Twisted Enchantment (Unbreakable Force Book 5) by Kara Jaynes Read Free Book Online

“Dahlia!”
    Aaric spun to face the horses, and his heart sank seeing the empty saddle of Sorrel. Dahlia had been captured.

 
    14
    Adaryn
     
    “ I hate myself.” I’d stopped crying, but my head ached from the tears I’d shed. I was riding Sorrel, gaze riveted to the ground several paces ahead of me. I was following the tracks of the remaining Twyli party that had attacked us. A quick scan among the horses told me that Dahlia hadn’t dismounted herself. There had been, however, prints of larger feet in the snow, leading up to and then away from Sorrel. A Twyli, as none of Fyrsil’s men had seen Dahlia during or since the attack.
    “Don’t take it so hard, Adaryn,” Aaric said gently, riding next to me. “We were attacked. You can hardly be blamed for what went wrong here.”
    I shook my head, a lump forming in my throat again. I swallowed, blinking furiously. “I shouldn’t have left her. When I saw she was gone I shouldn’t have wasted time helping Fyrsil.”
    “I’m right here, you know,” Fyrsil said dryly, riding a few feet ahead of us. He turned in his saddle to scowl at me. He’d pulled his black hair back and tied it with a strip of leather. “Guess I never did thank you for helping me, sand cat.”
    “If you want to thank me, help me find the child,” I snapped, and he turned back to look forward again, raising a hand in a peaceful gesture. “Calm, Adaryn. We’ll find her, provided we catch up to them before they reach Twyarinoth.”
    “How quickly will they travel?” Aaric asked Fyrsil. He reached over and patted my knee in what he probably hoped was a comforting manner. It didn’t help. Much.
    “They move fast,” the brigand king said. He was watching the trail as closely as I. He’d left his men behind to continue protecting the city of Bleaksdale, only bringing the man with the strange eyes. His name was Zero. He followed us like a silent hound, scanning the woods for danger. Fyrsil continued. “But we’re a party of four, and we’re right on their tails. It’ll be a tight race, but I think we can do it.”
    I nodded, even though Fyrsil couldn’t see me. We had to overtake them. We had to.
    Aaric took a deep breath and watching me, hesitated a moment before speaking. “What happens if we don’t reach them in time?”
    I gritted my teeth with the effort of keeping my tears from falling again.
    “You know that as well as I do,” Fyrsil said. He might as well have been talking about the weather, his tone was so casual. “The child dies. They’ll take her life to fuel their magic.”
    “They must be very powerful,” Aaric remarked. He pulled a crumpled notebook from his pack and started to write. “Doing this to as many people as they have.”
    “The boost of magic doesn’t last,” Fyrsil replied. He scanned the sky ahead of us. We’d been traveling for several hours, and the winter sky was beginning to darken. “That’s why they are constantly on the hunt for unprotected Denali. They need fresh lives to keep their power at its peak.”
    “Why children?” Aaric’s nose wrinkled in puzzlement. “Why didn’t they take someone older, like you or me?”
    “Because,” Fyrsil’s voice took on a tinge of annoyance. He was getting tired of questions. He didn’t know Aaric well enough to know the inventor never ran out of questions. “A child’s essence is stronger.” He reined his horse to a halt. “We’ll stop here for the night.”
    “No!” It was an effort not to shout. “We can’t stop now. We haven’t caught up with the Twyli yet!”
    Zero had already jumped off his horse and was clearing the snow under a tree to pitch a tent. I shook a finger at him. “Get back on your horse!” He didn’t even glance in my direction, continuing his work. “ Zero! ” He slipped his rucksack off his shoulder and started rummaging through it.
    “We need to stop and rest, Adaryn,” Fyrsil explained. “If we dash headlong after them we risk breaking a horse’s