Roxie's POV
I ran for him before I could think.
"Tor!" I dropped into the brush beside him, my hands already pulling at the heavy ropes. His head lolled. Blood had soaked through his shirt, dark and wide, and his skin was the gray of cold ash. But when my fingers touched his throat, I felt it—a pulse, faint and stubborn. Alive. He was alive.
"Roxie." His eyes cracked open, just slits. His voice was a thread. "Knew you'd... come blundering in. Always do."
"Don't talk." My hands shook on the ropes. "Save it. Save all of it."
"Listen." His fingers found my wrist with the last of his strength. "Not the mole. I'm not—I never—" He swallowed, and it clearly hurt. "I was tracking the real one. Found the trail. The mole's a witch. One of *hers*." His eyes slid past me, toward the clearing, to
