“No longer trying,” Daisy said. She hurried toward my brother. Her face was pale. “It’s Sam, Fox. Sam Fallow.”

The name sounded familiar. Wasn’t that Daisy’s old flame?

“I’m not sure that’s important right now, Tea.”

“Who are you talking to? Is Tea in your head? Lady Zoya tried explaining, but she lost me in the middle of it.” Daisy placed her hand against Fox’s forehead. “Tea? Can you hear me?”

“That’s not how this works,” my brother growled. “She can hear you the same way I can. Has Kalen tracked down Fallow?”

“He and his Deathseeker friends are saddling the horses as we speak. They think he’s fled to the Kingswood.” Daisy shuddered, tears filling her eyes. “They said he had antennae and bulging eyes like an insect. Why would anyone do this? Can you save him, Fox?”

“I’ll try, Daisy,” Fox told her, skirting away from an actual answer. “I want you to stay here and help Khalad and Althy. Do whatever they tell you to do and don’t stray too far from them until we return.”

“I’m coming with you,” Inessa said firmly, emerging from the forge. “You’ve been training me for more than a year. You said I was good at it.”

“Not that good yet. I want you to stay and protect Daisy and Khalad. Don’t fight me on this, Inessa.”

The princess glared but, sensing his urgency, relented. Fox had borrowed Chief for the journey and lost no time vaulting on my horse and cantering off in the direction of the forest.

He quickly caught up with Kalen and the others along the edges of the Kingswood. “I’m surprised Inessa isn’t with you,” Kalen remarked.

“Not for want of trying. Any luck?”

“Ostry’s found signs it passed through this way. Is Tea with you?”

What can I do to help?

Fox relayed my message.

“Can she locate the creature the way she can locate daeva?”

I cast the Scrying rune and focused, but all I could find were faint thoughts coming from the other Deathseekers. Fox shook his head.

“Worth a shot. We’re trying to corral the borders and see if we can close in on it from—”

A yell rose up nearby. I recognized Levi’s voice.

“Over there!” Kalen wheeled his horse around, riding hard toward the sound.

Fox followed suit, Chief beating the other steed by a few yards.

Levi was on the ground. A quick check told me he was unconscious and wounded. Ostry was trying to drag him away as he struggled to put up Shield runes between himself and the strange creature that stood a few meters away.