“I’ve made one deal with that bastard,” I reply, cutting through the tough hide. “That was enough. Never again.”
“Not even for his aid? Not even to stop Thamaos and the prince?”
I pause my work and meet the Icelander’s gray stare. “There are enough evils in this world. I’ve already freed Neri’s spirit. The last thing I’ll do is give him life again, and that’s what he wants.”
Joran sits back on his heels, scrubbing the wrist of his bloody hand across his forehead. “Evil? Perhaps you should reconsider your definition of that word, and then what evils you’re willing to endure, Collector. Malgros is nigh, then you face the Malorian Sea and the Summerlands. The battles ahead are many. Perhaps this band could use a mighty weapon of its own.”
“It has a weapon,” I say. “Me.”
With that, we drop the conversation. After a half-hour of work, I wash my hands as best I can with water from one of the flasks, then Finn and I leave Joran to finish the carcasses while we trudge toward the stream for the horses. Finn stalks alongside me, quiet, but I can feel his eyes on me from time to time.
“Just say it,” I tell him. “Whatever it is you’re fucking thinking.”
“I’m thinking that you’re a godsdamn coward and fool for not helping Neri, and for telling Raina to not help him too. If you plan to fight a battle, or worse, a war, you need him on your side.”
My temper flares, but again, I refuse to have this discussion. It isn’t easy, but I say nothing as we near the stream.
Finn isn’t so silent now.
“She’s going to see you for what you are, you know. Eventually.”
I step over a downed tree and pause, irritation drawing my muscles rigid. “And what exactly is that?”
Finn stops too. “A fraud. A cold-hearted murderer lies beneath that skin. A traitor. An enemy of the north. She will see. Hopefully before we leave Malgros’s shores. Regardless, I will be there when she does.”
I step closer to him. He tries to hold my gaze, but he looks me over. I washed, but I’m still a sight. My hands still have speckled blood on them, up to my elbows. Blood stains my tunic too. I even feel a little splattered on my face.
“Want to know what I’m thinking?” I ask.
He swallows. Hard. “Not really.”
I lean in. Get in his face. “Too bad. Because I’m thinking that most of what you said is true. I was that man a long time ago, but I’m not anymore. Except maybe the cold-hearted part, which places you in a heap of fucking trouble. Because of all people, it will probably be you who learns just how cold-hearted I can be.”
I start walking again, leaving Finn standing in my wake.
“I don’t follow,” he calls.
And I don’t reply. I just know that I meant what I said earlier.
Next time, I’ll let him die.
19
RAINA
The Northland Coast
Malgros
* * *
Malgros shines in the distance, radiating a golden arc across the starlit sky.
Alexus and Mannus guide our band with me and Tuck close behind. We’re bone-weary and sore, hungry and dirty, but the promise of relief is finally near.
There are lookouts and gates at each of the seven rocky hills surrounding Malgros, with a looming city wall connecting each one to the next. Starworth Tor is one of those lookouts, the very first to the west. The property overlooks the shoreline and consists of Captain Osane’s home and Malgros’s old lighthouse.
That’s where we’re headed. Starworth Tor is the only gate Alexus believes might provide safe entry to the city because it’s rarely used, located so close to the cliffs. He knows the captain well, but their friendship is a secret, a way for Alexus and Colden to have privacy when they come here.
