Chapter 35

“I saw him. Last night. Had to be.”

“What?” asked Akton, leaning closer. “Why’d he be here?”

“Don’t know,” said Talfryn, eyes still covered with a hand. The other gestured faintly. “He’s a shifter. Red hair, white skin, terrible blue eyes, very young.”

“How can you be sure it was Bas—wait, a shifter? What kind?”

“I don’t know what kind,” said Talfryn, tinge of anger in his tired words now. “Powerful. Recall I warned you before we rushed in? He wasn’t shifted—but he could wield fire like I’ve never seen. He burned the place.”

Akton stared at him. Talfryn had gotten close enough to see the color of this man’s eyes.

“You’re alive how?”

Talfryn struggled to sit up and then held his head in his hands, like he had a pounding headache.

“Unless he already has some powerful shifter generals, it had to be him,” said Talfryn, ignoring Akton’s question. “He called me bold, tried to kill me—twice—and casually talked about leaving the place to burn.”