We rode across the plain, the horses’ hoofbeats like thunder in the quiet night. Kiera held me tightly from behind. I handled Wicked’s reins with one hand so I could lay my gloved palm over Kiera’s cold hand.
We slowed down once we reached the end of the wall and slipped into the forest. Yarina and Sigrid met us with ready swords and twin sighs of relief.
“How did?—”
“Later,” Maz interrupted Yarina.
She frowned, but kept her mouth shut. Maz rarely snapped, but I was in no mood to talk about the mine yet either. Besides, we were running out of night, and I didn’t feel like being hunted in the dawn.
Kiera slid off of Wicked and mounted Ozlow. “The border patrol is sweeping the woods, and they must’ve picked up reinforcements somewhere because there are fifteen of them now. We’ve been going slow and stopping to hide when they pass. Wecannotlet them trace us back to the Winspere house.”
Oddly, my lips twitched in a smile. My little thief was directing us like a leader. Like I usually did. But I quite liked this change.
We rode in a single line through the trees. Twice, we heard a distant noise in the darkness and dismounted, but no one emerged.
Impatience gnawed at me. Part of me wanted to gallop to this house and battle the patrol if they saw us. Then we could cross a few enemies off our list.
I was tired of hiding.
The third time we heard a noise, the shadows shifted in the trees, and metal glinted.
Everyone else dismounted and led their horses to thicker brush. Running would be impossible through here.
My hand slid to my knife. They were already hunting us. Why not hunt a few of them?
I silently dismounted and crept toward the noise. They weren’t using torches—probably to keep us from seeing them. But they crashed through the woods like soldiers who hadn’t grown up in a forest.
I had.
I glided over the pine needle-coated ground, darting from tree to tree until I found my mark. He was stomping over tree roots and breathing heavily through a severely crooked nose.
Ruru had told me about his escape from a border patrol.
I gripped my knife harder and waited until he passed by my tree. Then I stepped out behind him, wrapped my hand around his mouth, and slit his throat in one deft move.
He jerked and gagged, but no sound escaped through my fingers. I carefully laid him on the ground.
Kills like this were almost a relief. No horrible infectious guilt after. I didn’t feel like a mindless monster, as I had with the supervisor.
This soldier hurt someone I loved and was intent on doing it again. The consequence was simple in my mind.
The swishing and cracking of the rest of the patrol carried on east. It might be a long time before they realized they were missing a soldier. And even longer to find him.
I hurried back to Wicked and found the others already mounted.
The air was thick with tension. Maz, Yarina, and Sigrid immediately rode on. Kiera waited for me to mount. I couldn’t see her face, but I could feel her silence and the worry in it.
Perhaps she understood. Perhaps she didn’t. But I would always do whatever it took to protect my people.
We rode without further interruption until we reached a large clearing in the woods, just as a gray, misty dawn rose.
A stone manor with wooden shutters and three smoking chimneys faced the plains of Winspere. Several other shorter stone buildings were scattered around the clearing. Workers in large, brimmed hats were already busy hauling buckets of feed to the animals within. Chickens darted about the yard.
I smelled bread baking and hoped to all the Four that Nikella’s friend would feed us.
I was about to head for the stable when Kiera hissed, “Wait.”
The others pulled up short and looked back at her.
