“What is it?” Jonas grabbed his crutches and, between them and his one good leg, managed to pull himself to stand beside Llew. She looked like she’d seen a ghoul; her cheeks paled, and her focus firmly on the tree she’d been sitting against, as though she expected something to crawl out of it. Or someone.

  “Braph,” she breathed. “He’s at the tree. He’s at the Taither tree.” Llew’s voice rose in panic. “Or was.” Llew closed her eyes. “He’s doing something to it. And my ma. He’s got my ma with him! And we’re still here! We’re still so far away …”

  “Llew.” He handed his crutches to Garnoc and gripped both of Llew’s shoulders, held steady. “Breathe. Stay with me.” Jonas understood the trees showed her things sometimes, usually a memory. A memory could mean Braph was already done, that there was already no tree for them to pin their hopes on. But, no. Jonas didn’t always understand Braph, but he knew his brother’s thirst for power, and that tree had power.

  Llew closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and the tension through her shoulders eased.

  “Tell me. What did you feel?” Jonas asked.

  “It was like … The tree thumped me. And I saw …” Llew peered at him, like she expected him to doubt her, so he ensured he returned a steady calm, an ear waiting to assess the situation in full. She closed her eyes again. “I saw the Taither tree – I know because of the colors – and Braph, he— He was just there. And the tree was scared.”

  “Okay.” Llew had begun to tense up under his touch, so Jonas rubbed her shoulders, hoping to bring her back to the now. “Okay,” he repeated while he formulated a better response. “Whatever Braph’s designs are for that tree, he’ll want it still standin’. It comes down, and all he’s got is his son’s blood … Until he becomes a rebellious adolescent.” Jonas dared smirk, and Llew allowed herself a hollow laugh. He’d take that. Even surface humor was better than deep anxiety, especially over something they weren’t in a position to fix right then. “The boy’s Immortal,” Jonas continued. “When he comes into his full power, Braph won’t have the same control over him he has now. If the tree’s not his final goal, at least it’s his backup.”

  “It’s distressed.” Llew looked back at the tree behind her.

  Jonas nodded. “I get that. Braph’s a scary guy when he’s not tryin’ to play nice.” He rubbed and squeezed her shoulders gently.

  “We’re nowhere near ready to stop him. And he has my ma with him.” Her tension eased as she pondered on that thought. “Was— Was she happy? With him? Did you get to talk to her when you went to his ho— house?” She’d started to call it a ‘home’. Braph’s house was not a home, not by any definition.

  I learned to love him once before, Orinia had said when Jonas inquired after her feelings for Braph. Learning to love. Was that happy? He’d once done the same with Kierra. Learned. He would like to think they succeeded. He had been happy enough.

  Had Orinia been happy? He didn’t know. More importantly in this moment: what answer did Llew need him to give? Did she need to spend energy distressed that her mother might not be feeling, or would it be better to believe her mother happy with Braph? If Orinia truly was happy with Braph, she likely wouldn’t take too kindly to Llew and Jonas turning up to kill him. It didn’t feel a whole lot like there was a right answer here.

  “She looked happy,” he said, remembering the lingering kiss between Orinia and Braph. She had watched him leave the room like a woman well-versed in love. A woman whose hero had come for her.

  What choice do I have? Orinia had responded when Jonas first asked the question, echoing Llew’s words in regard to her own relationship with Jonas. What choice did these Syaenuk women – wanted dead or captured by nations – have but to tie themselves to men with super strength and speed who loved them?

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  Super strength and speed Jonas no longer had. What choices did Llew have? Plenty. Her ma? Jonas didn’t know.

  “Looked happy.” Llew’s voice was thick with the disgust she reserved for Braph. “I wouldn’t believe it. Would you? I mean … Braph? The man is a monster. He might think he loves her, but I don’t believe it for a moment. Looked happy. But she wouldn’t be, would she; held captive by him?”

  “I don’t know, Llew.” A part of him wanted his brother to be happy. But not Braph. And with Llew’s ma? No. It didn’t sit well with him, either.

  “We’ll have to fight him. Give her a chance to escape, and to save the tree. You have to be able to face him as an equal. No. Superior. And it has to be you. A Syakaran isn’t good enough anymore. We need a Magician. But you need that tree. We have to get you there. How can we—? We can’t— But we need—”

  Jonas squeezed her shoulders again. “Just breathe, Llew. Be here, now.”

  Llew breathed deeply and met Jonas’s gaze, and she was back, no longer lost in the panic of knowing how far ahead of them Braph was.

  “Braph likely knows as much about gettin’ power out of that tree as we do. And he don’t have the advantage of the tree talkin’ to him. And he’s still Karan. The door to Aenuk magic ain’t one that opens easily to us. We’ll figure things out once Rowan can work his magic. All we can do is keep pushing forward.”

  He glanced at Karlani, who sat looking back at them, for once guileless, the fire’s orange glow bounced off her black curls and set her rich brown skin aglow. Everyone in their little camp watched Llew, waiting for her to do something. To continue bleeding for Karlani. He looked to Llew and was met with a resigned expression as she went to sit at the base of the tree again. Jonas grabbed her arm, shook his head. What Llew needed now was allies, and a strong base to move on from.

  “Come.” He released her arm and beckoned her to follow him.

  When they stood before Karlani and Alvaro, Jonas kept his chin high, looking down his nose at them.

  “What you did was stupid and beyond careless.”

  Both Karlani and Alvaro rightfully lowered their heads under Jonas’s accusation.

  “Your word ain’t worth nothin’ to us, but we’re demandin’ it anyway. I know what it feels like to be Syakaran receiving a dose of Syaenuk blood. I know the power … the temptation.” A door that was closed to him now. The first time beneath the ancient Ajnai, just before its demise … He understood Braph a little when he allowed himself to dwell in that memory. Little in life had felt better. Little but Llew’s love. Those fleeting moments when she let herself feel and let those feelings bubble to the surface and shared them with him. Such moments rarely lasted the seconds the incomparable power of Syaenuk blood flowing through Syakaran veins did, making them all the more valuable. Jonas found some satisfaction that Karlani would never have such rare a gift, but she would feel Syaenuk power through her veins. Tonight.

  Jealousy rose in a flash of anger hot enough to compete with the fire warming the backs of his thighs. Quick to anger, as always. And just as common, he tamped it down to keep on target. Llew needed more allies, fewer enemies.

  “You’re capable of healin’ yourself to full power over the next few days. We would manage just fine without you. But since you’re here …”