Yazdan!”
Niko reeled. He knew that voice. Alissand?! But how… How had he found them? It didn’t make any sense… Alissand couldn’t have known where they’d be. Unless… He lifted his gaze to Yasir.
Yasir pushed out his hands. “Niko… Wait… Just wait—”
“You son of a bitch!” Niko lunged.
Yasir grabbed the gun and cradled it high, making Niko peer down its dark barrels. “Wait, dammit!”
“Come out or we’ll burn you out!” Alissand declared outside.
No, not again. Not Yasir. “You did this!” He made a grab for the gun, but Yasir backed up, his finger tight against the trigger. “I fucking trusted you. We trusted you!”
“They have Liam!” he blurted.
Niko froze.
“They have Liam…” he said again, ending in a choked sob. “They intercepted my letter… They’ve had him since Seran fell. All this time. Niko, gods, please… don’t hate me. Please. I was just… I was just supposed to get you here. They just want to talk.”
“You brought us here deliberately? After everything we’ve been through?”
“You had no idea where to go. I just… I just… They have Liam, and I can’t… He’s all I have. Please, Niko, please… understand. I tried to tell you. I was going to tell you, but there wasn’t time and then… Then you were at the palace and—”
Niko caught the gun and yanked it from Yasir’s grip. He yelped and recoiled, expecting Niko to—what? Pull the shadows in and drown him inside them?
“Gods-damn you, Yasir.” He tossed the gun at Yasir’s feet. “Go wake Vasili.”
“What are you going to do?”
He went to the window and peered through the boards. A dozen riders waited near the tree line. There would be more out of sight. Alissand rode a heavy chestnut charger and waited ahead of his riders. Tied and gagged behind him sat a tired and bruised Liam.
“Talk to them, just like you said.” They hadn’t come to talk. The Yazdans wanted only one thing. “They don’t know who’s here, right? Just me?”
“No, I was told to just bring you.”
Niko turned and grabbed Yasir by the jacket. “Get Vasili away. Can you at least do that? I’ll do what I can to get Liam to safety, but you have to get Vasili away from here now.”
He nodded, and Niko shoved him away before he struck him for being the damned fool he was.
“I’m sorry…”
He wanted to hate him but knew what it was like to feel helpless when someone you loved was caught in a storm. “I know.”
Chapter 39
Thick mist hung heavy over the treetops, holding the air still. Niko descended the steps of Bucland Manor. Unarmed, he had little to battle with, but all he had to do was buy time for Vasili and Yasir to escape. The only thing that mattered was getting Vasili far away from the Yazdans.
“Nikolas.” Alissand’s mouth lifted in a snarl as he took in Niko’s rough and battered state in a head to toe once-over. His uncle had never looked more foreboding than atop his horse with his riders spread out behind him.
“You and your men were idle here while Loreen fell?” Niko asked, keeping the anger bubbling in his veins and not his voice.
“Loreen was lost the day Talos was killed.”
“Coward.” All of them were cowards. They’d watched Loreen fall from afar and done nothing. They didn’t care about anything but the flame. “Talos was a fucking lunatic.”
“Talos knew his place!” Alissand snapped, briefly startling his horse so he had to rein it back under control. “Unlike his sons.”
“Talos was going to surrender to the elves.”
“Yes, well. I didn’t say he was sane. The Cavilles have always required careful management. It’s the flame… it makes them unpredictable.”
Niko stopped on the bottom step and spread his arms. “You found me. What do you want?”
“The prince you took from us.”
“Vasili? I don’t know where he is.”
“You’re a terrible liar.” He jerked his head. “Search the house!” Three of his men demounted and walked up the steps, around Niko, to head inside. The house was big enough for Yasir and Vasili to avoid them and escape out the back.
“Vasili gave me up to Amir,” Niko said. “I got free. Been in Loreen ever since. That fuckin’ Caville prick can swing by his balls from the highest tree for all I care.”
Alissand leaned forward in the saddle, his interest sharpening. “And what of the colorful Captain Lajani? I suppose you don’t know where he is either?”
“We met up a few times. I was supposed to meet him here, actually. Seems you knew that, huh?