Make it to his ritual, right before the sun sets.
‘Kill him on his throne,’ Kinlear said, twirling his dagger in his fingertips. The dagger she knew all too well from her dreams. ‘And if we’re right … the shadowstorm will break. The wolves will disappear. He’ll have nothing to protect his army any longer. They’ll either die with him or be scattered without if they somehow survive. We can go in by daylight after that. And end this once and for all.’
‘And if we’re wrong?’ Ezer asked as she tossed Six a bleeding steak.
Spoiled creature, she thought and smiled as the raphon devoured the snack.
Kinlear’s eyes met hers. ‘It’s a little late for that. I have prayed, day and night, that my blade will be steady. That my hand will be swift.’
‘And I’ll be waiting,’ Ezer said. ‘Hiding in the Sawteeth for your signal, to carry you away, victorious. The prince who saved Lordach.’
‘And the Raphonminder who was crazy enough to help him do it,’ Kinlear said, and smiled at her through his fear.
‘And what about the godsblessing?’ Ezer asked. She knew it was the one thing he couldn’t tell her. The one truth he’d held back. A shield, was all he’d said. A shield instead of a sword. ‘Will we be able to make it back?’
She’d thought it would be something like a fresh set of wards.
Perhaps a truewallthat none could pass.
‘We will,’ Kinlear said, holding her gaze, ‘so long as we don’t miss the deadline. End of Realmbreak. Just before the sun finally sets on the third day.’ He swallowed and looked up from the map. ‘Ezer… if I should fail …’
She shook her head. ‘You won’t.’
‘But if I should … you must leave me. Fly back here and get behind the wards before Realmbreak ends. Promise me you’ll leave me behind if it goes wrong.’
‘No,’ she said.
She took his hand and laced her fingers through his.
He sucked in a breath at her touch, and some part of her wondered, with how he looked at her…
Strange, to desire him sometimes.
To see how they would work together, if her heart had opened to him first.
‘I won’t leave you, Kinlear Laroux.’ She gripped his hand so hard her fingertips went white. ‘And you willnotfail.’
33
She got the news when she woke. The Queen had arrived. So today was the day of their Demonstration with the Descent.
Six stood still as Ezer brushed her and oiled her feathers.
‘Are you ready?’ Ezer asked.
The raphon’s tail twitched once.
Yes.
And in her mind, Ezer received a vision:
That same dark feather, floating alone in an endless sea. But the wind came and lifted it. And the feather soared away, no longer alone. No longer lost.
‘Good girl,’ Ezer said. ‘Just try not to crash this time.’
The raphon lifted her head, her dark eyes unblinking as she stared at Ezer.
A huff, as she considered and cocked her head to the side.
