“He wants to check them all,” Aqen murmurs.
Good. All the crates are packed with genuine ore, but hidden in one of the crates is a listening device. When Zomah finds it, he’ll think he caught us. But what he won’t notice is the damp cloth lining the bottom of the crates. The moisture is already seeping upward through the ore, and in a couple hours or so it will turn those crates into incredibly powerful bombs.
Nik pretends to be mad about opening the crates, but he hands over the key, allowing Zomah to check them all. Whenhe finds the listening device, high priest rips it out with a cry, throwing it to the ground. At the High Priest’s direction, one of the cloaked figures steps forward and stabs it with the sword. Aqen snorts softly, and I have to agree. It’s a little dramatic, but that seems to be Zomah’s style. The gesture is symbolic. He wants to kill our hopes.
Satisfied that he’s figured out our evil plan, he has one of his priests seal up all the crates again, and then a crew of them march out and haul the crates onto the transport.
Now it’s time for the actual hostage exchange. My stomach tightens, and I have to remind myself to pay attention to my pigment so I don’t let it slip back to human-colored. Nik motions Y’len forward. She minces up to him, and I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing at her “human walk” imitation.
Zomah looks her up and down, and then seems to lose interest, his attention focused on Nik as exchange more words.
“He wants proof of the bond,” Aqen says quietly. The back of Nik’s neck flushes lavender, something he should only be able to do in the presence of his fated queen. It’s another trick. Even though I’m close by and technically he should be able to turn this color at will, his pigment system is still unreliable. He was only able to do it about a quarter of the time during practice, so he wore lavender socks inside his boots.
Zomah nods, satisfied, and my guts twist again. The costume wasn’t supposed to fool him. But he seems to second-guess it, and his eyes return to Y’len, narrowing when they take in just how much of her form is concealed by the heavy layers of fur clothing.
I can’t help my teeth grinding together. Even the goddess is anxious, plucking at my forehead like she wants to hurry things along. She doesn’t speak to me in words, just these rushes of feelings, but I can tell we don’t have much time left if we want to save the concubines from freezing to death.
Zomah yanks Y’len’s hat off, his eyes popping open when he spots the pointed tips of her ears. He roars in anger, pointing a long, clawed forefinger in Nik’s face.
“He’s mad about it,” Aqen whispers gleefully.
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I can tell.”
Nik spits something back, and Zomah draws his sword. Every Irran warrior, both our guys and the priests, draw their weapons automatically in response. Everyone except me. I’m a second late, and Zomah’s eyes instantly settle on me, gauging my height difference compared to the other warriors around me.
He pushes Y’len so hard she falls down and commands me forward with a flick of his blade. I stumble on purpose as I hurry toward him, and he scoffs dismissively, the harsh sound rattling off the stones. I can’t look at Nik, because I have a feeling he’s about to kill Zomah, plan or no plan.
Let the High Priest assume I’m weak and stupid. He’s the one who just loaded five explosive crates onto his transport and is going to park them right in the middle of his precious Eye. He pulls off my hat, and I drop my camouflage. His lips peel back in disgust when he takes in my true appearance. Round ears, blunt teeth, brown-and-white eyes, solid-colored skin. He doesn’t see a person.
“Take her,” he orders some of his people, but Nik blocks him.
“The concubines,” he reminds Zomah.
The High Priest nods grudgingly. A little too loudly, for the obvious benefit of the other priests, he says, “It will save me supplies, feeding one useless mouth instead of five.”
I want to roll my eyes so hard. He doesn’t want to look like a loser in front of his little minions by trading five hostages for one. I am not going to be sorry when he gets blown up. I try to rearrange my face into a worried expression. “Don’t make me go with him,” I say to Nik, letting a little wobble into my voice.
“Don’t disgrace yourself, terrakin. You’ve served your purpose.” Nik can’t look me in the eye. I know this is killing him to talk to me this way. When the concubines near, and our warriors move into position, he grits his teeth and pushes me toward Zomah, who hisses and pushes me toward a cloaked guard. That guy grabs my wrist a little too hard and pats me down for weapons with his free hand, flinging the ones he finds onto the ground.
Thankfully, he doesn’t find the ones in the hidden pockets of my bride pants. Then he drags me roughly into a cluster of other priests who immediately close ranks around me, blocking my view of the other hostages, and I let out an inadvertent whimper.
“She is not to be harmed,” Nik thunders behind me, and I hear the clash of metal-on-metal that means he probably attacked someone to try and get to me.
Part of the plan, part of the plan,I repeat to myself, my heart banging in my chest like the backroom at a house party. A little diversion. I walk a little faster toward the transport ship, flanked by cloaked priests.
“Hi guys, I’m Delphie,” I say, trying to sound friendly. “Nik’s Alara.”
No reaction.
“What should I call you?” I prompt. “Do you guys use regular names? Or do you have special priest titles...or like superhero names? The Goddess’s Tooth? The Black Cloak?”
That earns me a snort from the guy on my left that he tried to hide with a cough. So there are real people inside those hoods.
“Are Chanísh’s concubines okay? They looked cold.”
“The High Priest would not allow us to—” the snort guy starts, but another priest cuts him off with a growl as we reach the transport. A metal ramp leads into the ship.
I look back over my shoulder to check what’s going on. Two priests are laid out on the ground, and Nik has a dark splash ofblood on the front of his sveli, which stresses me beyond belief, but at least it looks like the fight is over. Zomah fake-bows to Nik, who returns the half-hearted gesture, and then he and the remaining priests head toward us.
