“We will stay here until it stops raining,” the bounty hunter announced, leading me and Kira into what must have once been a bedroom, though it had no furnishings, only peeling, faded-yellow wallpaper.
He pulled some rope from his pack and tied Kira’s hands and feet together. Her red and puffy eyes released a fresh stream of tears. When the bounty hunter came to where I sat next and yanked my legs out straight to tie up my ankles, the sheath at my thigh thumped against the floor. I cringed. He glared and opened his hand, beckoning with his fingers. Reluctantly, I removed the dagger and passed it to him.
After binding my wrists and feet, he left the room with my dagger and returned a minute later. I had no idea what he’d done with it. I watched him carefully as he removed his dripping coat. He had at least three more knives—one at his belt, one at his shoulder, and one peeking out of his boot. The jagged blade still remained in his hand, and it never stayed still. Whether from restlessness or dominance, he kept spinning it around his fingers.
I shivered in my drenched clothes. “Who offered the bounty?” I asked, chancing to speak again now that he had me and Kira secure.
He grinned and slicked his blond hair back. “A man named Feliks.”
A shock of icy cold hit my stomach. Today was four days past the six-week deadline Feliks had given me, but I hadn’t been overly concerned about him since Torchev had fallen under attack. I’d guessed he’d be too occupied with defending the capital to bother about me. “But General Kaverin is in Torchev with the Duma,” I said. “How did you—?”
“He was in Isker where I was imprisoned a few weeks ago. Feliks had heard rumors of a foreigner who was hunting an Auraseer, and he came to meet me. He said I had a useful talent.” The bounty hunter puffed out his chest. “He’d already wasted too much time searching for this one.” He sat next to Kira and tapped the flat of his blade on her shoulder. She shuddered and closed her eyes. “Said she had run away.”
I flexed my hands against my bindings and strived to remain calm. If I reacted, he might torment Kira even more. “I thought you said this bounty was on my head.”
“It is, Sovereign Auraseer.” He tossed his knife to his other hand and twirled it with equal dexterity. “But the child is a welcome bonus. I am sure Feliks will pay me for both of you.”
Hatred blazed a trail of fire through my body. No doubt Feliks would. He had threatened Kira before, and he would do it again to try to make me compliant. “I was already returning to Torchev,” I replied. “None of this is necessary.”
The bounty hunter shrugged. “N’importe quoi. It does not matter what is necessary, only that I am paid.” He combed his knife through a lock of Kira’s hair. “If you give me any trouble,” he told me, “I’ll kill the child and take the greater bounty.”
I swallowed hard. Kira rocked slightly, her head curled toward her chest and her nose dripping. Her relentless tears didn’t help.
I had to find a way for us to escape, despite the bounty hunter’s warning. Once Feliks realized I was worthless to him, who knew what would become of Kira in the battle zone of Torchev?
I narrowed my gaze on our captor. “Stop threatening Kira, and we’ll go peacefully with you.”
He cocked a half smile and rubbed the scar cutting through the mangy beard on his chin. Instead of replying to me, he stood and grabbed Kira by the hair, dragging her a few feet away to the corner of the room.
“Stop!” I struggled against my bonds as she screamed and thrashed.
The bounty hunter sat beside her. She startled as he drove the sharp tip of his knife into the narrow floor space between them. He wedged back into the corner and sprawled out his legs, crossing one foot over the other. “You should get some sleep now, Sovereign Auraseer,” he said to me. “We all should.”
I pretended to doze off as the minutes slowly turned to hours with every drip-drip-drip from the leaky ceiling. Sometimes I rolled over, like I was adjusting to a more comfortable position, when in reality I was searching for something sharp to cut my ropes. A splintered piece of wood. The edge of a crumbling brick. Anything.
The temperature fell, and the rain outside turned to snow. Through the only window in the room, I watched it fall in fat, twirling flakes. Gradually the sky began to lighten in its crawl toward morning and faintly illuminated the floor. That’s when I saw hope wink at me from ten feet away. A finger-length shard of glass lay just beneath the window.
I stole a glance at the bounty hunter. His chest rose and fell evenly. His breath whistled through his nostrils. He’d fallen asleep an hour ago after also feigning to rest. Miraculously, Kira was also sleeping, despite being so nearby him.
Ever so quietly, I turned over and rolled toward the glass. My damp dress twisted around my legs with each painstaking tumble. When I was a few inches away, the bounty hunter gave a loud snort. I froze, my heart thundering. He made a few more grumbles and huffs, then the cadence of his breath steadied. I blew out a slow exhale and reached behind me, with my hands bound, for the glass.
I sawed the ropes around my wrists first. The work was sluggish and messy. I bit down on a small cry more than once as I nicked my fingers, but I finally severed a length. From there I was able to untangle the rest. The dawn outside continued to brighten. I had to hurry. Soon the light might wake up the bounty hunter.
I set to work on my ankles. With my hands now free, the rope rent apart faster, but just as I went to cut through the last fiber, I pressed too hard and the glass shattered into tiny pieces. The bounty hunter stirred. I silently cursed and picked up one of the sharp slivers. More light came in the room. I hacked at the rope. The last piece split.
I yanked off my bindings and quietly pulled into a crouched position as I stared at my captor. My pistol, still tucked into the back waistband of his trousers, was impossible to get to. Maybe I could withdraw one of his knives without waking him. No, too risky. I needed to find my dagger.
I stood and tiptoed out of the room, taking care to reroute my steps whenever the floor creaked. I crept down a corridor into what might have once been a dining room and searched under a few pieces of rubble near a crumbling wall. Nothing. I checked the next room, an open space with a chain dangling from the ceiling, missing its chandelier. The room was empty, even of debris, but I noticed some heavily buckled floorboards near the side wall. I rushed over and tugged at the planks. One was loose. My chest expanded as I saw what lay beneath on a bed of rotted wood shavings. My dagger.
I pulled the plank away. Gripped the hilt. Rose to my feet. Then my breath caught in my throat.
I dropped the dagger, and it whooshed back onto the mulch. I didn’t reach for it. I stood, completely rigid, my fingers spread wide. My heart somersaulted. I couldn’t think. Didn’t understand. Only knew one staggering truth.
I was feeling aura.
CHAPTER THIRTY
EACH PULSE OF AURA CRASHED INTO MY AWARENESS LIKE claps of thunder. Completely at odds with the silent snowfall outside. The sensation was so foreign after all these months that I couldn’t comprehend the emotions pounding into me. I just knew it was energy. Other than mine. Connected to life. Another heart beating. Another pair of lungs breathing. They quickened my pulse and expelled my breath. I panted and gasped fog into the frigid air.
The aura came from outside. I knew because when I looked past the broken glass of a window, it blazed stronger and spread like fire through my veins.
Half of me filled with dread, wondering who was out there; the other part of me threatened to cry with happiness. I could see again. With my keenest sense. I was emerging from water to breathe after an endless spell of drowning.
I picked up my dagger. The tightening knots in my stomach compelled me to do so. But then I left the room. I found the front door. I drifted outside, drawn to the pulse beating through me like a siren call. I can feel you, I can feel you, I wanted to tell it. Don’t go away. I couldn’t lose this feeling.
Snow laced over my hair, my face, and damp clothes. Dimly, I
realized my dress was frosting to ice. I didn’t care. Blood dripped from the cuts in my fingers, but the sting didn’t reach me. I stumbled through the overgrown grass, searching. The sun crested the horizon, cutting through the clouds, and the world transformed to a glittering blanket of white. Between the beauty and the breathtaking sense wide-awake inside me, it was easy to ignore the darkness coiling through my limbs and deep inside my belly.
You know this feeling.
You know this person.
You know him, Sonya.
I halted, my hand clenching over my heart.
No, it couldn’t be him. Riaznin was at war. The battle for the crown was happening now. In Torchev. Days away from Montpanon. He couldn’t be here.
He couldn’t.
Run, Sonya.
Run!
I took a step backward. Tightened my grip on my dagger. Swiveled to turn. But then I saw him. Walking over the fallen gates. Onto the estate grounds. Only twenty feet away.
Valko held the lead of his black stallion’s reins and draped it over a tree branch. He wore a long coat of silver fox fur and a matching, vaulted hat. A short, dark beard framed his jaw, and the color, along with his furs, brought out his striking gray eyes. Eyes that clawed at me, taking in the sight of me, my tangled hair, my muddy half-frozen dress. How I wanted to look strong. Like he hadn’t broken me and shot me for dead. Like he hadn’t torn away the part of me that made me feel the most me. But now I felt it again. Aura. It trembled through my legs and jolted through my fingers and swarmed me with a dark desire to kill.
Valko’s desire.
He walked a few steps closer. The snow crunched beneath his boots. I resisted the impulse to flee. I held my dagger at the ready, while he hadn’t withdrawn any weapon. I might have a desperate chance to kill him before he killed me. That’s his intention, Sonya, not yours, my mind tried to reason. Still, I stood my ground.
“You look different,” he said, the edges of his new mustache lifting with an intrigued grin. “Thinner, perhaps. A few more freckles across your nose. None the worse off for taking a lead ball, are you?”
He was stalling, I realized. Being cautious. He still thinks I have power. I didn’t. Not the kind he thought. While the black snake of his aura coiled inside me, I couldn’t forge a bridge between us—that deepest connection that allowed me the ability to bend his emotions—though I shook, straining to try. I shouldn’t want this power. I’d resolved to let my desire for it go. But now I inwardly begged for it. I desperately needed it.
I pushed back my shoulders, trying to exude a presence of command, trying to pretend I was the same Sonya that thrust a legion of auras inside him during the One Day War, that compelled him to remove his crown, that nearly persuaded him to shoot himself during the convent battle, the Sonya Valko hadn’t been able to tame, the Sonya he’d failed to kill.
“Did you come all this way for me?” I asked, tilting my head like I was a predator studying a small prey thrown in my cage. I suppressed the stricken part of me that wanted to cry, How did you awaken my Auraseer ability when nothing else could? Instead, I fed off of Valko’s pride and used it to strengthen my voice and demeanor. He needed to believe I was masterful. He would rush forward and kill me if he knew I couldn’t threaten him. “I’m flattered. I didn’t realize I was of more concern to you than taking the capital of Riaznin.”
Valko broke into a warm chuckle that scratched up my spine with his genuine amusement. “Oh, Sonya, I have missed your fire. You may be renowned throughout Torchev—the sovereign Auraseer who betrayed her emperor with magnificent power—but I didn’t come here for you.” His eyes traveled over me, and my throat squeezed with hatred. His and mine. “Still, it’s a stroke of providence to find you at Anton’s former home.” He arched an unimpressed brow at the manor. “Now I can tidy up all my affairs in one day.”
I frowned at him through the veil of falling snow. “You came for Anton?”
Before Valko could reply, his soldiers entered the estate grounds on horseback, at least twelve men. I startled when I saw them. I hadn’t felt their auras. I still couldn’t when I tried. Some rode over the fallen gates; some leapt over the crumbling walls. They wore the red and gold of Imperial Riaznin. At one nod from Valko, they fanned out to circle the house.
Clasping his hands behind his back, Valko advanced another two steps toward me. My legs tensed. “My army and the Shenglin have Torchev well under control. We’ve nearly won the battle. What better time to surprise Anton far away from the capital.” His aura itched deep inside me in a place I’d have to draw blood to scratch. “You see, I’ve come to realize I won’t achieve a true victory until this revolution is pulled from the roots. I have to conquer the man who incited it in the first place. Otherwise, another rebellion will grow and Anton will always threaten my reign. Even Dasha understands.” His eyes flashed to the manor. “Not just yet, little princess.”
I whipped around, my heart seizing. Dasha. She stood beside the house, less than fifteen feet from me and peered into one of the windows missing all its glass. Her hands gripped the sill, like she was about to crawl inside.
I rocked, off-kilter on my feet. Although I hadn’t been able to sense the soldiers, when I focused on Dasha, I could feel her aura. But my awareness was unstable. It flickered in and out, like a flame dancing on the last length of a wick.
Dasha pulled away and turned to me. I couldn’t see her face well in the shadows of the house, but a red cape fastened around her bird-boned shoulders, its hood fallen back. No furs lined her clothing. They must have scalded her with death, like they’d once burned me. Half of her hair was done up in a braided crown, and the rest hung in loose wisps about her shoulders. Valko had fashioned her into a fairy-tale princess, just as he’d once made me his exquisite sovereign Auraseer.
Dasha’s guardedness, almost deadliness, prickled across the back of my neck. Who knew what lies Valko had told her about me? Likely he’d convinced her that I needed to die, too. She had the power to make that happen. I should know. With one burst of my temper, I’d caused Terezia Dyomin to slit her throat.
Calm yourself, Sonya. Don’t let Dasha grasp your emotions. If she could catch them, she could change them.
“What’s happening inside the house?” Valko asked his sister. “Are the others still sleeping?”
She tucked her hands behind her back and nodded. A snatch of her aura scuttled across my awareness and curled my shoulders toward my chest. But the sensation was so fleeting I couldn’t decipher the emotion.
Don’t think, Sonya. Be cold. Don’t worry about Dasha’s feelings.
Feya, how am I going to save her?
I’d never had to focus my thoughts while contending with another person’s aura.
Valko held out his hand. “Come, little snowflake. Don’t be nervous. I’ll stand by your side. We need to take care of Sonya before we deal with Anton.”
He was cunning, as always. He never said kill. His aura pulsed a strain of sorrow that lifted my chin rather than pulled at my heart. He made murder feel necessary, righteous.
Dasha plodded forward, lifting her puffed wool skirt so it didn’t drag in the snow. As she stepped into the wintry light, my concentration broke. Her gray eyes were bloodshot, and her skin, naturally olive from her Romska blood, had grown startlingly pale since I’d last seen her.
I turned an accusatory stare on Valko. Every bone in my body threatened to crack under the pressure of my hatred for him. He could pretend he treated Dasha like a princess, but he was clearly overexerting her and burning her strength to ashes. What had he made her do to help him achieve a victory in this war?
She pressed next to him, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I know you’re tired,” he murmured. “After today, you can rest, I promise.”
She peeked at me, then shuddered and looked away.
“What is it?” Valko asked her.
“You were right,” she said quietly, but her bell-tone voice amplified her words. “Sonya’
s hate for you is strong.”
“I tried to prepare you.” His brows drew together with artful sorrow. “Remember, she almost killed me at the convent. It’s a miracle I pulled the gun away from my head before it fired.”
“What providence that you aimed it at me,” I bit out.
He grinned, but his aura rode an eerily calm wave. I knew what he was doing, concealing his emotions, both to manipulate Dasha and keep them out of my reach so I couldn’t alter them. I wished I could. “Sonya’s intentions are no different today,” he said. “See how she holds her dagger, while I haven’t made any move to harm her?”
Despite his baiting, I didn’t lower my blade from my defensive stance. “I’m trying to protect myself,” I explained to Dasha. “You must know Valko means to kill me. You must feel it. Did you ever have misgivings about him? Uncomfortable feelings he taught you to ignore? He isn’t kind. He isn’t good, Dasha. Don’t let him fool you.”
“He’s my brother.” Snowflakes caught in her dark lashes. “He loves me.”
“Anton is your brother, too,” I said, “and he would never force you to use your power.”
Her aura fluttered with uncertainty.
“I’ve never forced Dasha to do anything.” Valko broadened his chest. “She wants to help me.”
“If that’s true, you shouldn’t let her,” I snapped. “Can’t you see how she’s suffering?” Even now, Dasha gripped a strand of her hair, ready to pull it out, an old habit of dealing with stress.
“How cruel you are.” Valko frowned at me. “All I see is a beautiful little girl. She will be the jewel of Riaznin.”
“Is that what he tells you, Dasha? He’ll lock you in a cage. He won’t trust you with other people.” My heart pounded with so much urgency I couldn’t quell my desperation—or any of my emotions. “You need to come with me and make sure Valko doesn’t interfere. The convent is your home. Kira misses you. We all do.”
Kira. Dasha’s aura sparked at her name, but dread spiraled through my belly. How was I going to save her, too? I glanced at the soldiers, closing in tighter around the house. Were they going to storm inside? Surely the bounty hunter was awake by now. Strangely, I felt grateful to him. With any luck, he was hatching a plan to save me and Kira, if only to collect his money.
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