By daybreak, the effects of the sleeping ether have worn off, so my head is finally clear. It’s well and truly storming now, lightning flickering through the sky outside the hastily boarded windows of Jax’s small house. My shoulder aches like the bolt is still buried in the joint, but I found my herbs and tinctures from Noah and dumped half of them into a cup of tea. That was enough to take the edge off the pain— and it’s so effective that I wish I’d rationed some of it. I have no idea when I’ll get more.
I still haven’t seen anyone but Jax, and I can’t tell if the others are avoiding me, or if they’re simply sitting sentry to make sure scravers and Truthbringers aren’t coming after us. Either way, there’s a part of me that’s glad. I haven’t forgotten that Malin and Sephran were fighting instead of backing us up.
I haven’t forgotten the way Sephran’s fist cracked right into Jax’s throat.
Every time I think aboutthat, my shoulders go tight and I start to wonder if I should go looking for trouble.
But I don’t. I’m in no shape to fight anyone at all.
Instead, I’m writing a new letter to Grey and Rhen, using one of Jax’s kohl pencils from the forge. I’ve moved into the main part of the house to sit at the dusty kitchen table sohecould finally get some sleep. I have no idea if my first missive might’ve reached the king, but I’m more sure of Leo’s loyalty than a random army courier, so I’m more open about what we’ve discovered, though I still keep details sparse. As I write, the sound of the pencil scratching along the parchment is drowned out by the rain rattling against the roof, and I inwardly cringe. This weather will slow the Truthbringers, but it’ll make travel slow and difficult for Leo, too.
It’s not until I’m finally done and folding the letter that Malin appears in the doorway to the house, rapping his knuckles lightly on the frame. I glance at him, but say nothing.
He must take that as an invitation, because he steps across the threshold. I might have been right about him sitting sentry, because his hair is threaded with rain, the leather of his armor glistening with water droplets. Even in the shadows, his eyes are clearly heavy with exhaustion, and he’s got a pretty deep scrape across his jaw that someone stitched together with field sutures. It’s an angry red, and I have no doubt it’ll leave a brutal scar.
I wonder if he got that in the fight with Sephran, or if he got hurt while we were trying to escape.
Not like it matters. We wouldn’t have been running like hell if they’d been doing their job instead of scuffling in the dirt.
I tell myself not to care. We’re down two horses thanks to their antics, which limits our options. And Malin might have a scar, but I can barely lift my arm.
His eyes skip down my form, lingering on the bandage at my shoulder. There’s still blood in my hair, but I haven’t had any desire to look in a mirror, so I wonder how bad I look. “Tycho,” he begins, his voice low. “Jax said you were—”
“Captain,” I say brusquely, cutting him off. “I’ve finished the letter for your recruit.”
He nearly snaps to attention when he hears my tone, but hemustbe tired, because he almost immediately deflates. “Come on,” he says with a sigh. “Please. Don’t . . . don’t dothat.”
As soon as I hear that tired note in his voice, it tugs at me— because I remember feeling the exact same way during every single standoff with Grey.
If anything could steal some of my bitterness, it’s that.
“I’m sorry,” he adds. His mouth twists. “Really.”
And that.
I think of Jax telling me how long it took them to dig that spike out of my shoulder. I frown, then look away. “Youlecturedmeabout this, Mal.”
“I know.” He hesitates. “Trust me, Iknow. And I should’ve left it alone. Seph just . . . he wouldn’tstop.” A flare of anger washes across his expression. “If it wasn’t about you and Jax, it was about me and him. The whole time we were trying to follow you through the tourney, he wouldn’t shut up. Every ten seconds, another dig. And then we lost you in the crowd and we couldn’t find you anywhere.Thenhe started blaming me—”
“I get it.”
Malin scowls. “I shouldn’t have let it happen.”
I go to shrug, but I stop halfway through because it hurts so much. I do my best to swallow the pain, then say, “Well. I ended up punching the king whenIwas mad, so I’m not in any position to point fingers.”
His eyebrows go way up. “You never told me that.”
It’s my turn to grimace, because these are memories I’m not proud of. “Twice.”
A roguish spark lights in his eye, and he says, “Between you and me, he deserved it.”
Despite everything, that makes me smile. “Yeah. He did.” I hesitate,then finish folding the letter, which is awkward one- handed. “Where is Sephran now?”
That roguish spark in his eye darkens just a bit. “As soon as it started pouring, I made him take the sentry post. Do you still intend to send Leo back to Ironrose?”
I nod. “The king needs to know. As soon as possible.” I glance at the doorway. The rain is so heavy that it’s a wall of gray just past the overhang. “If the Truthbringers left last night, they’re already ahead of him.”
“Yeah, but they were injured, too. And it’ll take time to move that many people.” He gestures. “Give me a slip of that parchment. I’ll give him orders to swap out for a new mount in each city.” Without waiting for an answer, he drops into the chair across from me and picks up the kohl pencil I was using.
