Page 105 of Between Fear and Favor

“We have to stop him,” she said, grip bruising. I wasn’t sure if it was lack of sleep or a trick of the light, but her skin seemed faintly blurry, as if hidden behind hazy shadow. Perhaps it was neither because the moment I focused on her, it disappeared. With a grave expression and a quiet voice, she continued. “I saw the destruction the antler god wrought. If the Supreme gains his favor, we will not survive. He will kill us all.”

Em weptover the body of a novice. She tucked the woman’s cornsilk hair behind her ear, whispering her apologies across the eternal lands. When we’d arrived and I couldn’t hear a single heartbeat behind the wide open door, I had wanted to go in alone. The smell of rotten meat told me more than enough. But Em had rushed past. There was a person’s silhouette beside the fireplace, bare paint surrounded by a halo of blood spray. My stomach turned knowing someone had stood there as the novice’s throat had been slit.

Em reared back, gagging, as she stumbled to her feet. “Maggots,” she croaked, and my eyes were drawn to the nasty wriggling pests already making a home in the woman’s flesh.

“Fuck,” I said, turning away. Another body lay on the ground in the sitting room, and I walked down the hall.

“How many were living here?” I asked Em, picking my way over broken furniture and decor. The women hadn’t managed to fully furnish the dormitory yet, but they’d been turning this place into a home. It made me sick to see it destroyed. Located on the eastern side of the city, I wouldn’t have dreamed they’d have been targeted by the Supreme after witnessing all the damage in the Wend.

“Four novices, I think,” Em said. “And three children.” She stepped toward the other body.

I walked down the hall to the bedrooms, wondering how the Supreme planned to use the children to wake Iemis. I refused to entertain the idea that the man would sacrifice them. If Declan’s children were truly descended from Aesiron the Stag, that meant they were descendants of the antler god himself. If the Supreme was stupid enough to sacrifice them, I was certain the only favor Iemis would grant him was a swift death.

But what other reason would he take the children? Would they be considered the god’s bane? Or the Supreme’s bane?

Curled on her bed beneath the blankets, I found a third novice. I didn’t lift the blanket to see where the blood came from, and I shut the door behind me as I left the room. There was no sign of any of the children anywhere in the dormitory. I was grateful for that, considering no heartbeats called out to me.

“I didn’t find the children or the fourth novice,” I said, coming back out to find Em’s tear-streaked face staring at me from the doorway. It was nearly dawn, and the lightening sky behind her painted her in muted blues.

“We have to save them, Rain. It’s my fault all the novices are dead?—”

I opened my mouth to interrupt her, to tell her it wasn’t her fault, that none of it was. But she quickly shook her head, and my words dried up. Stepping toward her, I opened my arms, wanting to hold her against me. I wanted to take her burden and her sorrow and all of that guilt. But when her lower lip trembled, and she curved into herself, I stopped my advance. She didn’t want to cry—probably out of fear that she’d never be able to stop.

“I can’t let their children die too,” she said, pulling her cloak tighter around her body.

“Do you think that’s what he intends? To kill them?”

“I don’t know what else he’d want them for.” She made a face, repulsed by what she was about to say. “Maybe he intends to use their bones.”

I led her out into the dawn, wanting to escape the heavy weight of death inside.

“They took one of the novices, probably to care for the children. It kills me to fucking say this, but I imagine they’d have just cut an arm off and left them here to bleed to death before choosing to travel with three children if all they needed was a bone.”

Em was quiet, lowering herself to sit on the steps. I settled beside her, exhausted and confused. If what Rhia had shown Em was true, I couldn’t understand why the Supreme would choose Iemis to ask for favor. What could he possibly use the antler god’s divinity for?

“They say he created the Alsors,” I murmured. “And that he is the reason Varmeer floated free from Vesta.”

Em wrapped her arm around my bicep and rested her head on my shoulder. “There was a forest where Lamera is now,” she whispered. “I saw it in her memories. The trees were so tall. Wide enough that some of the forestborn had carved homes into them. Iemis and Rhia lived in one—amongst the mortals. Can you imagine? Curling up within a tree during a summer storm?” She drew quiet, breaths slowing. “I’m so tired, Rain.”

“I know, dear heart.” I kissed her head, wrapping my arm around her and pulling her close. “I wish we had time to rest.”

Her spine stiffened, and she pulled away. “But we don’t. You’re right. We need to inform Cal of what happened, and then leave for Lamera. We might already be out of time.”

“While you inform Cal, I’ll find out where Nereza’s army is. If they haven’t left the Aesiron, we can assume the Supreme is going to the font alone. We might be able to find our way into the city without notice.”

She only blinked at me. “You’re willing to just...sneak into Lamera and risk endangering me?”

I shrugged, giving her a grim smile. “I’ve come to accept that with us, there isonlydanger. I belong at your back, defending you from the worst of it.”

The line between her brows deepened for only a second before those perfect lips curved into a soft smile. She nodded, her cheeks gone faintly rosy. “All right then. Let’s go.”

Chapter 48

DEWALT

“Wake up, songbird,”I whispered. “Please, Nor.” I tugged at her shirt, indecisive about what to do. She was so cold, tiny crystals forming in the threads of her clothes. I hated the idea of doing it, but I would need to undress her myself if she didn’t wake. Considering how skittish she was, carefully arranging her nightgown the night before so I barely caught a glimpse of her ankles, I didn’t think she’d appreciate it. Thankfully, she stirred, pressing her face against my chest, and I sighed in relief. “Hanwen’s ass. You’re going to freeze to death.”

“You’re t-too loud,” she croaked, and even with the limited moonlight, I was positive her lips were turning blue. “Death is supposed to be p-peaceful.”

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