“Where are you going? she demanded. 'There are two dozen soldiers there!'

'Autumn Court soldiers,' Cassian clarified, wings pumping so hard the wind ripped at her eyes. 'I don't know what the fuck they're doing here, or if Eris has royally fucked us over, but one of them shot an ash arrow through Az's wing.'

'Then why are we flying away?'

'Because I'm not landing with you in the middle of that.'

'Put me down!' she shouted. 'Put me down wherever and go back to him!' He didn't, surveying the bog below for the right place. She slammed a hand on his muscled chest. 'Cassian!'

'I know what each second costs me, Nesta,' he said quietly.

'Put me down in a fucking tree, then!' She pointed to one that they narrowly avoided.

He spotted an area he deemed safe enough: a solid stretch of grassy land, the remnants of a tee rising from its midst. He set her in the tree, as she'd suggested, perching her on the highest, sturdiest branch. It groaned and swayed beneath their weight. 'Stay here,' he commanded, waiting until she'd wrapped her hands around the branch and was clinging like a child who'd climbed too high. 'I'll be back soon. Do not climb down. No matter what you may see or hear.'

'Go.' She was utterly useless in a fight, she knew. She would only distract him.

'Be careful,' he warned, as if he weren't the one about to head into danger, and then he was gone.”