“You have not yet seen violence,” I seethed. “And since it was your Mother’s Eye who took my mate, I cannot trust any of you to help me!”

More confusion. More murmurs among the crowd. And suddenly, there was doubt inside me. Doubt that any of these ones knew where Koltar was, or that he’d even taken my mate in the first place.

“Our Mother’s Eye would not cause harm to one such as her,” Nakib piped up from the ground. “If he did take her, do you not think perhaps it was because he was helping her? She probably wanted to flee from you, and Koltar led her away from your monstrous nature and into sanctuary.”

Clearly, I had not squeezed Nakib’s throat hard enough if he could still spout filth like that. I glared down at him, realizing that I hadn’t actually injured him badly when I’d thrown him down, because he was already standing up with the help of his crutch. Furious, practically foaming at the mouth with hatred of him, of anyone who stood between Suvi and me, I blasted power at him, snapping the femur of his good leg just to shut him up. He collapsed in pain-stricken silence while several Mother’s Hands gasped and hurried forward to examine him.

“Why do you think Koltar has taken her?” Koraba said. The Mother’s Claws had drawn rank around her. They were weaponless, now, but I could tell that several of them were on the edge of a berserker rage, just like I was. The way of cotton meant not giving into those violent urges, but I supposed I had created exceptional circumstances that allowed them to veer from their peaceful ways. That, or some of those bristling Mother’s Claws would have some serious praying to do when this was all done.

“Because I smelled him!” I bellowed at her. “And he was seen! There are witnesses!”

“He is telling the truth!” I twisted back, chest heaving, to see Jolakaia roll up and dismount weakly from her two-wheel. She wobbled, tried to take a step, then appeared to decide it would be better to stay holding onto her two-wheel for support.

“He is telling the truth,” she said again, more quietly this time, panting like just speaking was taking a great effort. “He took her from her bed in the night when Skalla was gone. And he used weapons on my wife Zev and I when we questioned him.”

The confusion that had been simmering came to a sudden, riotous boil. Shouts and questions rang out on all sides. Many accused Jolakaia of lying, hissing at her, throwing her history back in her face. She took it all with a steady gaze, remaining still but strong under the insults, until suddenly the words buzzing through the air like weapons blasts took on a different tone, became centred on Koltar.

“Why would the Honoured Eye take her?”

“I still do not think he did it!”

“Where is he now, then? He always spends the night in the temple and yet he is not here!”

“He must have had good reason. He is the Mother’s Eye and he sees the path she lays before us.”

“Nakib was right. He must have saved her.”

“Why would he steal her to save her? Why would he not tell any of us?”

“Who manned the front gate earlier tonight?”

“I did! And no one passed!”

“But did Koltar not take Padra off duty at the back gate tonight?” That question was louder than any other, silencing the voices. It came from Koraba. Her aged voice was like a blade, every word a damning blow. “Who manned the back gate?”

The Mother’s Claws looked around at each other, then at Koraba, then at me.

“None of us.”

“There’s another way out of Callabarra besides the front gate? And Koltar made sure no one was at that post tonight?” I asked.

Koraba jerked her snout yes.

So he’d taken her right out of the city, then. That seemed to make sense as much as it filled me with dread, because if he took her away from here it would be to make sure no one saw whatever he planned to do.

“I do not think that he will harm her. At least, not directly,” Jolakaia called from her two-wheel. “Whatever his motivations, he is still the Honoured Eye. He follows the way of cotton. He will not kill her.”

“Curse the way of cotton!” I shouted. “If I never hear of it again it will be far too soon!” I pointed an accusing finger at my cousin-niece. “He blasted you and your wife with weapons and took my mate. Is that the way of cotton?”

“But the weapons do not kill,” Jolakaia said. “They stun and weaken, but they are not lethal. We use them when circumstances are dire, otherwise the Mother’s Claws would not be allowed to carry them at all. But he will not kill her, Skalla. I am sure of it. Taking life is the worst offense before the Mother. No matter what Koltar’s plans or motivations, killing her with his own hands is not among them.” She paused, then her eyes grew huge with horror. “With his own hands.”

My heart seemed to stop within my very chest.

He wanted her dead and so he’d get someone else to do it.

It all fell into place now. As my memory had returned in Suvi’s arms, I’d recalled more and more about the mate bond. Aeshyr had even mentioned it – that my life would be bonded to Suvi’s.

When Suvi died, so would I.

And as killing my sweet little star was a whole lot easier than killing me, that was who Koltar had taken. The most vicious sort of coward, he’d waited until the shield of my love was withdrawn and he’d struck like poison.

I’d always hated Koltar and I should have trusted my instincts. Should have crushed his pathetic skull back when I’d had the chance! But I’d tempered myself, restrained myself from hurting, from killing, so that Suvi would not hate me.

But I’d rather have her living, breathing hate than have her dead.

“Joleb,” Jolakaia breathed. “Skalla, he is the only warlord left with an army in this territory. If Koltar has taken her somewhere, then-”

“Where?” I cut her off savagely. I yet stood, which meant that somewhere out there Suvi still breathed. But who knew for how long? I certainly did not, and the not knowing made terror like nothing I had ever experienced yawn open in front of me, a chasm so deep and wide that even with my wings I was not sure that I could cross it.

“It’s your old home!” she said quickly, her words slurring slightly as she tried to speak faster than her weakened state would let her. “The house you grew up in. Follow the river away from where the sun will rise. You will know it when you see it.”

I could recall what it looked like. Even before my memory had started coming back more strongly, I’d glimpsed it in that fractured vision of Wylfrael in the river.

I didn’t waste any more time. I was up in the air, spearing out of the city, following the river and finally giving into the seductive darkness of the berserker rage. My body stretched and swelled as I flew, scales flaring outward with the force of my fury.

If you hate killing, Mother of Cotton, then you’d best turn your eyes from Bohnebregg tonight.

That was my last conscious thought.

But soon after that, there was no thought.

No words. No logic.

Even my own name disappeared, just as it had before.

But this time, hers remained.

I would not forget it. Could not forget it. I could go mad for a thousand lifetimes and still her name would be there, more recognizably a part of me than my own heartbeat. Even now, that organ did not pulse in service to me, but rather called for her, a brutal chant, repeating the same two syllables over and over again.

Su-vi. Su-vi. Su-vi.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Suvi

The room I’d been left in looked like something out of a fairytale picture book. Those images of dragon hoards under mountains that were basically just massive piles of gold coins and goblets and jewels? Yeah, they had nothing on Joleb’s hoard. Metal filled every bit of the floor, every corner, was piled up high against the walls, undulating down like a wave before rising high in a big shiny crest in the centre of the room. There were metal coins and goblets, just like those illustrations I’d seen as a child, but also weapons. Tons of weapons. Blades and axes and hammers and chains, all entangled together and balanced in their precarious piles. Not long after my arrival, Joleb had led me here and plopped me down, since apparently I was a part of his hoard now, too. Koltar was nearby, not actually inside this room, but chained by one of his hands to a wall in the hallway beyond. I could see him from here, and he was awake now, but he didn’t say or do anything besides sit there. I didn’t say anything to him, either, even though I had some choice fucking words for that pious idiot. I kept my eye on him whenever I wasn’t watching the huge mounds of metal all around me, paranoid that all that weight would come crashing down on top of me if I weren’t careful.