“Who would they speak freely to?”
“Only the accepted. The ones who have submerged into the Black Pool’s depths and come out blessed by it.Blessed.” He scraped his hand down his face.
“So that’s who I need to investigate. The accepted ones.”
Dae’s eyes widened, and he shook his head slowly. “Ro, that’s nothing but a guarantee of death. I’ll do everything in my gods damned power to ensure they never lay an eye on you.”
Hm. That complicated things. Now, not only did I have to figure out who in the camp were members of the accepted, but also shirk Dae long enough that I could track them. If Dae didn’t know the game plan, chances were that nobody else outside of the accepted did. Smart, to keep that sort of information locked down, but that also indicated big plans. A shiver skated down my spine. At least for the first time since this trip began, I had an inkling of how to proceed.
“Will you show me around?”
He leveled me with a glare that almost made me want to shrink.
“I can’t depend on you constantly being my shadow. What if you get called away on a hunt? I’m supposed to wither in this tent for a week? I have a deadline, you know.”
He sighed, a sign I’d proven my point. A small victorious smile splayed over my face.
“First, I’ll show you where we return our dishes.” Dae stood, taking his bowl and reaching for mine. “You’re not eating the boar?” He saw my leftovers.
I shook my head. “Could you eat me?”
He blinked, standing still as stone. In the silence, I heard it.
“I mean a person. Could you eat someone you conversed with, like a person. I just chose me as an example.” Gods strike me down.
He finally moved, tilting his chin upward in understanding. He cleared his throat, returning to instruction about navigating the camp.
“Stay behind me, always, and speak to no one. The less people who know of your existence the better.” He towered over me as I remained sitting on his bed. I started to quite like the view,actually, but I wouldn’t dwell on it now, not when my scouting was about to begin. He shuffled to the side, giving me room to stand. This time, I wouldn’t leave unarmed. I slung my quiver over my shoulder with my one pathetic arrow and tucked my bow behind me.
“Ready.” I nodded.
He looked unsure, like he wanted to protest, but after assessing me from head to toe, chose against it. Good, I would have fought him on it, anyway. And won. Dae opened the tent flap, holding it for me. I dipped and stepped outside.
My steps halted before I could make it more than two steps out.
“Ro, I take it?” A man with long, sleek black hair stood poised before me, creating a wall with several others. It wasn’t the darkness of their uniforms, or the charcoal smudged along their eyes in a line from one temple to the other. It wasn’t the wide stance they had chosen, or the false casualness of holding their hands behind their backs. No, none of those things made my stomach want to coat the ground in stew.
“Marvoe,” Dae said from behind in greeting. He stilled.
It wasn’t the way the man who’d greeted me smirked to one side at seeing Dae, either. It was the black lines that ran beneath their skin, that spider webbed from their eyes, the way the world seemed to throb at their presence, like something malignant that should be removed. The air thinned and my heart raced.
face-to-face with death incarnate, the leaders of The Order of Darkness stood before me.
That was what made me drop to my knees and bow. Survival told me I had no other option. Nature seemed to whisper in warning that should my life end, it would be at their hand.
44
Nora
Sleep remained evasive, given the events of the last twelve hours. Orders had been sent, and Nicholas had already mailed the missive to King Amir Taja, demanding to know why he’d invaded our borders. Even during the reign of Nick’s father, trust had not been breached so heavily between the two kingdoms. I had no suitable training to offer advice on the matter, and though I felt guilty that Nick would have to shoulder this alone, I had every faith in him.
My palm throbbed, having grown tender after taking assault after assault from my nails during the conversation I had with Melody to convince her to stay, at least for the night.
My sister had fought. The sister who enjoyed baking bread on spring mornings, the sister who pruned the rotting petals off flowers in our vase so the arrangement would last just a little longer. The sister who dedicated her life to prim and proper decorum. She had come face-to-face with trained soldiers and somehow walked away.
I would have marveled had my terror not been so tangible that I became dizzy just thinking about how close I came to losing her. A week ago she’d attended high tea with ladies of the court, and now I had to fear her getting run through with a sword.
The world spun again. I closed my eyes and rested my hand over my forehead, breathing deeply. The man beside me slept soundly. I knew he needed rest after the ordeal he’d been through, followed by executing preparations for potential war.
