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The concealment charm seems pointless now. I don’t need to hide from my lovers and the one consistent friend I’ve got in this mess.
As I tug off mine, Casimir and Rheave follow suit. We clamber out the back of the wagon and come around to meet our ominous welcome party.
Stavros’s face is as grim as I’ve ever seen it, his eyes dark with restrained fury. He hops off his horse the moment he’s near enough and strides over to meet me.
His voice comes out taut. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I tried to reason with Cyris—he has to see—I don’t know how he could think it’s worth jeopardizing everything we’ve worked for?—”
I lift my hand to cut him off, forcing a sickly smile. “Unfortunately, we’ve got bad news that’s even more urgent. I don’t suppose anyone passed on word about Lothar’s trials as well.”
Alek’s eyes widen. “What? No.” His tone turns bitter. “They were too busy smearing your name.”
I can’t let that fact distract me from my most important purpose. “Lothar also announced that the Order of the Wild will be holding their kingship trials in four days, when we’d normally be celebrating Creadenala. He made a challenge to Petra to show herself there or forfeit the crown.”
For all his fury on my behalf, even Stavros draws up short. “Four days?”
Petra sucks in a breath with a hiss, her tan skin graying.
“So we have to pull the rest of whatever we’re doing together even faster,” I say, supressing the ache in my gut. “However we can. What exactly has the baron decided about me? I’m guessing he hasn’t called for my arrest.”
Stavros’s lips draw back from his teeth with a restrained growl. “I’d stuff him in one of his holding cells before I let his guards set a finger on you.”
Alek speaks up again, his voice quieter now but still strained. “Hunting parties have already gone out from the nearby towns—people hoping they can spot you and get some kind of reward for reporting you to the Order and allowing ‘justice’ to be done. Baron Cyris doesn’t feel secure having you on the premises in the current atmosphere. And obviously we weren’t going to stay if you couldn’t.”
Sulla bows her head. “No one’s hunting for me, but I wouldn’t have felt safe staying among such fickle allies.”
Petra brings her horse around the others, shooting a brief glance of stifled irritation toward the guards who insist on flanking her. “I still want your help—now more than ever if we only have three days left to finish our plans. Our scouts previously identified a reasonably secure location nearby where you can stay and avoid notice. There’s an abandoned cabin about a half hour’s ride from here in a patch of woods. And I’ll keep working on the baron to have you back in comfort.”
It's not my comfort I’m worried about. Despite my best efforts and maintaining my composure, my stomach has not just sunk but had a hole punched through it.
My voice comes out with a rasp. “Don’t bother with that. You need to put every bit of your energy and concentration into overseeing our final preparations.”
My daimon lover clearly disagrees with my priorities. “How can the baron cast Ivy away?” he demands. “She’s helped so many people—she hasn’t hurt anyone.”
I give Rheave’s arm a quick squeeze. “You know that isn’t entirely true. I’m lucky my presence was tolerated for as long as it was. Let’s find this cabin and let Petra get back to her work.”
Willing my posture to remain steady, I walk over to claim Toast and swing onto his back. Rheave and Casimir take their own mounts, Rheave’s expression still fierce and Casimir’s downcast in a way I’ve rarely seen on the courtesan.
No one wants to say it, but this is the end. The end for us, at least.
I think I’ve known it since I first saw my mother standing on the platform next to Lothar’s projection, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself.
The wrenching sensation inside me pulls my gaze to Stavros. “You should stay with Petra and the others at the estate. You’re by far the best strategist they?—”
Stavros cuts off my suggestion with a sharp shake of his head. “Our future queen knows she has all our support, but I’m not going to act as if I condone the way the baron is treating you. I’ll only be a half hour away, and I can think just as well outside those walls.”
Petra lifts her chin. “And for the actual construction, we’ll probably end up closer to you than the residence regardless.”
She turns to one of the soldiers. “Ride back to the estate and let the others know our new timeframe. If there are any clerics we haven’t heard from to supervise the trials, we need to approach our second choices now. And all the blueprints need to be finalized so we can start construction today. I’ll be back as soon as these allies of mine are settled.”
The man bobs his head and gallops off.
With a tap of her heels against her horse’s flanks, Petra leads us around the estate. As I follow her, I tell myself it’s all right.
I’ve pitched in plenty already. I’ve played a key role in building our cause from our first tiny group to a network of hundreds of allies across the country.
I should be satisfied with the fact that I accomplished as much as I did. Who knows whether I could have really done much more anyway?
I still can’t shake the sensation of a jumble of rocks piling up in my belly.
