Page 67 of Winds of Destiny

“I wouldn’t be in danger,” he assures me. “You’d have my back.”

“That is…”Fucking true. And if Cam was watching—stop it.“Not the point.” My ram is standing again by now, stomping its feet in an effort to get some of the mud off. “Let’s go.”

It’s not long before we realize why the lion was there. The Kamorans have abandoned their war chariots and are making their way across the ground on foot. It doesn’t take long for me to pick out the tread of Cam’s boots. I grab the pearl and close my eyes for a moment. “We’recoming,” I tell him. “We’re almost to you. Be ready for us.”

We forge ahead. The grass is sparser here, not able to grow as well in the water. After another half an hour, the rams are submerged up to their knees. I’m getting worried—this is deep enough for some flat-bottomed boats to handle. What if they’ve already boarded them? What if they’ve pushed off into the lake? And the water itself isn’t safe—every so often, I see a red- or green-bodied viper appear out of the brackish depths and strike at the rams’ legs. Their hair is too thick for the bites to penetrate, but Kai and I don’t have that advantage.

I can’t help but curse myself. We should have kept a boat for ourselves instead of burning them all outside Fremont’s Height…but it had felt like we were being pulled overland, and the rams had come back to us.Don’t second-guess yourself now. Just figure it out. It’s not too late, it’s not—

“There!” Kai says, pointing ahead of us. The clouds have lifted, but the sun is setting, and I have to squint to see what he does. Dark shapes, broad and flat, and on them are moving shadows…

“Cam!” I can’t help yelling. I probably shouldn’t, it’s going to let everyone on those boats know that we’re here, but it’s no use. This is our last chance, but it’s a decent one. If he can jump off and get to us before one of the vipers bites him… We’ve still got mounts. They don’t. They’d never be able to catch us now. It’s the only way.

I’m holding the pearl, but all I feel from it is intense frustration and a sense of aborted movement. He’s writhing but getting nowhere, fighting against something… “He’s restrained,” I choke out. “He can’t come to us.”

Kai’s face fixes in a grimace. “Then we’ll go to him.” He drives his ram forward, pushing it despite how it flounders in the deeper water. It’s not happy, fighting back for the first time since we’ve had them. I don’t like to see the great beasts upset, but this isCam. If we can’t get to him…

Free yourself! Come to us,we’ll meet you!I think I can make him out now on one of three boats. He’s at the very edge of it, and both hands are bound tightly behind his back. Embros is standing there with him, grinning. He looks deeply satisfied. That’s not a look I want to see.

What trap has he laid for us?

Too late, I realize it’s not a trap at all. It’s simple tactics, which in my panic and haste, I’ve completely forgotten about. He has greater manpower and a more suitable weapon for the distance. I see his soldiers draw their arms back, and I know what’s about to happen. Even with my bow at the ready, I could never kill enough of them to hope to save us now.

A second later, a flurry of dark shapes fly with a deadly hiss into the air. Javelins. And we’re not mobile enough to avoid them.

We’re going to die here, right where Cam can see us.

I’m so sorry.My hand hurts from how hard I’m holding the pendant, but I can’t let go.

Forgive us.

I love you.

Chapter Thirty

Cam

Embros makes sure I am securely bound from the moment we get on the boats. I should have known it was coming. I should have been more circumspect with my moments of joy, more careful with my smiles every time I checked the bond. Yet feeling and communicating with Turo and Kai overwhelmed my sense of caution.

What a fool I am. What afuckingfool.

“I admire your faith,” Embros tells me even as he binds me. He sounds genuine, too—sick fuck. “To know that those two are still coming for you. It’s the will of the gods. Perhaps they’ll even arrive before we’re out of sight.” He leans in and kisses my cheek. “If so, we’ll give them something to heat their blood and whet their appetites, yes?”

As soon as he pulls away, I feel strange. Woozy, like I’m about to fall asleep, and yet I’m not tired.

Am I drugged? Has he…poisoned me?

“That’s the lightest taste of my toxin I can deliver, Camrael. Don’t fight it too hard, hmm? Much more than that, and you’ll scream.”

I lean hard against the side of the boat—more of a raft than a proper boat, really, but the ones I’m used to are meant for the sea, where even without the wind, you have to deal with waves and tides. This is meant for glassy lakes and has correspondingly low sides. I stare helplessly back at the land we’re leaving behind as the boats are drawn into a current so faint I wouldn’t believe it was there if I couldn’t see the effects.

“Don’t jump in,” Dian murmurs from nearby. She’s not bound, but she isn’t looking at anyone, either—she hasn’t been since we set the lions loose. Embros was all set to kill them, but she convinced him to free them instead so that they might act as a deterrent to anyone who might be following us.

I understand her warning, but in that moment, I hate her too much to pay any real heed.

The water isn’t very deep yet, and I’m a good swimmer—good enough that even with my hands bound and my head dizzy, I know I wouldn’t drown. I might be able to make it if I leaped right now. Embros would send men after me, but perhaps…perhaps…

Better than doing nothing.I ready myself to jump, even get a leg up before Dian is there, pulling me back.

---