Chapter 13
Silk Liberated
“My master?” the man asked, his voice low-pitched. “To what danger are you referring?”
“We have reason to believe that the emperor seeks his life.”
“Why would the emperor bother with a poor silk maker? The master can barely even see, let alone cause an uprising big enough to disturb the emperor. I believe you are mistaken.” Feebly, the man lifted his arms to shoo us out the gate. When I stood my ground, locking my arms and planting my feet, his eyes skimmed over me and his voice rose in a falsetto squeak. “Please leave,” he begged. “We have nothing of value.”
Ana put her hand on his arm and her touch soothed the man. I wasn’t entirely sure if that was a natural gift Ana possessed or if it was a part of her calling, but she’d used the same trick on me and it usually worked. That is, unless it was her I was mad at. With a honeyed voice, she asked, “We humbly ask to meet with your master. It is in regards to the emperor, your master, and…and the woman he loves.”
When she said that, the man gasped and stepped back. His eyes shifted to the shadows. “You’d better come in. Hurry.”
He led us across a cobblestone path that cut through a grove of mulberry trees and paused outside the open door of a large warehouse. A strange fizzing sound emanated from the building. It reminded me of the first time Kelsey introduced me to soda, but this sound was like a thousand sodas being poured at once. It took me a few moments to realize the noise was coming from insects—silkworms.
I watched a woman scatter a pile of leaves over a large woven tray and then slide it back into place. Then she pulled out another and repeated the process. Several women inside the building were hunched over tables and cutting leaves from long branches. “Are you nearly done for the night?” our guide asked them.
One of the women came up to us carrying a large basket of what looked like tiny eggs. “Nearly,” she said.
I’d never seen silk produced before and the process fascinated me. I spotted women carefully tending to large, round woven baskets that sat in frames row upon row. Across the way, a good distance from the worms, a woman stirred a bubbling vat and yanked out cocoons with her bare hands. As I watched, other workers sifted through the cooling cocoons, pulling out the cooked worms and separating the thread from the insect.
One woman popped a handful of worms in her mouth. I could hear the crunch and realized the smell in the air was the boiled worms and not dinner. Pairs of workers unwound the cocoons while their partners rewound the threads on large spools. There were vats for dying, and colorful thread hung on large hooks drying in the rafters.
Our guide waved his hand. “Good,” he said. “Carry on. The dinner bell will sound soon.”
“Wonder what’s on the menu,” I said quietly to Ana. She gifted me with one of her rare smiles and I felt like I’d won a prize.
The woman with the basket inclined her head respectfully to all three of us, and we responded in like manner and moved on. Turning the corner, we came upon a large building that looked like barracks but I saw workers shuffling inside. We passed that one and ended at a building that was smaller than the others, but the workmanship of it was much finer.
We were instructed to wait at the door while he announced us. Once we were allowed in, we were shown seats at a long table. I folded my legs under me and sat, Ana took the place at my side, and our guide brought in his master. The man was crippled with age. His back was so curved it must have caused him terrible pain, but he made no complaint as he sat down across from us.
Refreshments were brought in and we ate quietly, Ana only remarking on the pleasant evening and me on the brightness of the moon. I regretted that last observation when the master of the home reached for his cup with a trembling hand. When he brought it to his lips, I saw his eyes. They were opaque and milky. I knew from attending long, diplomatic meetings that we would be expected to wait until the meal was finished before conducting business.
I was used to the slow, traditional pace of the past and I enjoyed it most of the time. But there was also something to be said for the rush of conducting business that happened in Kelsey’s time. As much as I felt out of place in the future, I found I did like how quickly things moved. Especially the things that I found tedious. My foot twitched impatiently while we waited for the man to finish his dinner. Ana put her hand on my knee under the table to still my juddering, and I slid my hand on top of hers, twining our fingers together.
She frowned but didn’t pull away. It felt like another victory. Though what, exactly, I was winning, I didn’t really know.
Finally, the meal was done and cleared away. The servant poured some tea for the master of the house and whispered in his ear that we needed to speak to him regarding the emperor. That we’d claimed the master of the house was in terrible danger due to his love for a woman. A tear trickled down the man’s cheek. He appeared to be either unaware of it or uncaring that we saw it.
“So you do know of what we speak,” I said.
“I do,” the man answered. “Can you help him?” he asked. “Help my son?”
“Your son?” I began.
“Your son is the one who risks his life,” Ana said as if already knowing the answer. “He is the one courting the emperor’s woman.”
The silk maker dashed a hand over his cheek and tried to straighten his frame. “I am an old man,” he answered. “My wife died long ago and we only have one son. He’s a good boy. Strong of body and tender of spirit, but a year ago I noticed a change in him. He would not tell me, but even I could hear the lightness in his step, the happiness in his voice. Once I felt like that. Long ago. I knew it for what it was.”
“Love,” Ana guessed as she sipped her tea.
“Yes. But he refused to say anything about it. Then, one day, I found the scarf.”
“Scarf?” I asked.
“Yes. The workmanship was exceedingly fine. I knew of only one seamstress who could do work such as that.”
“But how do you…?” I paused, not knowing how to ask the question.
“How do I see the workmanship with eyes that have gone dark? I don’t, young man. I use my hands. My fingers have held silk threads since before I could walk. It’s a simple thing for me to tell good work from bad.”
The man coughed dryly and reached for his mug. Finding it empty, he felt across the table until he found the pot and pulled it closer. His servant tried to help but the old man gave an adenoidal snort and the servant backed off. The old silk maker poured his own tea, slopping the scalding liquid over the rim of his mug and burning his fingers.
The man didn’t seem to notice the heat, and I wondered if he, too, had once pulled boiling cocoons from the pot. The man sucked the tea from his fingertips before setting the pitcher down hard enough to make a sloshing sound.
“Tell us, where is your son?” Ana pressed.
“She called him to her side this afternoon with an emergency order. He still hasn’t returned though it’s been hours.” The man wrung his napkin as he went on. “We couldn’t deny the emperor. I begged my son to consider the consequences of his actions, but he wouldn’t listen. The emperor plans to marry her. Everyone says so. At the very least, he will never let her leave. I love my son but if he pursues this girl, it will be the death of him. No one thwarts the emperor.”
Just then there was a tumult at the door, and the young man we’d just been talking about rushed into the room. His chest heaved as he sucked in deep breaths, and the look on his face was one of abject terror coupled with determination. He knelt by his wizened father. “You must tell me where the wizard is, Father!”
“Son! You’ve returned.” He clutched his boy’s hand to his chest but the young man asked him his question again. “Wizard?” the old man echoed.
“Yes, wizard, Father. The one you told me about every night. The one who lives in the mountains. I must find him!”
“What are you going on about?” the old man said weakly. He pushed against the table to stand and ended up nearly falling over as the table squealed in protest and shifted toward Ana and me. Both of us caught our mugs of tea before they spilled.
The young man’s eyes burned like freshly struck flint as he took hold of his father’s silk robe. They wavered together like two weak saplings in a storm. The only way they could remain upright was if they locked arms and held on to one another. “Tell me, son,” the man said, “what can I do?”
The young man’s mouth opened and closed, opened and closed. I could see the immense pressure built up inside him. It was like the bag of popcorn in the microwave Kelsey had taught me about. You had to leave it in just long enough. Too long and the corn would burn. The boy in front of me was burning and I wondered if we were already too late to save him.
“Tell us about the girl,” I said, hoping that I could help guide him to the heart of the matter.
Grimly, the boy told us of how he had fallen in love with the girl trapped in the emperor’s palace and that she would be forced to become the bride of a man she despised. His only hope to save her was to beg favor of the wizard, the one his father had told him stories of since the time of his youth.
“But, son, there is no such wizard,” the father said, his limbs shaking. “I thought you knew. It was just a story. Your mother believed in the wizard and shared tales of him when you were young. I thought I’d continue the tradition to help you remember her.”
I could see the bunched muscles of the boy’s shoulders slacken in defeat. Lifelessly, he said, “Then there is nothing I can do. There’s no way to save her from her terrible fate.”
Ana murmured in a hushed voice, “Perhaps there is something we can do to help.”
As if noticing our presence for the first time, the young man turned and studied both of us. “Who are you?” he asked. “And why do you visit my home at such an hour?”
Without preamble, Anamika channeled her power and held out a hand. The Divine Scarf wound down her arm like a snake and undulated before them, shifting colors. The boy fell back. “What…what is it?” the old man asked.
When she murmured a command, the Divine Scarf left Ana’s fingertips and flowed over the outstretched palm of the old man. He rubbed the edge of the cloth between his fingers and cried out, “How is it possible?”
“What…what is it, father?” the boy asked, wetting his lips and staring at the scarf.
The man lifted his eyes to us and said, “I can see you. Both of you. Your fabric touches my mind’s eye and shows me color and shape once again.” He quickly bowed. “We are humbled to be in your presence, Great One.”
Ana smiled when the young man followed suit, and she gave them a gracious nod, bidding them to be comfortable, and opened her hands to show she meant no harm. “I am glad that the scarf gives you this gift, but I fear it is only temporary.”
“It does not matter,” the old man said, turning to his son and then back to her. “I can see the face of my son again. It is a more valuable prize than I could ever ask for.”
“We have been sent to help you rescue your lady,” she said to the young man. “As you can see, we have a magic of our own. Tell us, what were you planning to ask your wizard to do to help you?”
“I…” he stammered, “I wanted him to sneak into the palace and rescue her. He would wear my scarf as a sign that I have sent him.”
“But surely it would take a long time for someone unfamiliar with the palace to find her,” Ana suggested.
“That is true,” he answered, “but I can draw a map.”
Ana drummed her fingertips on the table while she thought. “I think it would be best for you to rescue your love yourself. You already know the area.”
“Yes, but my face is familiar to the guards. I am known there.”
“Then we will disguise you.”
“Disguise me?”
“Yes. The scarf has the ability.”
Ana held out her hand and the scarf shot toward her. “I am sorry to darken your eyes once again,” she apologized to the old silk maker.
He waved a hand dismissively and Ana wrapped the scarf around her form. When she lifted it away, she was me. The young man gasped as he looked from me to Ana and back again. “How have you done this?” he asked in amazement.
It was disconcerting looking at myself. Anamika must have sensed it, so she whispered to the scarf and my face melted away, revealing her own once more. “My name is the goddess Durga and this is Damon,” she said, indicating me. We have a great deal of magic, and we have come here for the sole purpose of saving the one you love. Will you assist us?”
“Yes, Goddess,” he said hoarsely. He knelt at Ana’s feet and clutched his hand to his heart. “I would do anything to save her.”
An hour later, we were walking with him to the city. We waited for the moon to set so we’d be surrounded by darkness. Using the scarf, we transformed his figure into that of a soldier and tied the precious scarf the girl had made him around his neck. He crept forward quietly, and when he came upon the city gate, he managed to gain entrance despite his very un-soldier-like mannerisms.
Ana and I had become invisible, blurring time around us so we couldn’t be detected, and we trailed along behind him, just squeezing inside the gate before it shut on us. Then everything bad that could possibly happen to screw up our plan did.
The lovesick fellow was stopped by a contingent of soldiers and was asked why he’d abandoned his post. The poor boy didn’t address the outranking officer appropriately or give him an acceptable answer, so he was clapped in irons and carted away to the nearest holding cell. We had to wait an hour for the group to leave him so we could release him from the chains that held him fast.
After we got him out, he lost his way, and we squandered precious time moving from building to building until he finally found the entrance to the palace wall that he frequently accessed. Again he struggled to gain entrance, and it took me and Ana causing a distraction to get the guard away from his post long enough for the silk maker to pass through.
Finally, we were beneath the girl’s window and the boy was about to climb up when I heard a guard approaching. I groaned when I saw it was the same guard who had just imprisoned our charge a few hours earlier. Ana and I were too far away to warn the young man, so she put her hand on her amulet and drew on her power. The youth, who would have been easily recognized, immediately transformed into a horse with the scarf tied around his neck.
“What did you do?” I hissed.
“I do not know,” Ana replied, her grip on the wagon wheel we hid behind intense. “I simply asked the scarf to change him to something unthreatening.”
“The scarf can’t do that. Change him to an animal, I mean.”
“Apparently, it can,” she said blandly.
The scarf had been able to change Kadam to our tiger forms but not to another animal. But then I remembered the way that Lokesh had merged humans and animals. It seemed that unifying the Damon Amulet gave Anamika access to powers that had previously been limited. “Great,” I said. “So now he’s a horse. He’s not even a fast one,” I pointed out. “He looks like he could barely pull a plow.”
“I did not choose his form,” she answered a bit too loudly. “The amulet chose it.”
“Well, the amulet chose wrong. Change him to something else. Something with a few more teeth or at least longer legs.”
The poor horse, I mean man, whinnied to the window above, trying to get the attention of his lady. Although he was successful, she seemed hesitant to climb down to him despite the fact that she had a rather obvious bunch of fabric tied together, ready to drop to the ground.
I rubbed my hand over my head. “This isn’t going well,” I said. At least the soldiers had walked past, ignoring the horse. But now the man-turned-animal, thinking he was in the clear and seeing that he’d caught the girl’s eye, was making such a ruckus that he was sure to bring them back.
His cries had become insistent and high-pitched. When the girl ducked back inside, pulling her mound of fabric with her, he kicked the bricks in frustration and rose up on his hind legs.
“That did it,” I said, pulling the chakram from the loop on my belt and preparing to fight. The group of soldiers was returning, and if this was going to work, we’d have to enter battle mode.
Ana touched my back. The warmth of her hand shot tingles all the way down my spine. “Wait, Sohan,” she said.
Just as I predicted, the soldiers responded to the noise. They circled the poor horse, who was now screeching and baring his teeth. I sighed as they captured him and dragged him off to the nearest stable. Rising, I prepared to trail along behind, but I found Anamika standing still, staring up at the window. The girl was leaning out watching the men drag off the horse, and she was in tears; the faint sounds of her weeping carried to us across the courtyard.
As I watched the men and the horse disappear into the shadowy darkness, I shook my head. “They’ve made a real mess of this,” I said to her.
“Yes,” Ana replied distractedly as she took hold of my outstretched hand. “Or, perhaps, we have.”
“We have?” I asked her. “None of this was our fault.” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder in the direction the horse had been taken. “The guy’s been bumbling around for hours.”
Ana didn’t answer. Her entire mood was fretful. She bit her lip and allowed me to lead her toward the stable without even cloaking us. Unlike the young man, I knew how to be silent and unseen. The darkness melted around us. With my heightened sense of smell and hearing, it was almost too easy to avoid detection.
We crept into the barn and found our charge banging his feet against the wood of his stall. More time passed before he finally settled down and the last guard departed. Ana approached the young man and patted his side. “I am sorry that this has happened. We will do the best we can to fix it.”
The horse whickered and blew air out of his nostrils. Ana touched one hand to the amulet and kept her other against the side of the horse. She closed her eyes and drew upon her power but nothing happened. Again she tried. The torches outside flickered and went out. Air stirred the bits of hay in tiny whirlwinds. Her hair lifted from her shoulders and fanned out all around her.
Even I could feel the strength of her power. It filled my frame and made all the hairs of my body stand on end. The ground shook with a tremor, and it was the possibility of causing an earthquake that finally made her stop. “I cannot change him back,” she said. “The amulet will not allow it.” She sunk down onto the hay and buried her face in her hands.
The horse-boy lowered his head and blew a breath onto her hair.
“Hey,” I said, crouching down next to her. “The kid’s fine. We’ll just leave him here and go find the girl on our own. Once we get her out safely, we’ll break him out and set them up on a nice silkworm farm somewhere far, far away.”
“You make it sound so easy, Sohan.”
I gave her a winning smile. “Not everything needs to be hard, Ana.”
Taking her hand, I pulled her up and saw a shining tear fall onto her cheek. Lifting my fingertip, I gently caught it and thought of the time she’d turned one of Kelsey’s tears into a diamond. Just as I thought of it, the sparkling tear transformed. Ana gasped in awe as I moved the diamond to my palm.
“How did you do that?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I saw you do it in one of your temples, and I was just remembering that when it changed.”
She touched her finger to it, rolling it around on my palm. “What did you do with it? The one I created for you?”
“I…I gave it to Kelsey the day I asked her to marry me.”
“I see.”
“It’s a tradition in her time for a man to give a woman a diamond ring when he proposes marriage.”
For some reason I felt very uncomfortable telling her about Kelsey and our engagement. It wasn’t like she didn’t know. I stammered, “She still wears it, you know. When I saw her on her wedding day, she wore a mangalsutra. Ren had it made for her and the diamond was there.”
She turned away from me. “We are wasting time,” she said over her shoulder.
I captured her arm to stop her from leaving. “Ana, I…”
Her eyes met mine and there was something there I’d never seen before. “You do not need to explain, Kishan. I was merely curious.”
Taking a step closer, I cupped her arm gently. “I think I prefer it when you call me Sohan,” I said, my voice low and gravelly.
Her breath caught and we stood immobile, just looking at each other. The hoot of an owl startled both of us and she blinked and stepped back. “We have work to do,” she said.
I nodded and followed her out of the stable. We spent several hours tracking the girl. It was easy enough for me to catch her scent after we backtracked to the window, but once we were inside the palace, her scent was gone. It was like the girl had never once left her room. Finally, we found it only to discover her room was now empty. All of her belongings had been moved.
The sun rose and we used the scarf to disguise ourselves, but Ana was summoned down to the kitchens to work when we passed by the head cook. It took me an hour to get her since she was surrounded by people and we didn’t want to cause alarm by disappearing. By the time she changed from a kitchen worker to a palace servant and found a water jug to carry, I had been called upon to help a group of men lifting a cart to put on a new wheel.
When that task was completed, we wound our way through the palace, checking room after room, getting lost more than once, before I finally caught the girl’s scent again. I followed it to a large room blocked by a guard. He took one look at me and stuck out his hand, denying me entrance, but he opened the door for Ana.
She shrugged and ducked inside. Moving far enough away from the man so he couldn’t see or hear me, but close enough to watch for Ana to exit, I wore a hole in the fine rug with my pacing, but at last, she emerged and we met at the corner of the building. “It was a harem. A rather big one,” she said, her eyes gleaming with intensity.
“So? Was she there?” I asked.
“No. But a lot of her silks were.”
My shoulders fell. “Then we need to keep looking.”
“No, Sohan. I know where she is.”
“Where?” I asked.
“She is being prepared for her wedding. The girls will be leaving soon to dress her.”
I took hold of her shoulders a bit too harshly. “Then we’re too late?”
“No. We’ll follow the women. They’ll lead us right to her.”
We waited but the women never came.
“I’ll check with the guard,” Ana said. When she returned, she said, “They have already gone. They left through a back way. I told him I was to be summoned and he gave me directions. Follow me. We must be quick!”
We hurried through a maze of corridors and finally came upon a bathing chamber. There were a few girls mopping up water. “Are we too late?” Ana asked. “We were to bring a gift for the emperor and his new bride.”
“They’ve already gone ahead,” one girl said indifferently.
“Thank you,” Ana muttered and we sped out the door. To avoid too many interruptions, we phased out of time and finally came upon a grand chamber. The door opened as a servant scurried out. We both ducked inside, passing the two guards before the door closed. I heard a voice shouting and the cry of many people. It sounded like battle or soldiers marching in formation.
We stalked closer. The thick carpet would have muffled any sounds we made even if we hadn’t been cloaked. A man’s voice echoed in the expansive chamber, and we came upon the girl we were seeking and the emperor, her betrothed. They stood on a balcony overlooking what must have been a practice field.
The man said, “I have a wedding present for you, my dear.” He opened a parcel and showed the contents to the girl. She stretched out her fingertips to touch the piece of fabric he held. Tears coursed down her face. The emperor continued with a mocking voice, “An interesting incident occurred last night. It seems a plow horse entered the palace grounds wearing this very scarf. He made enough noise that the guards took him away and locked him in the stables. This morning, to our surprise, we found not a horse but the silk maker in the stall. We asked him what magic he’d used and why he’d come. He won’t speak. He refuses to share his reason for infiltrating my palace in the middle of the night.”
I took a step forward, intending to confront the man openly, but Ana touched my arm and did that soothing thing. She curled her hand around my bicep to hold me in place, and when I turned to question her, I was surprised to see her mouth drawn in a tight line and her face so pale.
As the girl’s shoulders shook, the dastardly man continued, “I can only assume that he came to assassinate me. How fortunate you are that your husband-to-be is safe.”
The girl clenched her fists and cried, “He didn’t come to assassinate you!”
I grimaced. The girl was totally without guile. She couldn’t see that the man was baiting her.
“Didn’t he? Are you sure? You do know him better than anyone else here. Perhaps he came here for a completely different reason. Why do you think he came, my dear?”
Don’t answer, I thought. Just be quiet. Sadly, the girl couldn’t seem to keep her mouth shut. In a way, she and the silk maker were perfect for each other.
The girl fumbled to fashion a story. “I…I’m sure he was only bringing me more thread. Perhaps he was set upon by a warlock and he needed some help.”
This pathetic back-and-forth went on for a while, and I was hoping the guy would finish soon so we could grab the girl and get out and reunite her with her silk maker. But then, he took her to the balcony. Was he going to throw her over?
I heard the snap of a whip and my blood went cold. The emperor shoved the scarf he held into the girl’s face. His own face was purple with rage. “Did you think I wouldn’t recognize your handiwork, my dear?” he said. “You have bestowed your favor on this man.”
The girl begged for the life of the young man but I knew it was futile. I looked over at Ana, who seemed traumatized by the whole spectacle. “Maybe we should go save the boy first,” I said.
She shook her head numbly. I looked up and locked eyes with the emperor. He was a canny one. My voice had been low enough that he shouldn’t have heard me, and yet he scanned the room suspiciously before finally turning back to the girl and humiliating her further by making her deny the young man.
Of course, she did, though it would accomplish nothing. I edged closer and looked out over the balcony. The young man was visibly shaken by her renunciation and I rolled my eyes. If ever a couple deserved each other, it was these two. How could he think that she didn’t love him? And what was more, how had he turned back into a man?
I gave Ana a pointed look and she shook her head again just as the emperor said, “That’s all I needed to hear.” Then he shouted, “Put him out of his misery!”
All the soldiers below lifted their bows. I growled and dashed toward the balcony, ready to leap in the path of the arrows before they reached their target, but when I touched the stone, my body froze in place. I could move my head but nothing else.
Turning to Ana, I saw her approach me, tears filling her eyes. Time had stopped. The girl had her hands pressed to her mouth, and the emperor was leaning over the balcony, his eyes lit with dangerous fire. “What have you done?” I mumbled.
“We are not meant to save him,” she said.
“You would force this choice upon me?” I asked. “Upon them?”
Anamika didn’t need to answer, for I saw the determination in her eyes. The fragile thing that had been building between us broke and shattered into painful shards. She turned away from me and time moved again. That is, for everyone and everything except me. From my frozen position on the balcony, I watched as the lovesick young man was struck by dozens of arrows. I gritted my teeth as I listened to the smug emperor say to the girl, “Remember this lesson, little bird. I will not be made a cuckold. Now…compose yourself for our wedding.”
As Anamika used the scarf to disguise herself, I stared at her, feeling the sting of betrayal. I wondered why she’d hide her intentions from me. Hadn’t I earned her trust? If she’d only taken the time to explain, maybe I would have gone along with her plan.
Ana crouched down and touched the sobbing girl. She murmured condolences and muttered some platitude about her silk maker always being with her when she looked at the stitches on the sad gift she’d given him. I shook my head in disgust. Ana and the woman disappeared, leaving me alone, invisible, and frozen in place. I watched the soldiers remove the body of the poor man below.
How could she be so cold? I thought. We could have saved the man. Easily. We had the power. I never believed in destiny the way Kadam had or, apparently, Ana did. I still wasn’t so certain I’d found mine. That this life I was living was my purpose. The only reason I was going along with Kadam’s list was because nothing was set in stone, nothing we’d done couldn’t be undone. Nothing I’d been asked to do so far went against the grain. Maybe that was going to change now.
My blood pounded hot in the veins of my neck. I was boiling mad. Nothing I’d read on the list said, Let The Boy Die. Ana had deliberately chosen not to save him. Why? I wondered over and over again. She was a warrior, granted, but she abhorred senseless death, and this one qualified.
The emperor returned and flew into a rage. Servants and soldiers scrambled, looking everywhere for the girl. All the while, I silently seethed at what Anamika had done. When she returned, she snapped her fingers and my body relaxed. I could move again. Across the tile floor, I stared at her, not trusting myself to speak. The room was now empty but every inch of it was bursting with unsaid things. The air between us was hot and vaporous. All it would take was one spark to blow us apart.
She seemed to understand my mood and, without saying so much as a word, flicked out her arm and whipped the Rope of Fire until she created a portal. It cracked and spat sparks as if sensing the tension. When I still didn’t move, she raised an eyebrow. Something inside me snapped, and I took three bold steps forward, grabbed her around the waist, and lifted her off her feet.
Ana struggled against me but I shook her lightly and just said, “Don’t.”
She stilled and wrapped her arms around my neck. I shifted her in my arms and leapt through the breach.