Keeping to the shadows, I slipped into my cavern. Still empty. The guys had moved out the night before last to give Kerrick and me privacy. It was just as well. I didn’t want company. Before lying down, I pulled Kerrick’s shirt from my knapsack. I pressed it to my face and breathed in his unmistakable scent—spring sunshine and living green.

Tears pushed and my nose filled, but I wouldn’t cry. Not yet. Not until I had proof. I fell asleep clutching his shirt tight.

* * *

“Avry.” A voice shattered my dream.

With effort, I opened one eye. Ryne knelt next to me.

“Go away,” I mumbled, rolling over.

“Avry, we need to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk to you. Go away.”

“You can’t avoid me.”

True. I sighed. “We’ll chat in the morning, before the search parties go out. Okay?”

“I’ve called off the search.”

I sat up, turning. “What? Why?” Fury blew away the sleep fog.

He reached for my hand, but I jerked back. Ryne settled back on his heels. “He’s gone, Avry.”

“No. You’re wrong.”

“I wish I was, really I do.” Ryne pushed a lock of his brown hair from his tired hazel eyes. Worry lines creased his face and he appeared much older than twenty-seven—the same age as Kerrick. “Remember that book on magicians I have?”

“Couldn’t forget that.” I didn’t bother softening my sarcasm. His school textbook on magicians and their powers had led to Ryne leaving me behind to be caught in Tohon’s nasty trap. I shuddered at the memory.

He ignored my tone. “It reports that forest mages go into the woods when they die. And their bodies disappear.”

“No. Not buying it. What if they’re in a city?”

“Avry, it fits. You know it. Death Lily toxin is lethal. He died in the woods and the living green reclaimed its gift to him.”

“No.”

“Then why can’t we find his body? And if he didn’t die, why isn’t he here? You know Kerrick, he would never just leave you.”

“No. No. No. No!” I screamed the last one. And with that one word, all the emotions I’d been suppressing burst from my core. I collapsed as great gasping sobs pounded my body.

CHAPTER 3

I woke in Ryne’s arms. He was curled next to me. It took me a moment to remember what had led to this. Ah, yes. Ryne insisting Kerrick was gone. The suffocating pain returned, pressing my chest as if I lay under the Nine Mountains. Groaning, I rolled away.

Ryne pushed up to one elbow. “Avry, are you—”

“Don’t ask. Ever.” I grabbed my boots and left.

After checking on my patients, I searched for Loren. He sat with the group around Ryne. They’d probably been discussing military tactics, but I didn’t care. I caught Loren’s attention and gestured for him to join me. He nodded and slipped away.

His face tight with concern, Loren approached me as if I’d attack him. I would have laughed if the circumstances had been different.