Alone.
Aesira softened her voice, letting out a long breath. “Maybe if we can wait, gather a proper search team–“
“There is no more time!” Kamari spun around, a desperation lining her eyes Aesira had never seen before. The ripped shards of her heart sunk low in her stomach. “You were in that room, Aesira. You know what the council plans to do. Do you expect me to remarry so soon? Or abandon the treaty?”
“Of course not,” Aesira said, tapping her boot in a rhythmic pattern. “Okay.” She nodded one too many times before squaring her shoulders. It was unfathomable to even consider letting her sister join a crew of Odega’s over the wall during the storm season. “I agree we need to find Desmond, but you can’t leave Vargah with an empty throne. They are a den of vipers and the moment they see an opportunity to strike, they won’t hesitate.”
Kamari sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers. “You’re right. I just…” She threw her hands up. “I have to know where he is, Aesira.”
“So, I’ll go instead.”
“Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous.”
Aesira smirked, hand resting on her sword. “And yet you would go?” Kamari opened her mouth, a snarky reply surely at the ready but Aesira didn’t let her get a word in. “Let me go. That way I can keep an eye on the smuggler. Make sure he’s doing what he’s agreed to do. I’m sure I can be of some assistance.”
“Ex-smuggler,” Kam corrected with a hint of arrogance. “He hasn’t smuggled in years. He’sreformed, remember?”
Aesira grunted.
“And what will the Order say if they hear you’ve left your station?”
Aesira shrugged but she was sure Kamari saw the quick panic that laced behind her eyes at the mention of leaving her station. The Order was as rigid as the council in their rules. The knights in the Order did not make their own decisions. They were soldiers, footmen, defenders of the kingdom–kingdoms.
A plan stitched together in Aesira’s mind and a small part of her past self unfurled inside her. The unruly part the Order had stamped down, but not killed. “The Order doesn’t need to know,” she said, the defiance in her statement sending a thrill down her spine. “Nev will stay behind and look after things, she’ll cover me if she needs to,” she said. “She and Rahashi will take care of you and Vargah.”
“I’m not completely useless, you know.”
“I know that,” Aesira said. “But it’s their job to protect you, so just let them.”
“Thank you.”
“What are sisters for if not risking their lives for each other?” She winked, then nodded toward Kamari’s hand where the parchment from Stone was tucked into her palm. “Now, let me see the paper.” Aesira attempted to snatch the parchment from her sister's hands, but Kamari was too quick, tucking it into her dress safely behind her bodice.
“Quiet,” she said. “You saw how Stone acted. As if whatever he wrote on this could lead to trouble.”
“Heisthe trouble.”
“Again,” Kamari said, “so flustered. Are you going to tell me what happened between you two?”
“Nothing happened,” Aesira grumbled, flames tipping her ears and cheeks.
“Oh.” Kam pinched her cheek. “Don’t sound so disappointed.”
Aesira shrugged away. “You’ll have to show me eventually if I’m going with them so it may as well be now.” Aesira was masterful at changing the subject, especially if the subject was her.
“Fine.” Kamari carefully unfolded the paper and held it between them.
Of the first three words, Aesira only recognized one from earlier.
Ravki.
The next two were just as perplexing.
Whispering Mountains.
Lunaris.
But when her eyes landed on the last word, her lungs froze.
