Ericen didn’t so much as blink. Had he known she was there? He held my gaze a second longer, pleading, before that familiar mask slid into place.
“Shame,” he said, sounding bored. “I’d love to see what you could do with that. You might even be a challenge.”
“You wouldn’t be,” Kiva replied.
“Don’t hurt him, Kiva.” I stepped toward them.
Quick as a wingbeat, Ericen moved. He ducked, going low and snatching up the blade. Kiva drove Sinvarra down, blocking the attack. The sound of metal on metal rang through the clearing, and I flinched. If the rest of the camp woke, if they found Ericen here…
Ericen exploded up from his crouch, knife aimed at Kiva’s chest. She deflected the attack, then drove forward, slamming her shoulder into Ericen’s chest and sending him stumbling back a step. He grinned. My breath caught at the way it transformed his face.
He looked alive.
“Stop it,” I hissed at them. Their movements were quick, powerful, but they lacked the intent to kill. Well, Ericen’s did. I had no doubt Kiva would put Sinvarra straight through his heart.
“I’m shooting the next one of you that moves.” I lifted my bow.
Kiva scowled. “You can’t be serious right now, Thia.”
“Just give me a second to think without the two of you trying to kill each other!” I snapped.
Ericen relaxed slightly, lowering his blade but not dropping it. Kiva didn’t budge an inch.
“And what, exactly, are you trying to figure out?” asked a new voice.
I groaned, turning as Samra entered the glade. She’d taken one of the soldier’s bows and stood with an arrow nocked and aimed at Ericen’s chest.
Talking Kiva down from killing the prince was difficult enough. Samra looked like she wanted to loose that arrow and keep on shooting until long after he was dead.
“Drop your blade,” she ordered.
Ericen assessed the situation. He was too far from the trees to seek cover behind one, and Kiva had backed away, ensuring he couldn’t use her proximity as a shield.
“Do as she says,” I told him. If he wasn’t armed, Samra might be more open to listening, but right now, I truly didn’t know if she would shoot him. She’d lost so much to Illucia, to Razel. Even if Ericen hadn’t been directly responsible for it, he was part of it, a prince. And if I didn’t know him, I wouldn’t have hesitated to put an arrow through him.
Ericen let his knife fall.
Auma emerged from the shadows at his back, and he flinched almost imperceptibly. He hadn’t heard her approach. Neither had I.
“Walk,” she ordered.
Ericen obeyed, his eyes set on me as he passed. He brushed so close I caught the scent of horses and leather, his words low enough only I could hear. “We still need to talk.”
* * *
The commotion had woken the camp, and though they all climbed back into their bedrolls, I had a feeling sleep came easy to no one. Samra lay on her back, a dagger clasped in one hand. Convinced Ericen would murder everyone in their sleep, Kiva had volunteered to stay up the rest of the night and keep watch in addition to the soldier on duty.
I stood at the edge of the clearing with her and Caylus, my frustration rising. “He could have escaped. Instead, he stayed willingly in a camp with at least three extremely well-trained women who want to kill him just so he could give me information.”
“You mean lie to you,” Kiva said. “He probably planned to kidnap you and drag you back to his psychopath of a mother!”
“After telling me another fairy tale?”
Kiva folded her arms. “You thought he was on your side last time, and he betrayed you, Thia.”
I flinched. “You weren’t there when I talked to him in Sordell. He was listening to me. Heagreedwith me.”
“And then he chose his monster of a mother over you.”
