skin as they dragged me up into the branches. Pinned like an animal caught in a snare, I thrashed as Daniella walked toward me and stopped directly underneath.
“Daniella,” I said, staring down. “Don’t do this. Fight them.”
For a second, I thought I saw a flicker in her eyes.
Then her hand shot out again. A vine snaked around my neck like a noose. Tightening. Tightening.
I gagged, my airway cut off. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t fight. Small gasping sounds escaped my throat, but the vine just squeezed tighter. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t talk.
My vision dimmed.
Movement out of the corner of my eye made me drag myself back from oblivion. A figure ran up behind Daniella before bringing a huge branch down on her head. Daniella toppled like a giant oak before crashing into a bed of vines.
The figure who saved me stepped into the light.
Kiana.
As the vines loosened around me, no longer commanded by their creator, Kiana began to climb the tree I was tangled in. Because of her large size and long limbs, she got to me in seconds and made quick work of the vines around my neck, then working on those that bound my feet and wrists.
“Thank you.” I breathed hard, sucking air and touching my tender throat.
Kiana glanced up before ripping away another vine. “You are my kin. I will always come for you.”
I was her kin? This statement didn’t seem to fit with her behavior, nor her cooperation with the Habermanns, letting them disfigure her own son. My questioning gaze told her all she needed to know.
“You think I wanted to work for those monsters?” she asked as she yanked at a particularly strong branch. “When I found where they’d taken you, I came to make a deal, but they kidnapped me. They said if I didn’t obey they would kill you and Sinasre and then track down Anama. I had to act like I was a part of it. They made me talk to people on a screen and tell them what a wonderful program they were building here. They made me act that way toward you.”
I swallowed past my swollen throat. “I thought… I thought I’d given them your location. I thought it was my fault you were captured.”
She shook her head. “I came here on my own as soon as we figured out where you and Sinasre were. No one came to Palo Alto.”
My eyelids fluttered as I took this all in. I’d thought when I’d told them my aunt’s location, I’d betrayed my family and my queen, but she’d been headed here already to procure a release? All this time I’d thought she was angry with me, but here she was saving my life.
I blinked up at her, reevaluating her.
She dangled over the branch, holding it tight in her strong lean arms as she looked me in the eyes. “You are blood. I will always come for you.” Gently, she put a hand on my cheek. “Now, let’s get you out of these fhèiner vines.”
Between the two of us, we managed to untangle the rest of the vines. I dropped down, spurring my wings into flight just before crashing into the jungle floor. Nearly landing on the unconscious Daniella, I fluttered over her as Kiana dropped down from the tree.
A crashing sound put us both on edge, but when the wolf came into view another wave of relief washed over me. His green eyes surveyed the scene as if confused. He made a small whining sound, ears back.
“I’m okay,” I said, “Kiana saved me.”
The queen brushed leaves off her dirty shift dress. “Yes, yes, but we need to go. We’re still being pursued, you know.” She said it all in a dismissive tone as if this were something that happened all the time, and I realized that, for her, maybe it did. I’d spent so long underestimating my aunt. I vowed never to do that again.
Vaughn turned to go, but I held up a hand to stop him.
“Can you carry her?” I gestured to Daniella prone on the jungle floor.
Vaughn tilted his head in question.
I nodded. “I have a feeling we’re going to need her.”
Chapter Eleven
Back on the ship, Vaughn set a still-unconscious Daniella in the middle of an empty, windowless room, then stepped out and closed the door.
Dean McIntosh waved her hands toward the door, releasing a golden spell that seeped through the metal and went all around the edge completely sealing Daniella in.
“Nothing can go in and out of that