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Kougar turned to hisThe Ilinas are enthralled and not our enee could cause an earthquake that would destroy the tehe The only one who dies is Hookeye, and Ariana and I are the only ones who knohat he looks like"
"Stay alert," Lyon added "These bastards have access to a spirit trap, and they want us in it"
"They’re not getting what they want," Jag snarled
Wulfe grunted "Hell, no"
"Just keep your eyes and senses open," Lyon added
Kougar palmed the top of Ariana’s head, then slid his hand down her hair "Be careful"
She blinked hard against the flood of war she felt in his touch "You, too" She couldn’t et the better of her But he gripped her shoulders and turned her to hi of lips
Through the led e tenderness
Unable to resist, she aze and fell into those fierce pale eyes
"We’re going to win, Ariana We’re going to beat him" He kissed her forehead "Corant beauty "Yes And you to me"
Beside thear touched her face for one tenderand protective at her back With a fierce cry, the Feral Warriors, Melisande, and Ariana raced into battle
With one hand, Kougar swung his sword, parrying the blows of the enthralled Ilinas, while with his other he grabbed slender wrists or feminine necks, and tossed his petite assailants far froht hurt the Ilinas, but any injuries sustained would heal quickly enough And for a fewswords For once, the Ferals weren’t fighting in their animal forms but their human since they didn’t want to hurt, let alone kill, their unwilling opponents
The Ilinas were quick, deadly little fighters, but thethem all to flesh and blood Unable to turn to e of surprise, their speed and strength no ht with the single-mindedness of puppets in the hands of a puppetback into the natural rhythlad to see it Vhyper hadn’t been himself since Paenther helped him reclaim his soul But maybe there was hope for the Feral, yet
On his other side, Ariana fought, refusing to stay protected within their ranks She’d always been a warrior, but her skill was a hundred ti hi With her blue satin gown splotched purple with blood, her skin blood-streaked, and her hair a wild tumble around her shoulders, she relowing
Never had she looked e sentinels broke through the ranks of Ilinas, his blue tunic rippling in the wind, his sword flashing with the sun’s fire Kougar took hi his fury into the first cohtand hurtwithout coht of battle, no emotion at all
"Even the sentinels are enthralled!" he shouted to his companions It seeht the Mage in a quick, intense battle, his opponent a skilled fighter even with his will controlled by another But inhis blade flying As the rabbed his other hand and cut if off, too His hands would grow back quickly enough, but he’d be no threat in the ar gave thanks that the place was so isolated that the Mage had had no easy way to send up reinforceoddess, so far they’d been able to dispatch the Ilinas without anyone’s suffering serious harreat pillars and into the te half dozen sentinels and last twelve Ilinas olden statue of the first queen
As the battle resu off the stone walls, Ariana broke away Kougar followed, covering her back as she e that would lead her into the Syphian Streaazelle’s, Ariana slipped around a corner and started up an open, twisting stair that led to the narrow gallery ringing the curved inner doar close behind When they reached the top of the stairs, he noticed the series of niches that lined the inner wall, perhaps a dozen of which were filled with the life-sized stone carvings of warrior wo theet a chance to find out as she paused beside the second niche, as if searching her memories She turned to him, her eyes heavier than he’d ever seen them, yet lit with the fire of determination
"This is it This is the door Wishit to her cheek Her lashes drifted down as if she absorbed his strength, his touch Goddess, she was about to travel into the spirit trap His heart clutched at the danger she was about to face and the knowledge that he wouldn’t be there to guard her He couldn’t go where she was going without ending up just like Hawke and Tighe
Lifting her hand to his, she turned and pressed a kiss to his palic that would let her through
At least they’dto stop the No Mage had tried to stop thelanced at him "What?"
"It’s too easy This is the trap"
She turned slowly back to face hi to save them"
"Hookeye knoe’re here to breach that spirit trap, and he controls every Mage and Ilina in the room Yet no one tried to stop us"
"Maybe he doesn’t know this is the door"
"Regardless, no one followed us He wants you to go through that door"
Her lips pressed together Slowly, she nodded "You’re right But what are we" Her gaze flicked behind hiar, look"
He whirled toward the battle, seeing ili the floor around the statue of the first queen Enclosing the Ferals
He lunged for the balustrade "Trap! Out of the te caic shot up, arcing over the statue to for all five Feral Warriors and nearly twelve Ilinas, including Melisande and Brielle
The moment the trap snapped closed, all the Ilinas except Melisande fell unconscious, as if the one calling the shots didn’t want the Ferals harmed As if he wanted them alive for what ca to break through with knives and claws, but their efforts were futile
Disbelief and denial tore through Kougar’s rabbed his aroing to send them all in" The Ferals wouldn’t die for days But Ariana’s friends would be dead the e sentinels and those Ilinas not caught within the bubble turned in perfect unison toward the stairs beneath where he and Ariana stood As if they shared a single mind And they did, didn’t they?