‘The woman was caught up in the fighting.’
Roul’s stomach dropped. ‘Was she injured?’
‘It was hard to tell in her state.’ He waved through two more stretchers.
‘What state is that?’ But he already knew the answer.
The defender met his eyes once more. ‘She was a bit of a mess. Not surprising given she was fighting armed warriors with nothing but her belt.’
Roul fought the urge to cover the man’s mouth, to suffocate his words, to shout ‘Why didn’t you help her?’ in his face. But the defender’s job was to protect the gate. The gate and the queen, not the merchant woman in trousers whose name he did not know. ‘She definitely made it inside?’
‘Saw her run through with my own eyes, Commander.’
Roul nodded before stepping past him, walking beneath the archway.
The royal borough was buzzing with defenders. They rushed about carrying the injured and collecting weapons. Roul dodged men racing by and stepped around the stretchers laid out on the road. The infirmary was likely full.
‘Do you need a physician, Commander?’ a defender asked, falling into step with him.
Roul had not had time to evaluate his own injuries. The fact that he was upright and not leaving a trail of blood in his path was assessment enough. ‘No, I’m fine.’
He watched the defender run off. Then his feet stopped when he caught sight of a woman walking between two rows of stretchers. It was Eda. All the tension his body had been holding seemed to melt away in a single glance. She moved slowly, taking in the face of every man. Her brow was pinched, one hand clutching her stomach. He could not tell if she felt sick or if she was holding her trousers up. A length of rope sat in place of a belt.
Relief hit Roul like a wagon, and he took a slow breath before calling to her. ‘Eda!’
He saw the relief on her face, the sharp inhale of breath as she took off at a run in his direction. She had been looking for him among the injured. He swallowed, then braced as she flung herself at him. He caught her. Of course he caught her.
‘You’re in so much trouble, soldier,’ he said.
She clung to him for a second, her feet a few inches off the gravel path. ‘What took you so long?’
He reluctantly placed her on the ground before replying. ‘I went to the shop looking for you, because that’s where you were supposed to be, remember?’
She pressed her lips together, guilty as charged. ‘Where’s Harlan?’
‘He went to the house.’
Her eyes closed with relief. ‘The warriors never even made it off the walls in the other boroughs. The warden made sure of that. Of course, if he had known Queen Fayre was in the merchant borough, you would have gotten your reinforcements sooner.’ A smile flickered. ‘I witnessed some very strong words directed at a handful of defenders who failed to inform him.’
Roul should have been angry at her, but his relief seemed to extinguish every other emotion. He looked her over again. ‘Are you hurt?’
‘No.’ She reached up and touched his torn sleeve. ‘Are you?’
He shook his head, then looked around at the injured laid out on stretchers. ‘I should get you home before your sisters come looking for you. Then I need to help here.’ His eyes returned to her. ‘Perhaps on the way you can tell me the story of how you came to lose your belt.’
Her nose crinkled as she crossed her arms over the rope holding up her pants. ‘It’s a very boring story.’
‘I doubt that.’ He swallowed. ‘You’re really all right?’
A nod. ‘Areweall right?’ She asked the question without looking at him.
He knew what she was asking. They had barely had a chance to process all the eventspriorto the battle. ‘Of course we are,’ he answered with confidence.
‘Good.’ She wet her parched lips. ‘Good. Because I need you—alive, preferably. So if you could just not die moving forwards, that would be much appreciated.’
He searched her face, seeing how much this confession, this small glimpse of something she would consider weakness, pained her. He wanted to say he was not going anywhere, but that was not true. God, he wanted to say it though. ‘Careful. You’re sounding very human right now.’
‘How dare you?’ A ghost of a smile came and went on her face.
