I know I shouldn’t go down this path now, butshementioned the shepherds. It may be my only opportunity to learn how the empire plans to respond. “Speaking of the grazing lands—”
“If this girl is with the Shoniin, why hasn’t she welcomed you into the fold already? They’re a ragtag group of rebels, for skies’ sake. They recruit deserters and criminals. It’s not like they’re selective.”
“It’s only been a week.”
“A week I don’t have.” Ghoa tosses the embroidered ram back onto my lap. “I thought I made it clear to you how urgent this is. Don’t you care that you put me in this position? Do you want to rejoin the Kalima? What more can I offer you?”
“You could answer my inquiries about Serik,” I blurt, surprising even myself. “It’s difficult to focus on my mission when I’m constantly wondering how he’s faring.”
An incredulous pop of laughter bursts from Ghoa’s lips. “We are losing ground every day, everyhour, to Zemya, but you’re more concerned aboutSerik! I should have known you were too damaged to handle this assignment.”
“Too damaged?”The word tears through my skin like a dull blade—slow and excruciating. But instead of slumping into the pain like I normally would, I draw my shoulders back and imagine an iron poker rammed down the length of my spine. “Is that what you truly think of me? Were all of your encouraging words and pretty promises back at Ikh Zuree nothing but a lie to get me to do your bidding?”
“No, Enebish. I’m sorry.” Ghoa slaps her hand across her eyes. “I’m just under an enormous amount of pressure. I need you to—”
“No.Ineed you to tell me if Serik is well.”
Ghoa’s arm falls back to her side and her nostrils flare. “Where is this coming from?
“Why aren’t you answering my questions?”
“Because you shouldn’t be asking them!” Ghoa’s voice cracks like ice and I can suddenly see my breath.
“That’s right,” I sneer. “I’m just a keeper of birds. A mindless minion to be used and discarded at your convenience.”
“You can’t possibly think that! I’m risking everything to help you.”
“Only because it helpsyou.”
Ghoa rears back as if I slapped her. Her brown eyes glisten in the early-morning light, and her hand slowly comes to rest over her heart, as if I’m breaking it. But I refuse to grovel and scrape—like I always have before. Not if Serik’s life is at risk.
“You claim to have coordinated a relief effort for the shepherds,” I forge on, letting the damning words spin from my lips like a battle-ax, “but I’ve yet to see a single grain of rice from the empire. And you claim Temujin is the source of Ashkar’s troubles, but from where I stand, he seems to be the only one helping.”
Frost crystalizes through Ghoa’s lashes. Thick veins of ice plow into the ground where her fingers clench the dirt. “He’s gotten to you. What have you seen? I don’t know what lies Temujin’s peddling, but I promise nothing he’s doing ishelpful.”
“Is Serik bound for Gazar in two days’ time?” I demand.
Whatever Ghoa was going to say dies on her lips and she stares at me. The chill of her body laps my skin like flames. “Did Temujin tell you that?”
“Is it true?”
She wets her lips, and my heart hammers faster with every second that passes, because she shouldn’t have to think about this.
“This has nothing to do with Serik,” she finally says. “What do you know of Temujin? It’s your duty to report everything you’ve learned.”
I scramble back, out of the lean-to. Away from Ghoa. Because Temujin was right.
Bleeding skies,he was right.
“How could you allow this?” I shout. “Serik is yourfamily!”
Orbai dives from the tree with an ear-piercing screech and thumps down on my arm, her talons tense, her wings outstretched.
I reach up and stroke her chest as Ghoa emerges from the lean-to. She takes her time, adjusting the knife in her boot and brushing the leaves and snow from her breeches. “You are overreacting,” she says in a low, firm voice. “If you would stop hollering long enough to allow me to explain—”
“How can you explain sentencing your own cousin to Gazar?”
“It’s only for a short time. The abba is at his wits’ end. Serik still refuses to say his penances, he’s outright blasphemous during services, and they caught him squirreling away food in his robes, as if he were planning another escape. The abba thinks a few weeks in Gazar will give him some perspective—and, quite frankly, I agree.”
