her face. She had delicate features that drew the eye. Her lips were full, her cheekbones high. Eyebrows that matched her fiery hair curved gently over her eyes. Long , curled lashes rested against her face. Freckles ran across her nose, along her cheeks, and even on her forehead.

If he hadn’t seen her in Mortham himself, he never would’ve thought someone who looked so innocent could be so depraved as to take part in the abduction and enslavement of others. It didn’t matter why she was there. She had made her decision—and fate had chosen her for his pursuit.

Rohan moved aside the blanket covering the elf’s left leg to reveal her bandaged thigh. Her writhing had made blood soak through the dressing again. He set aside the bowl and carefully unwound the wrap to inspect the wound. The stitches were holding nicely. The wound had been jagged and deep, bleeding profusely. If he hadn’t sutured the injury immediately, she probably would’ve bled out. Her fever had begun on the way to the village. He’d had no choice but to open the infected wound and tend to it. That’s when he found the bits of rock he’d dug out of her.

He tested the flesh around the gash. Everything was healing nicely now. Why , then, did the fever still rage? Rohan spread the paste along the lesion and put on fresh bandages. Once finished, he rinsed the bowl and turned to look at his patient as he wiped his hands.

The elf wasn’t the only one he had gotten out of Mortham . Nearly everyone who had been on the ship with him had escaped. He hadn’t expected the fort to be as large as it was. There hadn’t been time for him to search the different corridors for Lata , much less the various floors. He’d freed the ones he could. He’d saved lives. That should be enough.

But it wasn’t. Because he’d had to leave others behind.

They wouldn’t be able to hit the compound like that again. The Masters would make sure of that. It was why the Wood Elf was so important.

“ Well , elf, I’ll sit by your bedside day and night, nursing you back to health if I have to,” he promised her.