Savina’s eyes flicked to hers, bright and unblinking, and in that single look Ella understood one thing with perfect clarity.
She intended to carve that debt back into Ella’s skin the first chance she got.
“Well,” Savina said coolly, “I didn’t expect the girl who gutted me to ride with us. Figured you’d at least look regretful.”
Ella opened her mouth, but no words came.
Thane looked far too entertained, his shit-eating grin widening. “Savina, meet Ella. Ella, meet the woman who lost her command for six days and has been threatening revenge every hour since.”
Savina’s gaze didn’t move. “You should’ve killed me when you had the chance.”
“I wasn’t trying to kill anyone,” Ella said softly.
Savina’s eyes narrowed. “Then you failed twice.”
Tension filled the air, broken only by Maeren’s sigh as she nudged her horse forward.
“Grudges can wait for the ride back,” she said. “The Veil won’t hold its breath for backhands.”
Jakobav mounted, leather creaking under his weight. “Weapons ready. We move fast.”
Ella swung into the saddle, hands trembling faintly. The horse shifted beneath her as she adjusted her cloak.
She glanced at everyone around her and noticed the ink, the steel, the strange affection masked as mockery. These weren’t just guards. They were constellations in his sky. Fixed, dangerous, burning in their own way. She was pulled into their orbit.
Maeren arched a brow. “Just to be clear, and because our guest here has a habit of stabbing people, if Jakobav dies on this mission, I get command of First Guard. That’s what we agreed on, right?”
Jakobav didn’t look up. “That was a joke.”
“Not to me.”
Thane grinned. “She’d hate it. Too many scrolls. Not enough skulls.”
“I’m excellent at delegation,” Maeren said sweetly. “I haven’t personally broken anyone’s fingers in weeks.”
“Because Jakobav forbade it,” Thane muttered.
She beamed. “Exactly. Restraint.”
Jakobav didn’t join their games. His gaze never left Ella, steady and relentless, like he was memorizing the exact moment she would falter. Whatever game Thane and Maeren played, she knew she was the only opponent Jakobav saw.
Ella exhaled, shaking her head. The First Guard reeked of unhinged madness and loyalty. “Should I be concerned?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Maeren said sweetly, sliding the dagger back into its sheath with practiced flair. “But don’t worry. There are at least four of us who don’t wish to split you open.” She smirked and flicked her brows upward. “Right, Commander?”
Jakobav cleared his throat and shot Maeren a warning glare.
Maeren’s innuendo landed low, and for one treacherous heartbeat, she didn’t hear it as a threat at all. A flush crept, unwanted and shameful.
She locked her face back into defiance.
Jakobav shifted in his saddle, his words a dare delivered with dark amusement. “Rile her at your own peril. She’s armed. I gave her the knife.”
Thane barked out a belly laugh, delighted. “Gods, I like her even more.”
Savina started to speak, but Jakobav cut her off with a single decisive wave of his hand.
“Enough,” Jakobav said. “Let’s move. We’ll reach the outer ridge before dusk.”
