Rise of Fire (Reign of Shadows #2)(15)

“Is that what this is? Some stubbornness contest? Well, enough of it, Luna. You win. When you get an opportunity, you go. Don’t look back. You run.”

She made a sound of frustration. “No . . . “

The distant sound of hooves stopped all conversation then. Blades sang out on the air as the soldiers with us took position, drawing their weapons and standing in front of us. I tugged on her arm, signaling that this was the moment she should go. They weren’t even looking at either one of us, too focused on the impending arrivals. She could slip away. They probably wouldn’t bother to give chase. After all, I was the prize.

I struggled to rise, huffing out a pained breath, pushing the flat of my good hand down on the ground. My head spun with a surge of dizziness, but I managed not to topple over. Luna was there, of course, ignoring my command, wrapping an arm around my waist for support. Half the time I didn’t think she needed me. That she did now, when I couldn’t be all that I should be, all I had to be, for us to survive . . . it killed a part of me.

“You should stay resting,” she reprimanded.

I shook my head once, ignoring her as she ignored me. I wasn’t going to be on my back, defenseless against whatever was headed our way.

Sweat beaded my brow and my limbs trembled but I stayed on my feet. The horses materialized from the darkness, at first smudges of gray shapes against the moonlit night.

They moved with practiced stealth. As with all trained horses, they had been taught covertness. They even kept their heads relatively still so that there was no jingle from their harnesses. As they drew close, their hooves beat a muffled cadence on the soil. The shapes of the men atop the animals grew more distinct. They were armed to the teeth and with superior weaponry, too.

Luna’s hand slid down my arm, stopping at my wrist. Her slim fingers circled my thicker bones, clinging to me as though she needed me right then and not the other way around. It made my chest tighten and swell a little. Even as sick as I was, as helpless, it made me feel useful.

From the very beginning, from the moment Sivo had foisted her on me, I knew I would probably fail her. No one lived long on the Outside. No one lived long with me especially. History had taught me that. I knew this. I’d accepted it.

It didn’t, however, stop my will to fight.





SEVEN


Luna


THEY NUMBERED CLOSER to ten. I didn’t hear them until they were almost upon us, which was a testament to how good, how quiet, these riders were at maneuvering around in the Outside. They had adapted to this world. As one did. Adapt or die.

They wore the same chain mail as the other men accompanying us. I could hear the faint grind of metal beneath their tunics as they shifted their weight atop their mounts. A well-rested energy hummed about them. Their bodies were mostly clean. A hint of mint and sandalwood soap clung to them. They didn’t smell ripe of the Outside as we did. As everyone else I had ever encountered did. There was none of the loam and bitter metal that always seemed to find its way onto my tongue. They lived nearby. Someplace warm and dry and dweller free. Someplace safe.

My breath came a little faster as they stopped before our group. Fowler gave my arm a tug and turned to me, whispering, “Slip behind me.”

Anger slicked through me. He still sought to protect me when he was the one mortally wounded? “Stop it,” I hissed at him. The least he could do was trust me. After everything, he could give me that.

For three days I had traveled with these soldiers, caring for Fowler, not giving away the fact that I was a girl. Did that not count for something? Could he not have more faith in me?

I’d managed well enough while he slept, blissfully unaware of our situation. They would get Fowler to safety—get him the care he needed. It was his only chance. Once he was healed, I could slip away and continue on to Relhok as I needed to do. That hadn’t changed, but I had to see that Fowler survived. I didn’t allow myself to consider that I was putting Fowler ahead of the rest of the world . . . ahead of all the girls who fell even now, prey to Cullan’s kill order. I didn’t permit myself to question the rightnesss of that. There was no choice.

I could not allow Fowler to die. Later, I would let him go, but I wouldn’t let him die.

The soldiers who had found us relaxed. Tension ebbed from them as they lowered their weapons and greeted the new arrivals with warm familiarity. Evidently they were fellow Lagonians.

“Your Highness, out on a hunt?” Breslen asked, his tone and manner that of total deference.

My heart struck a hard beat and held there for a moment before receding again into a normal rhythm. Your Highness? As in the king of Lagonia? He dared to leave the safety of the palace to travel the Outside?

There was a slight shift in the air and then dull vibrations on the ground as the three men escorting us dismounted and lowered to one knee.

I listened raptly, fascinated at the prospect of meeting the man who ruled Lagonia. He’d known my parents. Sivo and Perla were the only people I knew who had known my parents.

“Breslen, good to see you returned safely. We were beginning to worry.” The leather of his saddle creaked as he shifted his weight. “Although there were two more of you that originally set out, were there not?”

I frowned slightly at the sound of his voice. He did not sound like a man of advanced years. Deep as his voice was, he sounded young, his voice smooth polished stone. Even without Breslen addressing him so formally I would know he was important. His words flowed with authority.