“Are you out of your mind?” the commander asked when Cyrene allowed him to turn around.

“They’re just pants, Commander.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t all of your female Guild members wear them?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“But I can see your legs.”

“You saw them a minute ago, and it wasn’t a problem.”

The commander cursed violently and then tossed his black hood at her. “You’ll blend in better with this. Don’t open your ruddy mouth.”

She grinned fiercely as she followed him to the open window. “I’ve never had much luck with that.”

“Trust me, I’ve noticed.”

The commander went out the window first and landed silently on the snow-coated ground. Cyrene sighed and trembled slightly as she stared down at the landing. She could take on Kael Dremylon and conquer blood magic, but climbing out of a second-story building was a feat.

With a deep breath, she wrapped her hands into the trellis and swung gingerly out of the window. She forced herself not to look down as she climbed. When she was about six feet from the bottom, she realized there was nowhere else to go. She was hanging, suspended from the trellis.

“Just drop. I’ll catch you,” he hissed up at her.

She held on tight, feeling utterly ridiculous. She should be able to use some air magic to gracefully drop herself to the ground. Usually, her anger boiled up, and she acted recklessly to get herself out of a stupid situation. But she wasn’t angry.

“We don’t have all night.”

“Fine,” she spat.

Then, with a deep breath, she dropped the remaining feet. The commander caught her, as if she were a pillow, and cradled her against his chest.

“Told you I’d catch you.”

She nodded and then landed on her feet. Hastily obscuring their footprints, she dashed after him, down the narrow street next to Aralyn’s home. They were almost around the first bend when a figure dropped out in front of them.

“Hello, Commander,” Avoca said, straightening from her crouch. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“It’s not what you think,” Cyrene said. “He’s going to help us.”

Avoca narrowed her eyes. “Really? Why would he do that?”

“In exchange for information on our magic.”

“No,” Avoca said, sliding one of her blades out. “I don’t trust him. He’s playing you. He’s going to turn you in.”

“He’s not going to do that.”

“Are you blind?” Avoca brightened with the magic that she held on to.

Cyrene could feel it through the bond. Instead of being a punch to the gut that it once was, it was like a caress. A window into her intentions. And she was furious.

“What kind of assurances could this man—the one who had our magic tied off, dragged us all into this mess in the first place, and then had me fight for my life—possibly give you?”

“My word,” the commander growled.

“We don’t even know your name,” Avoca spat. “Your word means nothing.”

“We really don’t have time for this,” Cyrene said. “Do you want all of our things and a way out or not?”

“What I want is for you to be sensible for once! To not run off into trouble, alone,” Avoca snarled. “Why are we even…” She trailed off, not wanting to use the word bound. She snarled something under her breath and then looked back up at them. “Why are we all even together if you will not let us help you?”

Cyrene opened her mouth and then closed it. How could I explain? How could I possibly explain how I feel? That she loved them…all of them. But she constantly felt as if she could never make up for all they had done for her. The escape in Byern, the magic given to her in Fen, the life they’d saved.

She wanted to give back. She wanted to get them out of the situations that she’d kept throwing them into time and time again. If she was prophesied, then it was she who was drawing them into danger. It was she who was responsible. And, if she did it alone, then she wouldn’t have to keep hurting anyone.

Avoca must have felt some of that through the bond because her anger softened. She sighed, and a tinge of sadness crept between them.

“If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this together. You’re not going to have some assassin play you double,” Avoca said. Her eyes were sharp on the commander.

“Your wolf going to come out of the shadows then?” the commander asked.

Ahlvie appeared then, bristling from head to toe. “This should be fun.”

“It would have been easier for just the two of us to go, but if you must join us, then fall into line.”

Cyrene’s eyes shot to Ahlvie’s, and she could see that he was equally hurt that she would sacrifice herself.

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough?” he muttered as she passed him.

No, I didn’t.

The run through the city was as awful as Cyrene remembered it. The commander kept them in the shadows and out of the main thoroughfares as much as possible. He obviously knew Kell better than Orden did, but it didn’t make it any better. She swore that, if they all made it out of here alive, then she was going to start exercising. She had to run for her life far too much to continue to be this winded.

“Stay here,” the commander ordered. “We don’t want to raise an alarm.”

Then, he darted out from around the corner and strode up to a large stable guarded by two young men.

Avoca smacked her arm. “Are you out of your mind? Running off with this strange man?”

“It seems to be a specialty of mine,” Cyrene said, not taking her eyes off the stables.

“You trust way too easily.”

“I trusted Ahlvie this easily.”

“Hey!” Ahlvie protested. “I’m offended by that.”

Cyrene shook her head. “I’m just saying…I trust my gut. Something tells me that he is not going to hurt us.”

“Your gut isn’t always right, Cyrene!” Avoca groaned. “You were going to stay behind in Byern with Kael Dremylon.”

Cyrene shot around and glared at Avoca. “Yes, I know perfectly well what I was going to do. But this is not that same situation. He wants to know about his magic. I want to get us out of here. That’s all.” Avoca opened her mouth to argue, but Cyrene cut her off, “Now, quiet, so I can watch what’s going on.”

She swung back around and came face-to-face with the two stable hands.

“Creator,” she muttered before reaching for her magic.

Avoca leaped forward and slammed her fist into the face of the first, sending him tumbling to the ground. Then, while Cyrene held his tongue to keep any noise from coming out, Ahlvie crashed the other one into the side of the wall. His head hit with a sick crunch, and he collapsed, blood trickling out of his nose.

Cyrene felt a compulsory pull from her blood magic, and she had to physically retreat a few steps away.

“They’re out,” he said. “But the commander?”

Avoca shook her head and hoisted one of the boys over her shoulder. Ahlvie grabbed the other, and Cyrene hastened after them.

“Come on,” Avoca said. “Let’s go find your double-crossing son of a…”

When they entered the stables, Cyrene’s hands were shaking, and she fisted them at her sides. She had this under control. She could do this. She wouldn’t give in.

Ahlvie and Avoca deposited the boys in a corner, and Cyrene darted away from them.

“Are you okay?” Ahlvie asked, approaching her in the dimly lit room.

“Fine,” she lied.

“About as fine as I was the first time I shifted.”

“About,” she agreed.

Avoca had her knife an inch from the commander’s neck. “You sent them after us.”

The commander cursed. “Did they raise an alarm?”

“Did you?”

“I know you don’t trust me,” he said, harmlessly batting her blade aside, “but if we have the whole of the Guild against us, then you’re never getting out of the city.”

“I didn’t hear an alarm,” Cyrene said.

“Good. Now, help me tie the horses to their leads.”

They worked diligently for a few minutes to make sure everything was accounted for. It appeared someone had been through their belongings, but the book was still there. So, either they were only looking for money or they didn’t realize its value.

“Let’s get these back to Berg’s house,” Avoca said.

“We’re going to meet up with his contact,” Cyrene told her.

Avoca’s eyes were venom. “How can you trust his contact?”

“Don’t trust him, but he’s your only way out. He knows this land like the back of his hand, and he’s not Guild, so don’t look at me like that,” the commander said.

Avoca’s blade was at his neck again. “Why are you really helping us?”

He looked directly into her wide blue eyes. His body seemed to be rippling with tension, ready to slice her open at a moment’s notice. “When people show you who they really are, believe them.”

“That’s not—”

“He means the Guild,” Cyrene said intuitively.

“If you’ve been lied to your whole life, you start to get good at picking out the truth,” the commander said, glancing sideways at Cyrene.

“And we’re the truth?” Avoca asked with a snort. “How foolish do you think we are?”

“Avoca,” Ahlvie said, “just because you’re upset, it doesn’t mean you can’t trust anyone.”

“Don’t try to make this about you,” she spat.

He held his hands up. “A man would truly be a fool if he tried to make everything about himself. All I’m saying is, we’ve always trusted Cyrene before. If she trusts him, then I trust him. Because she was the only one who trusted me when she had no reason to.”

“You’d better be deserving,” Avoca said to the commander.

The commander didn’t say anything to that. “We’ll never get the horses through the city unnoticed. Someone will have to go to the contact with the horses. We’ll meet there as soon as we have the others.”

“I’ll go,” Ahlvie volunteered. “Avoca, perhaps you should go with me.”

She looked as if she was going to disagree but then seemed to think better of it. “Fine. You know what to do if you’re in trouble,” she told Cyrene.

Cyrene nodded. The commander sketched them a hasty map with directions to his contact who would get them out of the city. Cyrene felt reckless, trusting him like this. They could have easily gotten out of there with Aralyn’s horses, but it felt like more than that. With the commander, even though there wasn’t exactly trust, she knew that she had an ally. And allies were in short supply these days. She felt a tug, like she would need as many friends as she could get.

“You’re sure they’ll be safe?” she hastily asked the commander after Ahlvie and Avoca departed.

“As long as they follow the directions,” the commander said. When he seemed to realize that wasn’t sufficient enough for her, he added, “That route avoids Guild patrols. Now, we need to move.”

She reached out for his arm, and without notice, he grabbed her wrist, twisted, and had her arm nearly out of the socket.

She cursed. “Let me go! You’re hurting me!”

“What were you going to do to me?” he demanded.

“Touch…touch you,” she said. “Please, let me go.”

He loosened his grip and then released her entirely. She rubbed her sore shoulder and wrist with a wince. She was glad that she healed quickly.

“That’s going to bruise.”

“You shouldn’t sneak up on a man like that.”

“You’re a rather touchy bunch.”

The commander glared at her.

“I was going to thank you,” she said. “For helping me. I know it is a deal, but I like to think you would have anyway.”

“I wouldn’t have.” His gray eyes smoldered in the darkness.

“I don’t believe you. But I think we could be…friends,” she said, offering him her hand.

He winced. “Friends?”

“Yes.”

“Never make friends with your enemies, spitfire,” he said with a feral smile. “It hurts twice as much when they cross you.”

Cyrene let her magic infuse her. The wind picked up around her hair, wildly blowing it. The earth trembled under her feet. Her fingers were wreathed in fire. She could have reached for water, too, if need be. She could sense it sitting in the trough for the horses. It was pure heaven, her body responding to his barely veiled threat.

“If you cross me, you’ll regret it for the rest of your sad, miserable existence. And, worse, you’ll never get the answers you need.” She brought her hand up to his face and watched as the light danced on his sculpted cheekbones. “I wouldn’t underestimate me.”

He had the good sense to conceal the fear that sparked in his eyes. “You’ll have to show me how to do that one day.”

“One day,” she said, letting her magic extinguish as easily as it had come.

She didn’t know what she saw in his eyes now. Perhaps he was afraid of her. Perhaps he liked being a little bit afraid of her.

“Now…we should go,” Cyrene said.