The Silver Siren (Iron Butterfly, #3)(14)

Strong hands gripped me under my arms and yanked. The back of my legs scraped against the gravel and I cried out as Faraway fell onto the ground where I’d been lying only seconds ago. He twisted, turned, and tried to get his feet under him. I could see the terror in his eyes, but the canyon was impossibly narrow and perfect for an ambush. Someone came up behind us and pressed a knife to Kael’s throat. A similar brush of cold steel touched my neck.

I froze.

“Whose sword do you die for?” a raspy voice called out.

I turned to look at the man clothed in black. His pants, shirt, and boots were black. His face was covered by a black mask as well. I could see a bandolier of weapons, but even the silver of the weapons were painted a matte black to keep them from glinting in the sun. Four more silhouettes of black stood behind him. I turned my head and followed the knife at my throat up the arm to my own attacker.

He was smaller than the others by a good ten inches, and I stared up at the mask. Like the other man, this person’s face was wrapped with black except for the eyes. Oh. I was surprised at how much hate radiated out of those very feminine brown eyes. My captor was female.

Kael’s strong voice answered the question without wavering. “My own.”

“Whose land do you die for?” A second question came forth from the same man.

“The land of the free.”

“Welcome home, brother.” The man stepped back from Kael and withdrew his knife.

“Alek?” Kael said.

It took a few seconds for the woman who held the knife at my throat to back away, and I couldn’t help but feel her gaze on me long after I stood up. Her knife disappeared into the folds of her clothes and her hands gripped my forearm painfully. I knew better than to fight until Kael had given me an all-clear signal.

I glanced over to Faraway and studied his legs and muscles for injuries. He limped a little and had a few cuts and scrapes but he appeared fine otherwise.

It takes more than a fall to take me down, he said. I’ll be fine.

Kael and the man spoke quietly with each other. I could see the stranger cast furtive glances over at me and shake his head furiously. Kael’s voice didn’t raise but I could see how angry he was. His body stiffened, his face deadpanned, and he barely moved.

What’s going on? You’re closer to them.

They’re arguing over you.

Me?

Yes, it is against clan laws for outsiders to come to the sanctuary. Ever. The one that Kael is talking to seems to be his brother.

The woman holding my arm called out to them in a foreign tongue. An ancient tongue. I could only recognize a few words.

Oh. It was beginning to make sense—all of the precautions, why Kael didn’t want to tell me where we were going.

What Kael did is punishable by death. Faraway answered back.

No. They wouldn’t kill their own member.

Thalia, it’s not Kael’s life they are arguing over. It’s yours.





Chapter 9



Everything became crisp, clear, finite—the sounds of SwordBrothers closing in around me, knives being unsheathed and raised. Words heatedly passed back and forth between Kael and his brother. My captor’s hand pressed into my forearm. Even the sound of my blood rushing loudly within my ears heightened. My world stopped, froze, and all I could do was exhale. I concentrated on breathing and watching as my fate unfolded before me.

Kael’s brother took off his hood and they stood face to face. He was a taller, more angular version of Kael. His features were more prominent. Whereas Kael’s hair was dark and long to his ears, his brother’s was lighter in color and cropped shorter. I couldn’t see the shade of his eyes, and I briefly wondered if they turned colors the way Kael’s did when he was angry.

I didn’t have to wait long, because he turned and gave me the full focus of his deep green-gold fury. His hand rested close to his knife as he gave a short bark of command to my captor. She released my arm, and I ignored both the pain and the desire to rub the area where she had touched me. Kael stepped in front of me, his face once again devoid of emotion. I had no clue what had been decided, and he obviously wasn’t going to give me any hints.

But then he grabbed my arm and glared angrily at the woman who had just released me. A glare that I had been the recipient of on more than one occasion.

“Are you hurt?” Kael asked. His eyes met mine and then flicked away toward the tall woman again. A second of regret flickered across his face. He continued to watch her as she moved to speak to his brother. I didn’t have to be a genius to figure I had just met Gwen.

“No. I’m fine,” I said stiffly. “Nice family reunion.”

Kael looked back to me and frowned.

We were moving, or rather being forced to walk, down a narrow ledge barely large enough for a horse. Kael walked in front of me, his head held high, though I knew he watched his clan members warily. He was tense. Everyone was tense. My only consolation was that I didn’t have to wear the stupid blindfold again.

But…maybe the reason I didn’t need to wear the blindfold was because I wouldn’t be alive much longer. My stomach plummeted.

I wanted to ask Kael questions, but when we had turned a corner and entered a cave, he shot me a worried glance. All questions died on my lips, and I started to look for an escape route. The cave was only dark for a few hundred feet as it emptied us into a deep large valley. Lush trees and a small winding river filled the oasis. On the far side were towering pagodas, barely discernible against the surprising green when all I had seen for miles was brown and parched. This was it—the hidden camp of the SwordBrothers. We had tracked through barren lands and shale mountains through a land of nothing, where no one wanted to live.