Page 96 of A Kiss of Hammer and Flame

The Captain exhaled. ‘Their forces tally 20,000 combined.’

She forced her next words with a croak. ‘Luminaux’s?’

Raiden’s face was firm but pale. ‘Less than half.’

She nodded, shoulders slumping. Sylvie had warned them. But she knew her choice if it came down to her as Empress versus someone like Thierre. She’d already made it.

Thierre was the priority.

‘Cahra,’ Raiden began, as Kolyath and Ozumbre’s soldiers shifted, branching from the rear, something – someone – proceeding towards the enemy front lines.

The absent rulers.

Cahra bared her teeth in a silent snarl as she spied Steward Atriposte for one of only a handful of times in her life, the tyrant of Kolyath in battle regalia, seated atop a snow-white mount. Beside him, twin grey faces gazed at Luminaux’s army with interest.Decimus and Diabolus.Who was who was anybody’s guess though, garbed as they were in identical fighting leathers. A tactic to avoid assassination? Cahra frowned, searching.

Where was he?

Raiden had been thinking the same thing. ‘I don’t see Thierre.’

Kolyath and Ozumbre’s rulers halted several soldiers back from the front lines. Contempt flooded Cahra. They didn’t even have the spine to approach Luminaux directly, hiding instead behind their army’s pikes, their mounted infantry, their bows and arrows.

King Royce stilled, his face an inveterate mask, his fortitude rallying his soldiers. Raiden’s face shone with pride as the King’s voice rung out, echoing to bridge the expanse.

‘We are here to exchange, as agreed, Lord Terryl of Luminaux for Cahra of Kolyath.’ The King of Luminaux marked his adversaries with narrowed navy eyes. ‘Where is he?’

A yellow glimmer caught Cahra’s eye through a gap in the Wilds that lay beside them. The sun was finally rising.

Moments passed, then Atriposte’s voice boomed, ‘Ah, yes, of course, theLord Terryl. As agreed, we shall deliver him to you.’

Cahra had seen the hoarfrost anger surface in King Royce before, but not like this. ‘Here.Now,’ Thierre’s father commanded in a barely contained snarl.

‘As you wish,’ Atriposte said, unruffled. ‘Simply hand over the girl,’ he crooned. Trotting from behind him, Commander Jarett leaned forward on his horse, searching for her.

She was wrong, there was no safe haven. Panic gripped her as she stared at the Steward, recalling how matter-of-factly he’d told her she would die after she stabbed him. Breathing suddenly felt like an impossible task.

Raiden grabbed her reins. ‘No,’ he told her.

‘I have to,’ she told him, voice shaking. ‘It’s Thierre.’

‘I know that,’ he replied roughly. ‘But there has to be another way. I can’t let you hand yourself over to those monsters.’

‘Thereisno other way,’ Cahra argued, her words edged with fear. ‘We both know it. And if you slept like I did yesterday – which I didn’t – you’d know it’s this, or he’s dead.’ She looked at Raiden, eyes pleading, before gripping his hand and freeing her reins from it. ‘He’s the priority.’

Raiden stared back at her. ‘Thierreismy priority. But—’ The Captain exhaled deeply. ‘But it doesn’t mean that you don’t matter. You have our people’s support.’

Cahra smiled, and it was genuine. ‘And I’m so thankful, for all of you, really I am.’ She turned her gaze on Kolyath’s Steward. ‘But I have a deal to uphold. And he and I have unfinished kingdom business.’ She took one breath, then another, glad to still be on the horse, not trusting her quaking legs to carry her.

The more she thought about the current plan, the more fear began to rip through her. Because with a night of riding to occupy her thoughts, well, she’d made her own plan.

One: make the trade, open Hael’s tomb and let him deal with Kolyath and Ozumbre.

Or, if the trade goes awry, two: beg Hael to replenish her powers, and deal with Kolyath and Ozumbre herself. Both options were risky, and she wouldn’t know which she’d be looking at until the trade was done.

But what if Thelaema’s right, what if I die? What if I don’t make it to Hael in time, and Luminaux’s army, all of these people, are killed, because of me—

Damn it! Why did Thelaema always have to be right? Because if something happened, and Cahra needed to fight, Hael’s powers were gone. And Atriposte was waiting.

She could see the determination in the faces of Sylvie and Tyne’s soldiers. They were ready to die for their kingdom, for their Prince. But would their valour be enough?

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