Sigrid sighed loudly. “So the consensus is we willnotjust let the two of you rot in the mine, but?—”
“Because we won’t get caught,” Maz interrupted.
“Sure,” she ground out. “Then tell me why we’re bringing two untrained warriors with us.” She pinned me and Ruru with a one-eyed glare.
At least she hadn’t said untrustworthy, but it was still an insult.
I narrowed my eyes. “I may not know how to wield every weapon in existence, but I know how to fight. I throw a knife better than anyone here. Most importantly, this ismykingdom, these aremypeople, and this is my gods-damned fight.”
Sigrid quirked an eyebrow, looking the mildest bit appeased.
Ruru straightened next to me. “I’ll tell you what I told Kiera—I go where my friends go. Even if that’s all the way to the Abyss.”
“Good enough for me,” Jek said.
Yarina nodded. “And me.”
“Fine,” Sigrid grunted. “Are we done here?”
“Not quite,” Nikella said.
Aiden frowned and tossed the Wolf mask back into the pile.
Nikella continued in the same steady voice. “Renwell will send Korvin to hunt us.”
I reeled back, deaf to everyone else’s reactions. How did she know that? Was he hunting us right now?
My skin crawled as if a dozen spiders had landed on me.
I glanced at Maz, whose face was white beneath his shaggy golden hair.
Frieda scowled. “Is that monster coming here?”
Nikella shook her head. Her scar seemed more prominent than ever now that I knew her brother had carved it into her face. “He’s hunting me. I won’t come back here until after he’s dead.”
“He will be,” Jek promised with a guttural growl.
The others chimed in with their murderous threats, which brought a small smile to Maz’s face.
Naughty little Nik, you’ll finally get what’s been coming to you for years.
What Renwell had said to Nikella in parting—that was about Korvin? I remembered Nikella’s stiff body, her expression. It’d been fear. She’d known what he meant.
My gaze fell to Aiden, who almost looked angry.
“We leave at dawn tomorrow,” he said abruptly. “Be ready.”
Everyone gathered themselves to leave. Maz stuffed all the Shadow-Wolf gear back into the bag while his sisters hovered near him like guards, as if Korvin were waiting outside in the shadows.
The foreboding in my gut thickened.
“A moment, Kiera,” Aiden murmured, brushing past me.
Immediately apprehensive, I followed him out of Frieda’s lodge to the barren garden.
It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness, and even then, his features were blurred. Perhaps he wanted it that way.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you my plan beforehand.”
