I go still. Despite everything, I forgot Jax’s role here. He and Callyn might have helped, but they’re not innocent.
I look up and find Grey’s eyes. As usual, I can read nothing in his expression.
But after everything, he can’t be lenient. Not now. Not about this.I swallow and wonder if I’m going to end up in a cell right beside Jax, because there’s no way I’m going to let Grey lock him up.
But after a moment, the king reaches out and claps Jax on the shoulder. “You risked your life to protect the king,” he says. “Surely that’s worth discussing a pardon, don’t you think?”
As injuries are assessed and words of gratitude are shared, the scravers begin to withdraw. Wings beat hard against the air, and they leap into the trees. Nakiis is among them.
“Wait!” I call to him. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll find you when I need you,” he calls back. “Remember our bargain, young magesmith.”
Jax is by my side, and he looks over. “ ‘Young magesmith’?” he echoes.
“That’s going to take a bit of explaining.”
The king’s eyes are on me, and I know his focus is on the other half of that statement.Remember our bargain.
I wait for him to ask me again.
He doesn’t.
“We’ll have to secure this lane,” he says. “And wait for Rhen’s forces to get here. There’s no telling what’s waiting for us at the palace. They surely had a plan beyond this.”
The queen rises from where she was kneeling with Nora, and she looks at the sky, at the retreating scravers. “I will take the girls to the bakery,” she says. “Callyn says we can see the road from there. We’d have plenty of warning.” Without waiting for an answer, she moves away to do exactly that.
I look around the stretch of forest, at the aftermath of the battle. We’ll have much to do before Rhen’s forces get here. I shake out my aching shoulder and sigh.
“I’ll help you back to the forge,” I say to Jax, and he nods.
“Tycho,” says the king, and I stop. His gaze is intense, unyielding. “Whatever it is,” he says, “does it put you in danger?”
I’m not sure how to answer that—because I truly have no idea. So I give him an unyielding look right back. “No more than what I do for you.”
CHAPTER 61
JAX
I’ve heard a lot of stories about war. After the strife with Emberfall, I remember soldiers coming through Briarlock with tales of what happened on the battlefields. I know about what happened to Callyn’s father, and there’s no shortage of travelers willing to talk about the Uprising.
I’ve never really thought about the aftermath.
The lane between the bakery and the forge is littered with bodies. Many more have fallen in the woods. Dozens are badly burned, and the sickly sweet smell fills the air. There are worse smells, too. I’ve heard that nothing about death is dignified, and I’m seeing the proof.
I’m glad that Callyn and the queen took the younger girls to the bakery, that they’ll be watching for travelers and stopping them before they can come down the lane and find … this. But it left me in the woods with Tycho and the king, and there’s clearly a tension between them that the battle didn’t erase.
After Tycho offered me his arm, he glanced back at the king and said, “I’ll be back in a minute to strip and drag.”
I didn’t want to be a burden when there are so many more importantthings to worry about, but I didn’t want to trip and fall face-first into a corpse either, so I took his arm, and now we’re making our way back down the hill.
I don’t want to search the bodies for my father, but I can’t help it. My eyes skip over armored men and women, but I don’t see him. My heart keeps beating at a rapid clip. Maybe he escaped. I can’t decide which option I should hope for.
“Are you all right?” Tycho says quietly.
I try taking a deep breath and regret it immediately. I focus on not breathing through my nose. “I don’t know yet.” I think of how closely he’s guarded royal secrets, and I wonder how much I can pry. “Are you?”
He gives me half a smile. “Idon’t know yet.”
