Her heart slowed and she caught her breath just before Bondurant spoke, and with his words the world receded around her. For a time, everything stopped as she digested what he’d just told her. “No,” she whispered as her heart restarted with a painful lurch. “That’s not...” Her ears flattened and her head lowered until her chin was even with the bottom of her chest as she tried to make sense of things. Had Kisei not returned to the Forest after all? Was he still lost on the Crossing?

She would return there to find him, as she must. But— what if he returned to the Forest while she was out looking for him? What if he’d left the islands altogether? Where would he have gone? And why didn’t her father take her with him? Dynalia squeezed her eyes shut and tried to still her panicked thoughts. She felt cold.

“Please,” she said, lifting her head to stare at the spotted stallion. “I must stay here. I must. If he returns, this is where he’ll come first.” It did not occur to her that the stallion who ruled the Forest now might object to the presence of a former lead stallion in his land. All she could focus on was the idea that Kisei would eventually return to the territory he’d once led. They would be reunited, and she could stop her worrying and be happy again.

The ache in her gut seemed constant now. It had set in after she’d arrived back on Luthien and she and Dawson had separated. Kisei was supposed to be in the Forest, right now, come to greet her with a soft puff of breath against her forelock and the rumble of his deep voice soothing her as she drifted off to sleep. But her papa was not at home.

“Please,” she whispered.