“For fuck’s sake, Ren, that’s insulting!”
“I don’t care if he’s insulted.”
“I meant it’s insulting to me!” Croak put his hands on Ren’s knee, his eyes wide as he pleaded with her. “You take him! He’syourlover.”
“He is not,” Terena said. Lerek narrowed his eyes at her.
“Fuck!” Croak kicked at the ground, sending rocks and bracken scattering. The horses shifted, and a chorus of protests and curses made him glare back at the others.
Without another word, he waited while Soros helped Lerek mount. Croak sprang up onto Cerberus in front of Lerek, his face bright red as he mumbled beneath his breath, barely waiting for the men to bind them together before turning Cerberus and riding off.
Captain Soros arched a brow at her. “Where’s the cypher?”
“I let him go.”
“What?” Soros stared at her, incredulous.
“I still have the amulet. We don’t need him.”
“He was the one who could use it!”
Terena shook her head as she walked. Soros followed.
“You know I have to let Hermes know, right?”
She shrugged. “Tell him.”
The captain groaned and wiped a hand down his face. “We should wait for him.”
“No. You can stay and wait if you want. But my sister is in Ravos. So I must go.”
“With an army marching north?” Soros scoffed, looking over at Rydon for help. “Doyouthink that’s a good idea?”
“No,” Rydon said. “But if we can get to Sonah before the army gets her first, I’m willing to try.”
Terena smiled gratefully at Rydon. Flashing the captain an irritated look, she swatted his arm and walked past him.
“I wasn’t asking, Captain. We ride for Ravos.”
Daris rodebeside Hermes when they met up with two of Captain Soros’s men. They dismounted, each falling to a knee, their heads bent to the ground as they muttered their greetings to the god.
“Where’s Soros?”
“He left us behind to find you, Lord Hermes,” one of the men, a mercenary by the name of Scar, said as he lifted his scarred face, his thick beard bisected by a nasty gash running the length of his cheek down to his clavicle. “We were attacked by Heylisian soldiers who had a cypher with them. When questioned, the cypher said Sonah Yahn was in Ravos and he and the soldierswho’d attacked were on their way there when they ran into us. An army is on its way north to Ravos from Metilai as we speak.”
“Where is Terena now?”
“They are on their way to Ravos, lord. Captain Soros also wanted us to tell you we found Prince Lerek.”
Hermes glanced at Daris before turning back to the soldier. “And where is the prince now?”
“They took him with them.”
Heat sizzled across Daris’s skin. His jaw tightened but allowed no other outward sign at the news Ren traveled with her former lover.
“How long ago?”
“Two days.”
