Page 28 of Between Fear and Favor

My fingernails broke into the skin of my palm. When Filenti had shipped novices across the Mahowin Strait to Folterra for Declan to rape, Nor’s identity as his child was all that protected her. Apparently forcing himself upon the other women in a twisted bid to gain Rhia’s favor hadn’t been too far, but raping his own kin had been. She’d been lucky. And now, Emma and Rainier feared for her safety. I might not have believed what Lu said about Nor, about what she would mean to me, but I didn’t want the woman to be harmed either.

“She’s coming with me, right?” I blurted, unable to hold my tongue. “I assume we are to take the tunnel? I’ll escort her to the Cinturon before turning south.” The thought of dropping her off at the mountain pass at the beginning of spring pained me. Thawing out, the mountainous terrain would be difficult to traverse, but I started mentally tallying the men I’d trust to take her through it.

“Yes, you’ll be taking the tunnel,” Rainier said, eyes narrowing on me for only a second before he turned his attention back to Nor. “I’m sorry. I cannot lift the wards, and I can’t spare anyone to rift you once you get past the tunnel’s obsidian.”

“The tunnel?” Nor asked Rainier, but her head turned the slightest bit over her shoulder to look at me. Her eyes were wide, flickering brown in the candlelight. When she worried her bottom lip, I looked away.

I would absolutelynotthink about her lush mouth.

“Only a handful of people know about the tunnel. It was designed so the royal family could escape in this exact situation. It’s made of obsidian. Impenetrable. It goes east, nearly all the way to the mountains,” Emma explained.

“My mother only told me when she went that route with the children. We are the only people within the city who know about it,” Rainier added.

“What about the smugglers? Couldn’t we go their way?” Nor scooted to the edge of her seat. “I know it wouldn’t be easy getting out, but?—”

“We’re not trusting the fucking runners,” I snapped, but Emma glared at me, brows furrowed, and I shut my mouth. I’d seen Penellion speaking to Nor a few times, and their familiarity had bothered me. The man was as untrustworthy as they came.

“They get caught just as often as they don’t,” Emma explained after a moment, dragging her eyes back to Nor, though her frown didn’t fade. “I don’t trust them to keep you safe.”

As she shouldn’t. Sure, the runners were getting things the city needed, risking their necks, but they’d done significant damage to Astana—for years—especially in the Wend. Soren hadn’t cared what happened at the crowded edges of the city but Rainier had a mind to change all that.

“Do you have anyone to spare to see her through the pass?” I asked.

“She’s going to Nara’s Cove with you,” Rainier said, before he directed his attention back to Nor. “That is, if that sounds agreeable to you?”

“Why?” we asked at the same time, Nor’s voice pitched higher than normal.

“Cyran is already in the east. It makes more sense to keep you two separate,” Rainier explained. “Is Nara’s Cove acceptable for you, Nor?”

“I—Yes, I suppose. I don’t mind staying here, really. I like to help.”

My jaw clenched. Did she only wish to stay to be away from me? It irked me that I cared.

“And you’ve done so much to help,” Emma said, a sad smile easing her weariness. Though she wasn’t even a decade older than Nor, her instinct to mother the woman was strong. “But if we fail, you are—you could be the future. You must be kept safe. The duke will keep you safe.” My friend lifted her chin, eyebrows arching high and expectant. “Won’t you, D?”

“You need sleep more than I thought if you have to ask,” I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nor’s cheeks flush. “Of course, I’ll do what you ask of me. It’s an honor you both hold me in such high esteem,” I added.

I needed to make it clear to both myself—and Nor apparently—that I only saw her as duty. There was no reason for her to look into it. Despite what Lucia had said to me in the brief moments when I’d lingered at the edge of life and death, Nor and I weren’t anything to each other. We would stay that way if I had anything to do with it. I was nothing to her, as she was nothing to me.

And yet “nothing” was all I could think about. Why had I ever let her kiss me? Why did I want to touch her again?

“You are my general now, so I hope you can understand why I might hold you in such regard,” Rainier drawled, a single brow raised. I should have understood before that moment what it meant to take over for Raj, the man who taught both me and Rainier everything we knew about battle. And yet, it took me by surprise. Rainier didn’t give me a chance to react. “I can spare a few soldiers to accompany you.”

“No conduits, though,” I said, hoping he’d refute me.

“No conduits,” he agreed. A moment later, when Emma let out the biggest yawn I’d ever seen, Nor jumped to her feet.

“We should let you rest, Your Majesties,” she squeaked out. When she curtsied—a dreadful attempt—I tightened my jaw, not allowing a smile. I wasn’t sure who it would embarrass more.

At Emmeline’s nod, the woman scurried toward the door like a dog with its tail between its legs. I followed a moment later. The list of things I needed to attend to before sunset had grown significantly longer.

“Dewalt?” Emma murmured, leaning against Rainier with her eyes closed as I lingered in the doorway. “Be kinder to her. You’ll have less to apologize for if you start now.”

My eye twitched, and I didn’t respond. Straightening my spine, I stepped out of the room. When a cool draft breezed down the hall, I shuddered, drawing my cloak close. There was a cold front moving in from the northeast, and I expected we’d get one last blizzard before spring would bloom green beneath our feet.

Nor was already at the other end of the hall, her silhouette dark against a window. Spine straight, she looked first to the left and then to the right. She’d had to have run to get that far that fast. Clearly she wasn’t pleased about the turn of events. My eyes were drawn to her elegant neck, hair pulled away from skin I knew was far too soft.

“Nor!” I called, but she ignored me, looking to the left again. Her dress looked filthy—dark spots stained the brown, roughly-spun fabric. Suddenly, I realized I hadn’t seen her in anything else these past few weeks. It was probably blood and offal which stained her clothing, and something like pride warmed my chest when I realized she didn’t give a single thought to impressing Emma and Rainier. Others would have insisted upon changing, but Nor was practical. The warm feeling was swiftly replaced by cool sympathy when I realized she likely had no other clothes.

---