The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,118

quite believe she could be real. That alone was enough to prove his terror. The moment he'd become a guard, a formality had risen between them, the sort of wall only time could build, but now it lay crumbled at their feet, his fear blasting it away. In this moment, he wasn't a soldier with his princess but a man with his dear friend.

"I found you," he whispered. "I can't believe I found you."

"I'm here," she murmured, feeling him tremble against her. "I promise, I'm right here."

"Are you hurt? Are you injured?" He pulled back to study her in the firelight, a frown forming as he took in her unmarred skin and richly woven clothes, the cleanly braided rows of her hair and the pristine ivory of her wings.

"That's what I should be asking you," she said softly, taking his hands in her lap and holding them tightly. A bloody cut had scabbed over on his cheek. Dark splotches stained his clothes. She breathed in a distinct metallic scent. "Elias, what happened? Why are you here?"

"We got word that you'd gone missing during your mating ceremony. Luka went out of his mind with worry. He sent a guard to the House of Whispers who bribed the story from a raven in the middle of the night. They told us a royal bastard loyal to Vesevios stole you for his god and took you beneath the mist. If you'd seen Luka's face—if you'd been there, Princess, when he heard the news, you'd know why I'm here. I told him I'd find you, but I didn't— I never— I thought I was flying to my grave."

Luka. Oh, Luka.

She knew he'd be worried, but if he'd sent Elias beneath the mist—

Lyana shut her eyes against the image of her brother's face twisted in anguish, pain blossoming like a flower in her own heart at the very thought.

What have I put him through?

What have I put them all through?

Malek had taken her beneath the mist. He'd clipped her wings. He'd grounded her. Still, could she have done more to return to her home? While she’d been learning her magic, and enjoying that freedom, and exploring this world so foreign to her, could she have done more to protect the people she'd left behind? To save them from this fear?

"What is this place?" Elias's voice called her back. "Where are we? What have they done to you?" His tone turned more frantic, words flowing faster. "They have magic—magic like you wouldn’t believe. I didn’t stand a chance. As soon as they saw me, I didn’t stand a chance. How many of them are there? We need to get out of here. We need to escape. We— We—"

"Shh," she soothed. The calluses on his hands scratched her fingers as she held on with enough force to draw him back from the brink. "Breathe, Elias. Just breathe. You're in shock. And you're hurt. Let me help you."

Lyana didn’t even think. The magic flowed freely from her skin into his, invisible to his eyes as it traveled up his arms and across his chest, nothing more than waves of cool relief. After a moment, his panic dimmed and he followed her guidance, breathing in deeply through his nose and out through his mouth. His racing heartbeat slowed. Unable to stand the sight of the gruesome cut along his cheek, Lyana lifted her palm and pressed it to his face, warm umber against deep copper, the colors of doves. A few brushes of her thumb and all evidence of the wound melted away. Elias lifted his hand to the spot, blinking as though returning from a dream. As his fingers grazed smooth skin, he froze.

"Elias?" she asked softly.

Unhearing, he moved his palm away from his face, staring at his hand in mounting horror. His eyes widened as his chin shook, then his arm, then his entire body.

"Elias?"

The question was little more than a whisper, but it was enough to draw his attention. Where moments before there had been nothing but warmth in his brown irises, now there was electric terror. "Who are you?"

She reached for him, but he was on his feet in an instant, stumbling back until his wings crunched audibly against the wall. He dug his heels into the ground to get farther away. "You're not my friend. You're not the princess. Who are you? What have you done with her?"

"Elias," she said calmly, standing with her hands outstretched as a sign of peace. Stupid! She cursed