Thom’s eyes blinked open and he sucked in a startled breath as he realized he was back in his own body, on his knees in the snow. Thordin touched his shoulder. The screaming of the Greys had died away almost to nothing, just a few echoing whimpers of the death-screams were still audible now.
“Steady,” Thordin murmured. “First time you’ve done that?”
Swallowing bile, Thom nodded as he carefully got to his feet. “We’ve got problems.”
“We’ve always got problems,” Thordin said, his brow furrowing.
“My daughter has Phelan’s anima, old friend.”
Thordin jerked, spinning toward Seamus. “What? Who?”
Leinth went as pale as the snow beneath her boots. “Albina’s daughter?”
Seamus nodded, expression grim. “No one told me that the girl—”
“Hates with a passion that burns with the fire of a thousand suns? More bitter than anyone ever could be or ever should be?” Leinth sighed, eyes fluttering shut or a moment. “How could anyone? None of us knew you were alive.”
“Her mother knew,” Seamus muttered, glaring toward the bridge. His fingers twitched, crept toward the hunting horn hanging from his belt.
Leinth’s hand snapped out and arrested his before his fingers wrapped around the instrument. “No,” she said. “Leave them. Let them do as they’re going to do. We have something else to do, don’t we?”
Thom cleared his throat and spat bile into the snow. “How do we get him back, Seamus?”
Seamus shook himself, blinking. Was it Thom’s imagination, or had there been a shadow over his eyes for a moment? The master of the Wild Hunt swallowed, hand twisting in Lieinth’s until his fingers were wrapped around hers. “First we have to figure out what she wants,” he murmured. “Whether it’s personal or otherwise.”
“It’s always personal with her,” Leinth whispered. “She probably wants you.”
“Oh goody,” Thom said, swallowing a sigh. “If it’s not someone wanting Phelan, it’s someone using Phelan to get to someone else.”
“Shit, guys,” Marin’s voice called. “It looks like we woke everyone for nothing.”
Thom’s stomach sank.
Oh hell. Now what the hell do I say?
