Page 27 of Between Fear and Favor

“Perhaps you should be,” he said, head swiveling to take in the scattered cots around us. I, too, looked around, gesturing to Kimya that it was time to send for the tombsmen. By my count, there were four new bodies waiting since their last visit at dawn. “Come. You’re wanted at the palace,” he said.

Stepping past me, he sheathed his blade, and I averted my eyes from the dead soldier beside us. Though I had kept my stomach, I didn’t want to tempt it. When I realized what Dewalt had said, my nausea only worsened.

“The palace? For what reason?” I asked, masking my nerves as much as I could. Was that why he had checked in the night before? I’d heard the king had promised him lands after the war was over, but I couldn’t remember his title. Was he still a duke? Had I offended him by not referring to him appropriately? He’d never insisted on it before. I hoped it wasn’t because of what he’d just witnessed, but thought that was more likely. “If you think I mishandled the situation just now, we can discuss it. I do not think there’s any need to take me to the?—”

“I don’t know why, Nor. All I know is they saw fit to make me their errand boy just as I was about to rest. Now, please, let us go. You’re cutting into my sleep.” He sounded resigned, and not at all like what I expected from him. Used to irritating back-and-forth with the captain, it took me by surprise. He didn’t appear as if he’d been on the battlefield at first glance, but upon further evaluation, his leathers sported splashes of mud I hadn’t noticed due to the poor lighting.

“Very well,” I said, nodding. I caught Kimya’s eye and nodded toward the tent opening. It was still quite a few hours until sunset and the end of my shift, but a royal edict was unavoidable. Laying my apron over a chair, I discreetly watched my guide. Hands locked behind his back as he waited, Dewalt seemed to want as little to do with me as possible.

The feeling was mutual.

Chapter 15

DEWALT

“That cannot be true,”I said, bracing my hand against the bookshelf. “Raj can’t be…how? What happened?”

Rainier looked exhausted. He had to be, considering he’d blown up the gods damned Aesiron Bridge. With bloodshot eyes and fatigue clear in each muscle, it was a miracle he still stood to break the horrifying news. The death of our general was more than just a blow to our army. Raj had been with us since we were boys, and the loss was profound—for both me and Rainier. With the death of Shade as well, we were both unmoored. Rainier’s throat bobbed before a hand went up to his brow. “Marella found him.”

Nor flinched. It took a moment for me to remember, but Raj’s daughter had found clothes for her and the other novices to wear upon escaping Folterra. The slope of Nor’s shoulders softened, and her posture relaxed infinitesimally. She sighed, a mournful sound for the girl she knew.

“How did?—”

“His throat was slit,” Emma said, not lifting her gaze from the letter she held in her hands. Her other hand fiddled with one of the tiny statues I’d used to demonstrate our defense on the city map stretched across the enormous table. It had been useless for a while; the positioning of our enemy had changed very little in recent weeks.

While Rainier appeared exhausted, Emma looked half-dead. I knew she hadn’t been sleeping, and using her divinity to its limit was not sustainable. I’d been able to keep the knowledge of her disappearance limited to just a few people—the last thing we needed was the mayhem a missing queen would cause.

Though she’d somehow managed to sleep for over a day, deep purple bruises lingered beneath her eyes. Clothing covered in days of grime told me just how little attention she’d paid herself. This was a siege, not a battle. She needed to behave as such. She was no use to anyone as a corpse.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood as I dismissed the memory of her sister’s ghost whispering impossible prophecies on the edge of death. With so many paths to the end of this war, most would never come true, and there was no reason to worry Rainier with the worst of them, so my mouth remained shut.

“By who?” I asked, focusing. Stepping forward, I rested my forearms on the back of the armchair where Nor sat. She shifted in her seat, moving away. I rolled my eyes; I wasn’t going to bite her.

“I’m hoping you’ll be able to tell me that.” Green eyes made all the more vivid by the contrasting red of Rainier’s sleep deprivation met mine. “I need you there, D.”

I nodded, swallowing hard. I was capable of leading men, had been doing it for a long fucking time, but protecting Nara’s Cove was no small responsibility. On this side of the Alsors, Vesta was dependent on the port city, the fish from the Mahowin being a primary staple of a southerner’s diet. With Northport being overrun by the Supreme’s forces, Nara’s Cove was the only supply of fish to supplement crops. Fish had fed my entire village over many harsh winters.

I knew Rainier had been spreading Raj’s men thin, pointing some of their attention north toward the plains where my family lived. It was a preventive measure, making sure the bulk of our crops wouldn’t be ruined by an advancing army. Our soldiers’ presence also ensured our harvesters’ safety from pillaging.

I had a vested interest in that too. Saski’s letter to me had weighed heavily on my mind ever since I received it a month prior. The first word I’d had from her since our mother died hadn’t been what I’d expected.

Before war claims us, an older sister would hug her baby brother one last time.

“I don’t wish to offend, Your Majesties, but what does this have to do with me? I am no good with mysteries.” Nor’s voice brought me back from my distracting thoughts. What I wouldn’t have given to stop fucking thinking. It was all I’d been doing.

“Though we don’t expect you to help find Raj’s killer,” Emma said, looking up from the paper for the first time, “we hope to prevent you from meeting such an end as well.”

Nor’s quick intake of breath was her only visible disquiet. She had been nearly unshakeable since the moment I met her, kicking down a door to escape a burning building. I’d only seen her rattled once before, when she told me the true identity of her father. Perhaps if I hadn’t behaved like a villain, tossing her away from me over my own indiscretion, she would have been composed then too. I flexed my hand in memory of where mine had been, a phantom ache of longing and confusion filling me. Fucking hell. Her own hands were clasped primly in her lap as she cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. I don’t—I don’t follow.”

“They could breach our walls, Nor,” Rainier said, matter-of-fact as he stepped behind his wife. When his hands drifted to her shoulders, she tipped her head back on a groan. She stifled it, cheeks pink, before straightening. Though he didn’t smile, the topic too grim, Rainier watched his wife with an intensity I recognized. I bit the inside of my cheek. Sometimes, watching them together made me havefeelings. I’d rather have pulled my own teeth out than go down that road again.

When Rainier didn’t continue, I cleared my throat. I knew as well as he did that the Supreme and the Nythyrians could find victory eventually. Though the Aesiron’s destruction bought us time, rumors flew about the Folterran army. If the Supreme assumed control, our time was limited. There was only so much we could do once our stores ran out if they blocked access to our supplies. As it was, we were lucky to have lasted this long. Attacking toward the end of winter before we’d had a chance to replenish was a cruel, yet effective, strategy.

Rainier pulled his hands from Emma’s shoulders, and I did my best to ignore her look of tired adoration when she glanced back at him.

“It isn’t safe for you here. Your identity as Declan’s daughter was not as well-kept of a secret as he would have you believe. Cyran is well-protected, and you need to be too,” Rainier explained.

“We fear they may kill you. Or perhaps something worse,” Emma said. Searing heat flooded my body, and my chest felt tight. “It’s very likely the Supreme knew what Filenti was doing all along. It’s possible he even encouraged it. Though Declan didn’t touch you, I’m afraid the Supreme would try to put an heir in you if he managed to get to you.”

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