have to be let in. I’d deal with the consequences then. At least I’d have my flowers.
When the new guards were occupied for a minute exchanging pleasantries, I stole farther away from the gates. It felt good to be in the forest again, the dewy leaves brushing my skin and the air ruffling the fine hairs on my arms. I smiled to myself as I spotted the first purple flowers only about a half mile from the gates.
I went to work plucking as many as I could, bundling the stems with a piece of vine. Drak would love these, and I smiled to myself as I imagined his aura glowing a delighted heat as he caught sight of them near our bed.
The girls could yell at me when I returned. I turned to make my way back and spotted a familiar shape to the right in the distance. The color resembled a Drixonian—the varying hues of blue were too blurry to make out though. Was someone there? Injured? I’d have to go slightly off path to investigate, so I dropped a few petals from one of the purple flowers to signal the way back.
As I walked closer to the shape, my heart sped up. Black liquid stained the dirt, and the shape moved just a low moan filled the air. I darted forward, a shout on the tip of my tongue just as the blue body rose and stepped closer to me. My mouth fell open as I took a step back. A face came into focus, and it was then I realized I had stumbled upon Crius. A bruised and bloody Crius, who now shot me a resigned sneer. “Took one of you long enough to leave those walls,” he snarled.
Flee! My mind screamed at me, but it was too late. He lunged for me, and I fought, kicked, and hit, but Crius, even injured, was too strong for me. I fought anyway I could as he shoved a gag in my mouth and tied it at the back of my head. I screamed; the sound infuriatingly muffled by the fabric.
He knocked my carefully picked bouquet out of my hands and lashed my wrists together with a rope. He held the other end and yanked.
I stumbled forward onto my knees. Tears streaked down my face. Drak. What would happen to Drak when he found out I was taken? I tried to reach him with my aura, but surely he’d feel my panic, my terror. Oh God, what had I done? All for a few pretty flowers?
“Get up,” he hissed at me.
I shook my head and flipped him the bird, a gesture we’d taught the Drixonian, so I knew he understood the meaning when his eyes narrowed dangerously. I didn’t give a fuck. Did he think I was going to make this easy on him? Hell no.
Crius wiped the blood from his face. “If I have to carry you all the way to Alazar, I will. They did this to my face for failing once already.”
Panic seized my limbs and I went still. No, he couldn’t take me to Alazar. Once I was inside the Uldani’s fortified city, I was as good as dead. Or knocked up.
When I refused to get up, Crius growled and tossed me over his shoulder. When I kicked, he tied those two with a piece of vine. Trussed up like a turkey, I couldn’t do much. But one thing Crius missed was that when I’d fallen, I’d picked up a handful of my purple flowers.
So, I did the only thing I could think to do. Steadily, as we marched to my fate, I dropped violet petals, like a trail of breadcrumbs. I could only hope Drak would find me. I could only hope I hadn’t ruined both of our lives.
Fifteen
Drak
I didn’t even remember the journey back to the clavas. My head burned with Merr-anda’s panicked aura. All I could do was hold onto the fact she was alive. If she was scared, that meant she was breathing.
Daz and Sax said their females’ auras were calm, so we were confident the clavas wasn’t under attack. But that was barely a blip in my mind. All I was focused on was Merr-anda’s bloom as it shook and shivered with a dull gray color.
I raced to the gates to find the two guards standing in position. Their eyes widened in alarm as I barked a throat-searing, “Open!”
Daz was on my heels, pounding the Earth. “Open the gates. All