2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

They’d taken his clothes, then. Because they’d known I’d track them, seen me with
him. They’d known I’d come for him. A trap—it was likely a trap.
I paused at the top branches of a tree overlooking where the two groups had cleaved,
scanning the ground. One headed deeper into the mountains. One headed along them.
Mountains were Illyrian territory—mountains would run the risk of being discovered by
a patrol. They’d assume that’s where I would doubt they would be stupid enough to go.
They’d assume I’d think they’d keep to the unguarded, unpatrolled forest.
I weighed my options, smelling the two paths.
They hadn’t counted on the small, second scent that clung there, entwined with his.
And I didn’t let myself think about it as I winnowed toward the mountain tracks,
outracing the wind. I didn’t let myself think about the fact that my scent was on Rhys,
clinging to him after last night. He’d changed his clothes that morning—but the smell on
his body … Without taking a bath, I was all over him.
So I winnowed toward him, toward me. And when the narrow cave appeared at the foot
of a mountain, the faintest glimmer of light escaping from its mouth … I halted.
A whip cracked.
And every word, every thought and feeling, went out of me. Another whip—and
another.
I slung my bow over my shoulder and pulled out a second ash arrow. It was quick work
to bind the two arrows together, so that a tip gleamed on either end—and to do the same
for two more. And when I was done, when I looked at the twin makeshift daggers in either
hand, when that whip sounded again … I winnowed into the cave.
They’d picked one with a narrow entrance that opened into a wide, curving tunnel,
setting up their little camp around the bend to avoid detection.
The scouts at the front—two High Fae males with unmarked armor who I didn’t
recognize—didn’t notice as I went past.
Two other scouts patrolled just inside the cave mouth, watching those at the front. I was
there and vanished before they could spot me. I rounded the corner, time slipping and
bending, and my night-dark eyes burned at the light. I changed them, winnowing between
one blink and the next, past the other two guards.
And when I beheld the four others in that cave, beheld the tiny fire they’d built and
what they’d already done to him … I pushed against the bond between us—almost
sobbing as I felt that adamant wall … But there was nothing behind it. Only silence.
They’d found strange chains of bluish stone to spread his arms, suspending him from
either wall of the cave. His body sagged from them, his back a ravaged slab of meat. And
his wings …
They’d left the ash arrows through his wings. Seven of them.