Page 131 of Journey to the Elderoak
“What?” she asked, backing away a step.
“Luna,”Ava spoke to her companion.
What is it?
“Something’s wrong. Alert the others. I’m in the garden with a strange man. I think he means to harm me.”
Okay, I’m telling them now. Try to get away.
“Please move,” Ava said, trying to keep her voice steady.
He continued closer, sizing her up. Ava backed away and stepped around him, but he grabbed her arm at the last second and shoved her against the stone wall, the goblet in her hand falling to the ground. He pressed in close and as she was about to scream for help, something hot burned in her stomach, and she gulped a sharp breath. A choking sound left her lips.
What happened? Why couldn’t she breathe?
“Deidamia sends her regards,” he leaned in and whisperedin her ear as he twisted his hand and her abdomen burned even hotter, a yelp leaving her lips at the pain.
He backed up, yanked his hand away, a bloody dagger clutched in his fist, and vanished into the shadows.
Ava looked at her stomach, hands moving to the white hot pain. Within seconds, bright red blood spread from a puncture in her dress. She’d been stabbed.
She pressed her hands against the wound as it hit her. She knew why she’d recognized him. He’d been one of the soldiers at Deidamia’s camp when she was a prisoner. And he was here, in her home, in her castle.
A wave of dizziness almost overcame her as she stumbled through the gardens. Help. She needed help. Her stomach was on fire, and she struggled to breathe steadily as something coursed through her body. Was the dagger poisoned?
She leaned against a tree to steady herself, her vision beginning to waver.
38
Casimir scanned the ballroom, unable to find Ava. He’d alerted the guards of a potential threat and went back to look for her, but she had disappeared. Finding Thorne, he interrupted his conversation with Aelerion and Thalia. “Where’s Ava?”
“She went out to get some fresh air, she’ll be right back.”
“When?”
Noticing the panic in Casimir’s voice, Thorne frowned. “Oh, I don’t know…about ten minutes ago. Why? What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“What do you mean?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “She said she saw someone in the crowd but brushed it off. I have a bad feeling.”
“She’s tired. She told me the same thing,” he said, unconcerned. “I’m sure it’s nothing. She’ll be back soon.”
“Alright,” he said. But his gut was telling him something was amiss.
Get to the gardens, Aro said.Now.
“On it,”he replied as his worry turned into full blown panic.
He hurried outside and jogged through the landscaping, searching the dark paths for some sign of her. As he passed a large tree, a weak voice called his name.
“Cas.”
He whipped around to find Ava leaning against the trunk. Beads of sweat along her neck glistened in the moonlight. A crimson stain marred her dress, her skin pallid, lips white.
“What happened?” he asked, rushing closer.
