Snow crunched under Kindra’s heavy footsteps as she approached the large, flat rock at the river’s edge. She shoved the accumulation off its surface as she knelt, the rock hard and cold. The river was frozen through—bubbles of air trapped in the ice.

The long-eared fox carved into the surface was white with snowy relief against the grey rock. She ran her finger along the lines before tucking it into her cloak to warm. An empty hole yawned, but instead of Kaye’s immediate love to fill it, there was nothing. There had been nothing for nearly a moon now. The pain, the fear, the confusion—it was gone. Muted. Kaye wasn’t dead—Kindra was sure of that—but she was absent in a way the distance couldn’t explain.

“I can’t feel her anymore,” Kindra whispered to her father’s mark.

She’d tried. She’d focused hard on their bond—on the feel of Kaye—but Kindra had never been good at the sort of energy magic her sister excelled at, and it only felt as if Kaye was pulling away even more. As if she was purposefully hiding from Kindra.

What was happening in Fie Obsid?

Kaye would be married by now—maybe pregnant. Was that why Kindra couldn’t feel her? Because some half-Obsidian spawn was in the way? Or was it something worse? The last thing Kindra had felt from Kaye was pain. Pain and confusion and fear. But Kindra had been too deep in her own pain and confusion to do anything.

She wasn’t confused now, just angry. Gar…

Kindra winced as pain shot through her right arm. She’d tried to punch the rock, but the scar tissue had stopped her before the frozen surface had.

Lame. Empty. Broken and alone. She hadn’t bene able to save Kaye. She hadn’t been good enough for the god to name. Even Gar had only been trying to pay a debt to her father.

The memory of his warm lips on her neck made her squeeze her eyes shut as her fingers shut into fists. It had all been a debt. Training. Trina’s Day. And she’d listened to him when he convinced her to let Kaye go. Kaye—the only one who would always love Kindra for herself. Kaye, who was so lost even their twin-bond couldn’t feel her now.

“I have to find her,” Kindra whispered to the cold stone. “I have to save her.”

She might start a war, but Kaye was more important than peace. More important than Fie Eoin. What had the tribe done except steal their father and their dreams?

Kindra stabbed her spear into the icy ground and levered herself up, staring upriver to the Obsidian lands. There was nothing left for her in Fie Eoin—she was going to save Kaye.