"How's it lookin' now?"
Theodore gripped the crooked wooden hairpin, his knuckles white as bone.
The shadow guard knelt below, barely daring to breathe. "Theodore, the carriage Lillian took out of Delmora Town… we found it near Greenpeak Mountain. It's smashed to hell, and there's… blood all around."
"Where is she?" Theodore's voice rasped, his eyes blazing crimson.
"We searched the mountain trail and found only this." The guard held up a bloodstained cloth—Lillian's, the one she always used to wrap her herbs.
Theodore shot to his feet, the world dimming at the edges. The wound on his shoulder tore open, blood soaking through the bandage, but he didn't even flinch.
"Saddle the horses." He snatched his sword. "We're going to Greenpeak Mountain."
"Theodore!" The steward rushed to bloc
