Page 125 of Thorn Season
“I saw your pain,” he said quietly, thumb glancing over my cheek, “but I didn’t know what it meant. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m a good actress.” A lump formed in my throat. “Youhave to know, I never meant—I wouldn’t have—”Wouldn’t have betrayed your secrets. Wouldn’t have let Erik hurt you.Even in my darkest moments, I hadn’t really considered it—and not because Keil was a Wielder, but because he wasKeil. Because he’d coaxed something soft and intimate from inside me—something I couldn’t quite destroy.
He must have read the truth in my silence because he sighed with a faint smile. An acknowledgment that he knew—he’d always known—I wasn’t a viper.
I looked away again, but Keil cupped my face between both hands, lifting it until he was all I could see—shadows softening the strong lines of his features, moonlight silvering his lashes.
“Come with me,” he said, and the whispered words flurried against my skin. “You can be free in Ansora. You can behappy.”
I closed my hands around Keil’s wrists but didn’t push him away. Swathed in darkness, muffled by the rustling foliage, I could almost pretend that the world beyond this riverbank didn’t exist.Almost.
“I can’t leave. I have my province. My people. And...” I hesitated. “There are things I still need to do here.”
Keil’s pulse jumped beneath my fingers. “You can’t marry him.”
I blew out a hot breath, too pained to be laughter. “Is that jealousy again, Ambassador?”
His face remained sober as he repeated, “Come with me.”
I opened my mouth just as whinnies sounded in the distance. Panic seized me.
But Keil burst into action. He swept me under the bridge and put us shoulder-to-shoulder, our backs pressed to the damp stones as the river current roared below.
Voices bellowed over hoofbeats—four, maybe five in total. Their timbres were rough and eager. Ready for a fight.
Erik must have armed them with dullroot.
Keil nudged me further into the shadows, one arm stretched defensively across me. His spare hand rested on the dagger at his belt.
The voices neared, crossing the bridge over our heads. I counted my thudding heartbeats as the river sprayed our boots. My specter still felt fragile, pulsating at the surface, but I fought to strengthen it. It would only take one guard to report my whereabouts to Erik, and this would all have been for nothing. The king would know the truth.
The voices rang clearer now, gathering on our side of the river. Keil shifted his body to cover mine.
A dullthump—so quiet I might’ve imagined it.
Then a horse’s screech pierced the sky, and my skin bristled. Hooves clomped, and people yelled, and steel clanged with an ear-ringing force. Keil remained rigid throughout it all, feet angled toward the fray, neck craning for every sound.
There was a final thud. And silence.
Keil moved, and I grabbed his hand to hold him back.
“It’s all right.” He stroked his thumb along my knuckles before leading me onto the bank.
I saw the horses first—five brawny steeds racing away on a cloud of powdered dirt. I counted only three of their riders: two face down in the grass, another slung across the shoulder of a masked man with a topknot.
A double-headed axe glinted at his back.
As Goren stomped toward the foliage, another armored figure skidded across the grass after him, dragged by the invisible leash of Goren’s specter. The guard’s body made one long trail toward the tree line before the gloom swallowed him up.
The last guard stirred with a moan. I stiffened, gathering myspecter. But a broad shape stepped from the darkness, and with one swift blow to the back of the head, the guard was down again. Lye tossed me a wink before hauling the guard away.
“They don’t know it was you,” Keil whispered just as Dashiel emerged, brushing off leaves and debris. Osana marched close behind, her braids swishing. Even with the mask, I knew she was giving me a sneering look.
“They’re secured,” Dashiel said, “but we shouldn’t linger.”
An axeswooshed through the greenery, hacking at branches. Goren trudged beside Dashiel and glowered at my hand, still wrapped in Keil’s. I automatically dropped my grip.
“Are you two finished?” Goren barked. “The king’s guards are crawling at every border.”
