Torches were lit. The last bit of light left the sky. The camp was quiet. I dropped down from the horse and threw the reins to one of the guards who waited for me. When the men tried to follow me, I gave them a look that clearly said I wanted to be alone.

All I wanted to do was see Magnus—and get to work.

I passed between two cabins then moved past the clearing, seeing the empty picnic tables where the women worked. My eyes flicked to the noose there. The ground below wasn’t covered with red snow—but the earth was tinted red. My gaze lingered for seconds, a chasm forming in my chest and filling with sensations I couldn’t understand. I looked away and kept going.

Then I heard a scream pierce the night.

“Magnus!” A woman screamed with the full capacity of her lungs.

I stilled. My eyes scanned the area. I searched for the source.

“Please!” Tears broke her voice. “Please let me go.”

I moved forward, circumvented a cabin in my way, and then spotted the scene.

Alix had Raven by the hair, and he dragged her naked body across the ground, her skin getting caked with dust. Tears stained her cheeks, and the identical eyes she shared with Melanie showed the exact same look of despair I’d seen dozens of times.

My eyes lifted to Alix, who was too busy sneering down at her to notice. He gave her scalp a painful tug to make her cry out again, as if torturing Magnus, who was nowhere around. There was only one reason he wouldn’t be around.

I stopped in front of Alix and stared.

He seemed to feel my presence because he looked up.

And paled.

He stopped dragging Raven. He stopped breathing. He met my gaze and swallowed. Alix was a grown-ass man, but he turned into a boy when he was the recipient of my stare. There were no breaths. No movements. It was as if he were scared to move.

If Raven looked at me, I didn’t notice.

Rage burned inside me, bubbling like boiling water. “Let her go.”

Alix obeyed and let her collapse to the dirt.

The door to the guards’ cabin burst open—and Magnus ran out and nearly tripped on the stairs because he was in such a rush to get to Raven.

Eric and Nathan emerged from behind him.

I didn’t look at my brother again, my fury reserved for the man I wanted to butcher with a butter knife. My anger was audible without my voice rising a single decibel, so I didn’t need to scream to express my disappointment. “This woman doesn’t belong to you—and you know that.”

Alix was stupid enough to argue, to somehow justify his actions, to somehow pretend he hadn’t been caught with his pants down. “She’s a prisoner—”

“Don’t. Speak.”