Molly shifts closer, and then, without warning, grabs hold of my arm. “Jax,” she says, and her voice breaks. She speaks rapidly, begging for something through her tears. The only word I understand isplease.
“Molly.” I’m shaking my head. She’s speaking too fast and I can’t keep up.
“Please!” She clutches at my arm desperately. The bright, lively girl from the kitchen is gone. “Please, Jax.”
“Molly,” I say again, more gently. “Slow. Please.Slow.”
“Take. Me. Back. Take me.With you.” She draws a shuddering breath, her watery eyes level with mine. “Please?”
I don’t know what to say. She’d be safer here, with the soldiers. I’m afraid to takemyself.
Sephran steps out of the shadows behind her, and I look up. He must have seen me gathering arrows, because he holds out four more on his palm. He speaks slowly and clearly, his eyes holding mine. “Soldiers—stay.” He pats his chest and points at the other soldiers, then looks back at me. “Need help. You go—take Molly. Yes?”
She looks up at me and nods rapidly. “Please. Please, Jax.”
I don’t know how to ask why the soldiers are staying—and he probably doesn’t know how to tell me. I can smell the liquor on his breath, and it’s possible he’s not even making the best decision. Maybe there are so many wounded that they need to guard them while someone else rides for help. Maybe they’re too drunk to make it back to Ironrose safely. I don’t know.
I do know that it’s rare for anyone to look at me the way Molly and Sephran are looking at me.
If Tycho lit a spark in my heart when he first pressed a bow into my hands, it’s blazing now. I nod at Molly, then at Sephran. “Yes. I go.”
Molly clutches my arm more tightly, as if I might change my mind, but Sephran steps closer and peers at me in the darkness.
Then he touches a hand to my jaw. It’s so unexpected that I go still.
His fingers are warm against my skin. “Are you hurt?”
I lift a hand to my face and wince when I find the injury, because it stings. But I nod—then shake my head. “Scraver,” I say. “Not hurt.”
He nods solemnly, but he hasn’t let go of my face, and a tiny light glints in his eye. “Tahlas?” he says.
No. Not good. But I give a short nod, feeling the warmth of his fingers when I move. “Tahlas.”
He studies me for a long moment, and then his hand slips away. Heclaps me on the shoulder, then looks at Molly. “Come on, Mol. I’ll boost you up behind him.”
I’m tense for the entire ride back to Ironrose, and I keep glancing at the sky. If I were alone, I’d nudge Teddy into a canter, but keepingmyselfon his back at any kind of speed is questionable. I don’t want to risk Molly. She’s a warm weight at my back, her arms clutched tightly around my waist.
No one’s ever clung to me like this. No one’s ever looked atmelike some kind of savior. Not even Callyn.
I can’t tell if I deserve it. Before the scravers attacked, I was running away. I was running from Niall and Brinley because I couldn’t fight back.
I sometimes think about the night Tycho saved me from my father’s beating.
Maybe next time we should work on how to block a punch instead of shooting arrows.
But of course there wasn’t a next time, because he was called away.
Molly sniffs back tears, and it draws my attention back. I shouldn’t let my thoughts wander. I focus on the air, on the breaths that come out of my mouth, but it’s seasonably warm again.I’mwarm, Molly’s head resting between my shoulder blades.
No scravers.
No magesmiths either. I don’t know what any of it means.
The castle grounds aren’t gated, but there are sentry stations set at regular intervals along the tree line. When we finally reach the sprawling fields that lead to Ironrose, the guards at the closest sentry post wave us past, but I draw Teddy to a stop.
Molly has been holding me so tightly for miles, the occasional shiver rocking her body. But I need her to talk. I can’t possibly explain everything. “Molly,” I say urgently. “Talk. Talk to guards.”
Her breath hitches, and she lifts her head.
