Part of me thought the reminder would ameliorate the situation. But it didn’t, because his hands shook me once, sending my heart into my throat. “And what if you didn’t make it back?” He lowered his face until his nose nearly touched mine. “What if you died? What if Koerlyndidhave Merelda and forced you to lead him into the Domus? What if he got control of all those resources, and you managed to make this world so much worse than it already is?”
I swallowed against the tears of frustration that suddenly threatened. I wouldnotcry in front of him.
He abruptly released me, stepping back and scanning my body. “Clearly, you have no serious injuries,” he stated. He turned to Stefano, who’d been quietly observing our exchange. “We move forward with the plan. You’ll assist her with her armor.”
Stefano jerked his chin. “When do we leave?”
“We’re still waiting for him to advance first. Be ready within the hour. It shouldn’t be long after that.”
Earlier, Stefano had said we were waiting for Koerlyn’s attack. He hadn’t mentioned anything about leaving.
I was about to ask what was going on when Harthon addressed me again. “We’re using creative tactics today. You’ll be accompanying us on the offensive.”
Accompanying them? As in, attackingwiththem?
The only response I could manage was, “What?”
“I clearly cannot trust that you won’t run off to Koerlyn should another threat be made. And I cannot trust that another man here won’t turn on me. I can only ensure your security if you’re with me, Stefano, Callen, or North. None of us can afford to stay behind to watch you. For that reason, you’re coming with us into battle.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. “I—”
“It isn’t up for debate. Be ready,” he said, effectively cutting me off.
Then he gave me his back and strode out of the tent.
Chapter 2
Too soon, I was armored in the same gear as Harthon. So were Stefano and the twenty men who gathered with us in the open space at the back of camp, where a yellow field met barren woods. Behind us, tents were being disassembled while men hauled logs, sticks, and brush to the center of the site. Stefano had dressed me with a heavy hand, pulling the arm guards and leather vest suffocatingly tight against my skin. The bruises beneath them now throbbed in time with my racing heartbeat, a tempo that refused to slow in the wake of what I faced.
North, with his grizzly brown beard, bald head, and holstered axes, stood at the center of our circle, barking instructions from beside Harthon. The words were incomprehensible noise amidst the chaos of my mind.
There was a heated kernel within my chest.
Harthon thought me a traitor.
I was about to enter a battle.
And it wassunnyout.
From the moment I’d stepped out of the tent, sunshine had heated my face. The sky wasn’t blue, but it wasn’t its typical stormy gray either. It was…hazy. A mixture of the two colors that allowed whispers of sunlight to trace the ground and brush against exposed flesh.
I’d known sunlight before, but only in short glimpses between heavy clouds. From the moment themagviserected it twenty-five years ago, the Domus had stolen the sun’s glow from our skies as it siphoned the life from our land. I always imagined it was sunny in Centralis. Blue skies, emerald grass, blossoming trees kissed by golden rays—that was what lay within those shimmering walls.
But today, it was sunnyhere.
How ironic, for it to be sunny on a day of death.
If any of the men around me were as enchanted as I, they didn’t show it. Focus etched every face, many of which I recognized from the group Harthon brought when he stole me from Koerlyn all those weeks ago. These were his best men. The ones who were with him before he became Princeps, when he was a mercenary fighting for control of the Territory he now owned.
Given what we were about to do, the elite group made sense. Stefano had described the plan, asking me to repeat it back to him three separate times.
My funeral would begin soon.
A group of thirty men would stay behind with Callen, gathered around the pyre they were currently building, their weapons hidden. The clothing I’d arrived in would be stuffed with grasses to serve as my body, and a fire would burn it to ashes as Koerlyn’s men came within view.
Because for all Koerlyn knew, I didn’t make it out of that river when I escaped.
Perhaps I’d simply drowned, and my body had washed onto the river banks. It wouldn’t be enough for him to give up his fight—not with his hatred for Harthon and his thirst for more territory—but it would distract him for a moment. The smoke, made even more odorous by the bitter brush, would also confuse his dogs, who wouldn’t be able to detect the real threat.
