Into the Dying Light (US Version) by Katy Rose Pool

Author:Katy Rose Pool [Pool, Katy Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780356513577
Google: FNMAEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2021-09-20T23:00:00+00:00

* * *

They returned to camp, the chicken, two bags of food, and Nephele in tow. Ephyra half expected someone to put up a fuss about the fact that they’d brought someone back with them, but once the others understood what had happened, no one said a word.

Khepri got the fire started, and they cooked dinner with their freshly replenished supplies, voices mingling with the crackling fire as Illya regaled them with tales of his exploits in Endarrion, wooing lords and ladies to give him their patronage.

Nephele was listening with rapt attention, Hassan with more interest than he was trying to let on, while Khepri and Hector interjected every so often to ask intentionally ridiculous questions. It had taken him a lot longer this time, but it seemed Illya had successfully won them over, the same way he’d done to Shara and her treasure hunters. If nothing else, he knew how to spin a good story.

It reminded Ephyra of what she’d asked him, once. What story do you tell about yourself?

And his answer, One you don’t want to hear.

She studied his face in the firelight as he spoke, his fine-boned hands gesturing gracefully. She could now admit to herself that she still wanted to hear that story. She still wanted to know why he was here, why he had turned on Pallas and risked himself. No matter how she looked at it, it didn’t make sense, didn’t fit with the version of Illya she thought she knew.

People can change, Beru had said, that hopeful note in her voice.

Khepri’s words from earlier that evening came back to her. It’s pretty obvious he’s in love with you.

Ephyra snorted. The only thing Illya loved was power. Ephyra turned away from him, from the warmth of the fire and the comforting rise and fall of the others’ voices, and retreated into the tent. She curled up on her side and pushed away all thoughts of Illya’s elegant, firelit face and silken voice. She turned her mind instead back to Nephele, to the man called Dracon Galanis, who loved his power so much he would crush anyone to keep it.

She was still thinking about him later that night, after the voices had died down and the fire burned out, when Khepri, Nephele, and Beru were all sleeping silently around her.

“Hey,” Ephyra whispered, turning over and nudging Nephele.

The girl evidently hadn’t fallen asleep yet because she rolled over immediately, her eyes blinking open in the dark.

“This Galanis guy,” Ephyra said. “Where does he live, exactly?”

Nephele’s eyes narrowed in the darkness of the tent. “Why?”

“Your sister’s not safe, even if you leave. If Dracon Galanis doesn’t have you to hold over your family’s head, it’ll just be something else. Men like him … they always find ways to hurt people.”

Nephele stared at Ephyra in the dark, and then she said, “About a league past the farm where you found me. Up on a hill. You can’t mistake it.”

Ephyra nodded, getting up quietly.

“I want to go with you,” Nephele said, that same steel in her voice that Ephyra had heard back in the barn.

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