Ahnna clung to her horse’s rough mane, coughing and gasping.Around them, figures leapt from the banks—more Ithicanians, plunging into the current and swimming with practiced ease.
Upstream, soldiers scrambled into boats, oars slapping water.
But the real threats were the mounted soldiers thundering across the bridge, racing along the river road. They would outrun the current in minutes.
Hope surged as the river pulled them around a bend, and sails appeared. Shallow hulled Ithicanian ships were tied off along the far bank, only their masts visible above the reeds. Men and women leaned out of them, hauling swimmers aboard.
Relief hit Ahnna like a punch as she saw Aren climb aboard one of them.
James guided Dippy toward the vessels. As they passed, Aren caught Ahnna’s arm and hauled her unceremoniously aboard. She hit the planks hard, dress sodden, lungs burning, but before she could say anything to her brother, he leapt to the next boat.
James was removing Dippy’s bridle, teeth clenched as he struggled to control her horse. The current threatened to pull him away, but just before he was swept past the final vessel, Aren reached down and caught his hand, dragging him aboard.
“Lia, give me a count!” Aren barked, already searching the banks for threats.
“We lost two,” Lia called, clutching a bleeding arm. “Everyone else is here.”
“Let’s go!”
The ships cast off, the current gripping them fast and flinging them downstream. They weren’t meant for river sailing, but her people were endlessly adaptable.
In their wake, Dippy swam ashore, clambering up the far bank before stopping to shake like a drenched hound. He turned, watching them go.
Be safe,Ahnna thought.Live with the cows in the Ranges.
“What were you thinking?” Lia dropped to her knees in front ofher, knife already sawing at the ropes on Ahnna’s wrists. Beyond, Aren was leaping between boats again, making his way toward them.
“I made a deal with William,” Ahnna said as the ropes fell away. She grabbed the knife and hacked off her sodden skirt until it bared her knees. “He was going to go through with it, so don’t look at me like I’m insane.”
Aren landed beside her—but barely had time to straighten before James barreled into the space, nearly knocking him over. Shoving Lia aside, he dropped to his knees and pulled Ahnna into his arms.
“Why?” he demanded, his voice low and ragged, his hands trembling against her back. She buried her face in the hollow of his neck, his skin smelling of river water. “Why would you let them do that to you?”
“She likes being a martyr,” Aren muttered. “Always has.”
“I do not.” She pulled back with a scowl. “It was—”
“You do.” Aren crossed his arms, glaring. “You always want everyone to blame you. Which is irritating enough, but to the gallows, Ahnna? Really?”
“Would you have preferred that Harendell kept the bridge?” she snapped. “Because that was the alternative. It was all going to plan until…”
She trailed off, her gaze locking with James’s. “I’m so sorry about William.”
He gave a tight nod, hands sliding down her arms until they closed over her fingers.
“They’ll blame us for William’s poisoning,” Aren said, scanning the tree-lined banks, tense as a bowstring. “But any idea who it was? Amaridians, maybe? Revenge for Katarina? Or was it Alexandra? She’s got an heir now—a baby’s easier to control than a grown man, and she would not have liked the deal you made with William.”
Ahnna’s vision blurred, not with tears, but with memory.
Alexandra’s face, shredded by her own nails. William’s body in her arms, his face blistered in the shape of a handprint. The vision fadedaway, replaced by William and Lestara arguing in the Sky Palace. Lestara had cupped William’s cheek with a gloved hand, only for him to shove her away. After he’d left, she’d cast her gloves across the room before giving in to labor.
Ahnna’s breath caught.
“Not Amarid,” she whispered. “Nor Alexandra. I think…I think the manipulators of this great scheme have become the manipulated.”
“By whom?” Aren asked sharply.
James’s voice came first, tight with fury, his grip firm on her hands.
