Page 99 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
Valuta hummed in satisfaction and turned to Ryker, her smile widening. “Commander, so good to see you. How are the Northern Realms?”
“Fine,” Ryker grumbled, not bothering to look her way.
“Really? I heard there were some issues with the other Clans. I hope the war doesn’t come near Vexhold. My ancestral runes can only help keep us safe so far.”
My grip tightened on the crate until my fingers turned white as bone. I stared at Valuta, then at the guards under her and Banu’s control. Thousands of them, all armed and menacing.
My thoughts raced back to Zandyr’s words.
I’d thought them strange back then. Now I understood the clues he’d sowed.
“There is no war,” Ryker said tightly.
“My mistake. Best wishes to your betrothed, I hear she’s a handful.” She turned to Kaya, who had morphed into a stricken statue. She didn’t seem to even dare breathe. “Come, darling, let’s make the rounds so that everyone can see you.”
She grabbed Kaya’s elbow and guided her away, Vexa trailing a safe distance behind them with a worried expression on her face.
I watched Valuta grin and wave at everyone, her poisoned tongue now dripping honey.
“That woman is dangerous,” Ryker said.
I didn’t need Ryker to tell me.
I finally understood how deadly she could be.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
EVIE
“Iknow you’re upset with me, but this is alarming.” Adara stood in the center of the grove Leesa had directed us to, back straight as a pole. We’d snuck out before dawn had filtered through the leaves, reeking of Goose’s special hiding concoction and making sure the guards didn’t see us. “I said I exaggerated.”
“Admitting you went overboard in our last training session and apologizing are two very different things,” I called down from the trees.
“Fine.” Adara ground her teeth so hard, I heard her through the chirp of the birds and the sway of the leaves. “I’m sorry.”
“Much appreciated. But I didn’t want to come here to get revenge.”
“I can’t guard you if I can’t see you.”
“You also can’t catch me. This is a training lesson, isn’t it?”
This wasn’t some hide and seek game I wanted to win. Adara thought I was defenseless. In some ways, she was right.
I couldn’t take her–or a fighter as strong and fast as her–in hand to hand combat. But I could use my environment to my advantage.Thatwas my skill.
“Get your weapon out,” I called down, crouching on a branch without a sound. The tree’s bark was smooth and flecked with beige dots, so different than the hard, flaky trunks back in the mountains.
Adara sighed in annoyance, but armed herself.
Good. My bare feet molded to the branches as I snuck from tree to tree, rustling no leaves in my wake. The vines, thick and meaty and blooming, helped me move faster. Or maybe it was Zandyr’s blood on the armor quickening my moves; I wore it more often than I needed to. It had almost turned into a compulsion, I woke up and my hands instinctively went for the black leather.
I told myself it was because I was more of a target without him here. But I knew that was a lie.
Behind the large leaves, I was almost invisible. A bird perched on the branch next to me and didn’t even notice the human hiding less than a foot away.
Adara’s shoulders tensed, gaze slashing from one tree to the next.
