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We flee through the stretch of forest, hurtle across a few fields, and dive into a denser woodland. The sun is high in the sky, my stallion panting, and my head pounding like someone’s trying to chisel into my skull when I finally decide we’ve come far enough.
I don’t know where to go from here. I don’t know who to turn to. But I really have only one option.
Or rather, two options. I’ve still got my makeshift blade if the madness rushes over me and there’s nothing to do but end myself.
Suppressing a wince at that thought, I slide down from Toast’s back and sit against a tree. I rest the blade on the ground next to me within easy reach.
With growing trepidation, I flick open the locket and press my thumb to the surface within.
Then I tip back my head against the tree trunk, my stomach roiling, and wait for the horror of the past day to either end… or get even worse.
Five
Ivy
Imight have spent the night conked out, but I don’t think the sedative made for a very satisfying rest. I’m still exhausted.
Somewhere in the midst of my waiting, with Toast grazing peacefully nearby and beams of sunlight slanting through the bare branches to warm the air around me, I drift off into an uneasy sleep.
Which I only realize when I snap back to wakefulness at the crinkling of the forest’s underbrush somewhere nearby.
As my eyes pop open, my hands is already groping for my clay blade. My fingers close around the handle-like end, I push onto my feet in a crouch?—
And a voice carries to me, so familiar it cracks open my heart: “Here’s our lady thief.”
There’s no mistaking the relieved affection in his tone. I whirl toward the voice, and Stavros barrels through the woods to catch me in his arms.
The former general squeezes me tight against his massive frame, and I can’t help clinging to him in turn. Tears burn behind my eyes. I have to swallow a sob.
I’m back with one of the men I love. He still trusts me so much he ran straight to me.
Of course, that could change once he finds out exactly what I’ve been doing during the past day.
That final thought sours my joy with a knotting of my stomach. But I keep gripping Stavros’s arms as he eases back from me, his eyes with their blending of blue and brown feverishly bright beneath his dark red hair. He gives that little tick of his head that tells me he’s focusing his vision on me more intently.
“What happened?” he demands, his voice darkening with a promise of retribution. He lifts his hand to the edge of the blood-crusted bandage on my forehead. “Are you all right? How did you get away?”
Not “Who took you?” but maybe that part of the story is easy to guess. Who but the scourge sorcerers could have compelled one of the riven?
“I’m all right now,” I say. Before I can pull more answers together, another figure steps forward, with a smile on his gorgeous face that could warm me even in a blizzard.
Casimir sets his hand on my shoulder. “Before you get into the interrogation, Stav, let me offer my own welcome.”
The courtesan tugs me into a tender embrace that’s nonetheless just as emphatic as Stavros’s. I burrow my head against the crook of his neck, breathing in his honeyed sandalwood scent and wishing I could stay right here without having to say another word.
There is at least one question I need to ask, though. I don’t hear anyone else approaching.
I lift my head, my throat constricting. “Where are Alek and Rheave? Did something?—”
Casimir shakes his head before I can get any farther into my anxious speculation. “They’re both perfectly fine, other than being out of their heads with worry for you. Which will be resolved as soon as we get you back to them.”
Stavros grins crookedly. “Have no doubts that they wanted to come with us. Rheave looked about ready to send one of his lightning bolts straight through me so he could take my place. But we couldn’t leave the royal children undefended.”
My heart leaps. “The royal children? Princess Klaudia and Prince Jacos are all right?”
That means I didn’t carry out all of Lothar’s murderous plan. But if the prince and princess are relying on my men for protection, then King Konram and Queen Ishild…
The hope that sparked inside me blinks out. Stavros must see the change in my face, because he brushes his fingers over my hair and speaks before I need to ask more.
