“Hal, what’s going on?” one of the soldiers called, and Yemi snapped back to the present danger. She grabbed the dagger and edged toward the front slit in the tent. Hal could have been either of the dead soldiers. Sure enough, the others were stirring, staring off in the direction of where Yemi knew Cutter was still waiting in the shadows. But she heard a twig snap, and their heads swiveled instead to the right.
Nova.
The horses startled, and the soldiers got to their feet. Yemi made an instantaneous decision and donned her mother’s mask before they could take too many steps toward Nova.
“Your queen. Name her,” she said in a menacing voice as she stepped out of the tent. The soldiers turned and squinted in her direction as her heart raced, grip slick and sticky on the hilt of the bloody dagger.
“Who are—” one of them started.
“I said name her!” Yemi roared.
Before anyone could speak, Nova and Cutter struck from the flanks, and while they tried to get the bodies off their spears, the third moved to get a gun off his hip. Yemi crossed the space between them in short, quick steps and jammed the blade into the side of his neck, holding it there and forcing his hand from his hip until he began to sink to the ground.
“Traitors die a traitor’s death,” she muttered. She caught herself smiling, lips twitching, before the vision of a maddened Dahlia grinning as they wrestled forced her to shut her eyes and remember herself.
The last traitor’s body collapsed at her feet. Cutter and Nova examined the carnage with solemn faces.
“You’re alright?” Nova asked her. Yemi nodded. Head spinning and unable to describe what was happening within it, she took off the mask in hopes it would help her think clearly.
They began checking around for supplies. Yemi returned to the tent to collect her spear, wiping her hands free of blood on the fabric. From here it was on to Muris, but that felt wrong, more so now that they were so much closer than ever before.
She mounted one of the horses as Cutter doused the fire and cast them all back into the dark. Maybe it was time, as her mother said, to get to know the Mer side of her family. At least it wasn’t cowering in exile.
“What are you doing? Where are you going?” Cutter hissed.
“Selah. She knows how to find the sea witch, and I need her help getting to the Mer,” she declared.
“Mer?” Nova yelped, probably louder than she intended.
“Yemaya, get down from th—” He took a step toward her.
“Cutter, you arenot my father!” The words rang out in the forest, but it appeared they’d embedded themselves in Cutter’s gut. She regretted them instantly, watching the panic in his eyes shift to sadness. She knew he meant to keep her safe. But safekeeping wasn’t what she needed just now.
“You were right about retiring,” she said in a tone she hoped was kinder. Nova’s head snapped violently in his direction. “You cross the border. I’ll meet you in a week or so. Tell Luzon to look for me by sea and use his network to find our remaining friends in Chairre.”
“Yemi, the countryside is crawling with soldiers who know your face,” Nova protested.
“You should stay, too,” Yemi said, though her resolve crackled at the thought of being away from her. She turned away as Nova gaped. “I love you both. See you soon.”
She prodded the horse into a gallop and made for the tree line again, barely making out Nova’s “Yemi, wait! Shit!” over the din ofhoofbeats. By the time she was bolting over the moonlit hills, she was able to hear galloping noises behind her. Nova emerged from the trees on a horse of her own, and caught up to her before long.
“There is no scenario where you make me go back,” Yemi yelled as they rode.
“I go wherever you go, remember? The last of the queen’s men.”
Yemi looked at Nova. Her expression was hardened, angry. Hurt.
“He didn’t tell you, did he?” she asked.
Nova didn’t respond. For her, Cutter was a mentor and father figure. To be the last one to know he was leaving certainly amounted to some kind of betrayal.
She kept her eyes forward, fixed on some imagined target beyond the horizon. Yemi took it as a sign that she should do the same.
12
• YEMI •
Amber Lake was named for the way the sun sometimes reflected perfectly on its surface. It was known to glitter a blinding gold at a magic hour, and this cloak of brightness was said to shield the magic makers of their world from prying eyes.
