“What? What is go—whoa!”

The axe clunked to the ground. Men and women screamed and yelled. Boots pounded on the ground. Something growled.

Evangeline opened her eyes to chaos. Out of nowhere a huge brown bear rushed past her. She blinked, not fully comprehending. Then her limbs unfroze and her will to survive took over.

Wide-eyed, she struggled to her feet and carefully walked backward, keeping her eye on the house. The bear had disappeared around the front. She could tell because of all the bloodcurdling growling. It actually sounded as though there were more than one bear, but how could that be? Bears didn’t run in packs.

No matter. She glanced at the woods. Maybe this was her chance to get away.

Strong arms came around her and she yelped with surprise and began to struggle.

“It’s me!” Gregorio yelled.

She turned to see Gregorio’s beloved face. She let out a sob and threw herself against him. “I’m so sorry,” she cried into the curve of his neck. His arms came around her and her knees went weak from relief that he was here. “I’m so sorry,” she breathed. “I made a horrible mistake and ran from you out of fear. I love you and Anatol so much. I never wanted to hurt you. I never—”

He held her away from him a little and cupped her face in his hands. “We know that, Evangeline. It’s all right. Let’s get you out of here and then we can talk.” He began to unknot the rope around her wrists.

She nodded. “Where’s Anatol?”

“He’s throwing the illusion of those bears. We brought a whole contingent of armed guards with us. The bears are herding the Revolutionaries right to them. They’ll be arrested soon.”

She slumped against him in relief. Now she and Anatol were even. She’d used her magick to save his head and now he’d used his magick to save hers.

Gregorio finally freed her hands and crushed her to him, kissing the top of her head. Heavy, warm emotion rolled out of him and covered her over like a blanket. Love and gratefulness. “We were almost too late.” He shuddered.

“But you weren’t,” she murmured against his shoulder.

In the distance the growling ceased and the yelling grew louder. The soldiers were here.

“Evangeline!”

She turned to be immediately embraced by Anatol. He spun her around in the air, holding her tight. She wrapped her arms around him and held on. This time she would never let him go.

He collapsed to the ground, holding her in his lap and rocking her back and forth. “I thought you were gone forever,” he sighed into her hair. “I never thought I’d be able to hold you again.”

Tears ran down her face. “I thought the same thing.” She lifted her head. “I’m so sorry I left you and Gregorio that night. I can’t regret it any more than I do. I never meant to hurt you. I love you both so much. I was stupid and I was—”

“Shhh.” He smiled and smoothed her hair behind her ear. “You were frightened. We both know you love us, and we always believed you would come to your senses.”

“How did you find me?”

Gregorio came to kneel beside them. “For several days we didn’t know that you’d been taken. Then Anatol ran into Lilya and we discovered you were missing. A little investigation led us back to the Temple of Dreams.”

She felt her expression go dark. “And Dora.”

Gregorio nodded. “I arrested her and managed to get some information out of her that led us here.” He swallowed hard. “Any delays and we would have been too late.”

“Where are we?”

“Illyana Province.”

She blanched. No wonder it was so cold. They’d taken her all the way to the northern edge of Rylisk.

“But we’re going home now,” Gregorio finished. “Our home. The three of us. Forever.”