could certainly send his savages to cut them off and slaughter them. She started toward Tristan. “Tristan?”
He fell into step beside her. “Yes.”
“Put together a team and search the area around the backside of the caves.”
“Got it.” He jogged ahead of her.
“Ryleigh!” The fear in Mia’s cry stopped her short.
Nahara, one of Jackson’s giant hounds, flew toward her. Though she belonged to Jackson, Ryleigh had become closer and closer to her since she’d taken up riding her with Jackson while he flew on Nika.
The giant hound landed gracefully on the small platform and dropped to the ground with a whimper. Blood caked the cream colored fur on her left flank.
“Get Kiara!” Mia slid from Nahara and reached up.
Ryleigh yelled for someone to find the healer as she ran toward Mia. “Are you hurt? What happened?”
“No, not me. The pup.” She carefully pulled a small, black pup from Nahara’s back, then ran toward Ryleigh, cradling the puppy close to her. The back end of an arrow protruded from his side. Blood coated Mia’s arms and the front of her shirt.
“What happened? Where’s Nika and Darius?” No way would Darius have let Mia go alone if they were under attack. And Nika was not only overly protective of all his pups, guarding them and helping Nahara care for them, he was overly protective of his humans as well. He would have died defending Mia.
“Darius stayed behind with Nika to fight so we could get away.” She dropped to her knees and started to lay the puppy gently on the cold ground.
“Wait.” Ryleigh stripped off her sweatshirt, brushed some of the snow away, and spread her shirt on the ground. A chill prickled her bare arms for a second, but she quickly regulated her temperature. She wouldn’t be cold in the T-shirt, but it wouldn’t offer much protection if they had to climb higher. “Put him here.”
The arrow had entered the puppy’s side at an angle and come out his back. “He seems to be breathing okay.”
“Yes.” Mia lifted her gaze. Tears streaked down her cheeks. “When Nahara was flying away, he jumped up onto my chest. I got startled and leaned backward. If he hadn’t jumped just then, the arrow would have gone straight through my heart.” Her hand shook as she tangled her fingers in the puppy’s mane.
Ryleigh ran her fingers along his side, then up and over his back. When she didn’t find any evidence the arrow had hit the pup’s wing, she gently spread the silver-flecked, black wing open.
“Do you think he’ll be all right?” Mia clasped her hands together and rocked back and forth, her teeth chattering.
“I don’t know, but it didn’t go through the wing, so I think that’s good.”
Tatiana Storm rushed to their side. “We’re trying to find Kiara.” She ran a hand over the pup’s head. “It’s a bit chaotic at the moment. We’re not even sure who got out and who didn’t.”
“I saw Kiara leave the kitchen ahead of me.”
Tatiana nodded. “Okay, good. What happened?”
Mia relayed the tale again.
Running her fingers around the edge of the hole, Tatiana studied the wound. “Hounds are very intuitive. Some even say precognitive. It’s one of the reasons so many Cymmerans keep them as pets. They make extremely efficient guardians.” She pulled a knife from her boot and cut the head from the arrow, then slid the rest free. “And they never hesitate to defend their owners, even at risk to themselves.”
“But I don’t understand. This pup isn’t mine.”
“He is now.” Tatiana placed a hand over Mia’s and frowned. “You’re cold. Your lips are blue, and your hands are like ice. Are you having trouble regulating your temperature?”
“No. Well, not really too much.” She shifted the pup so his head lay in her lap as she stroked his silky ears. “Elijah said it would be hard for a little while.”
“Have you seen Elijah? No one seems to know if he got out.”
Mia lowered her head, cradled the pup against her, and sobbed.
“He—” The words caught in Ryleigh’s throat, finally emerging in a hoarse whisper. “He didn’t.”
Tatiana tilted her head and pinned her with a glare. “Excuse me?”
Ryleigh sucked in a deep breath and tried again. “He didn’t. Get out, I mean. He was killed in the throne room.”
She jumped up. “You left him? We have to go back.” She started back toward the cave opening. “He can be saved if—”
“No.” Mia laid the pup on the sweatshirt, rose, ran after Tatiana, and grabbed her arm. “He burst into flames. He couldn’t be saved. He knew it was going to happen and has been training me to take his place.”
Tears shimmered in Tatiana’s huge green eyes. She wiped the pup’s blood from her hands onto her jeans, then used her wrist to push back some of the blond strands that had escaped the long braid that always hung down her back. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Very well.” Not one tear fell as Tatiana nodded and turned away. “I’ll go find Kiara.”
Ryleigh couldn’t help a spark of admiration.
“There’s no time.” Noah strode toward them. “Come on. We have to get out of here. The Guardsmen can’t hold them back any longer. Lucas is getting everyone together, but he wants to know what you want to do, head farther up the mountain or go into the caves?” He spotted the pup lying on the ground. “Ah, man.” He lifted him into his arms, careful to avoid the wound in his side. “Go.” He gestured toward the cave entrance where the crowd gathered, all glancing between Ryleigh and the nearing battle sounds.
All these people, yet not even a fraction of the kingdom she was responsible for, looked to her for answers.
She pitched her voice low so only Tatiana, Mia, and Noah would hear. “If we continue up the mountain, we are sure to lose at least a few, probably children, as the terrain becomes harsher and steeper. If Chayce is smart, he’ll assume we’ll take them into the caves. There’s probably an ambush waiting.”
Though most Cymmeran women, and even the older children, were well trained in battle, few of them were armed. A confrontation in the tunnels with Chayce's beasts would certainly end in a massacre.
“There may be another way.” Mia lifted her sweatshirt and pulled a book from the waistband of her jeans. She opened it and flipped through the brittle pages. “This is what I went back for. Elijah foresaw the attack on the castle. He knew some would escape.”
Noah glanced down the mountain. “There’s no time—”
“I only need a few seconds.” She ran her finger along a page. “Elijah found an uncharted realm just…beneath, for lack of a better
