“Iannis should have been back yesterday!” Angry, I ripped my arm free as I whirled around to face Elnos. He was a good deal taller than I was, nearly as tall as Iannis, so I had to crane my neck in order to glare at him. “It’s been three days with no sign of him, and we haven’t been able to discover any way into the compound. All we’ve managed to do is ruin those two outgoing shipments yesterday!”

“I understand your frustration,” Elnos said, and indeed, his own voice was brimming with the same emotion. “But charging in now and risking our safety is a foolish plan. We have time until Lord Iannis returns. Surely we can think of something—”

“Like what?” I propped my hands on my hips. “We’re out of options. We’ve found no way to get past the wards, and eavesdropping on those guards in town hasn’t gotten us anywhere. Impersonating them won’t do us any good, because you tried to breach the wards disguised as a human and you still set them off. The ether pigeons we sent in to warn Noria and Annia didn’t seem to do any good either.” They’d probably fizzled out the moment they’d touched the border, though they hadn’t actually set off the alarm.

“You don’t know that,” Elnos said tightly. “For all we know, Noria may have noticed our attempts to breach the barrier. She could be trying to engineer an escape attempt right now. What if we trigger the alarm and ruin her chances of getting out?”

“And what if triggering the alarm provides a diversion, and makes it easier for her?” I argued.

Elnos let out an annoyed sigh. “This is a ridiculous argument.”

“Yes, it is,” I agreed, spinning on my heel. Ignoring Elnos’s protests, I stalked toward the back entrance of the bunker. The scent of magic grew thicker the closer I got. I was just inches away from butting up against the wards.

“Sunaya.” Iannis’s voice resonated in my head, and I stumbled over a rock.

“Iannis?” I shot out a hand, bracing myself against a tree to steady myself. “Are you back?”

“Yes. Meet me at the camp with Elnos. I have urgent news.”

“Damn right you do. You’re late!”

“Sunaya?” Elnos asked, puzzlement in his eyes. “What’s going on?”

Sighing, I turned back to him. “Iannis is back. He wants us to go meet up with him at our campsite.”

“Thank goodness,” Elnos said, sounding incredibly relieved. Guess he was getting his wish after all.