Samara turned her face into the dirt and sobbed.
Valenna had found the medical kit and hurried to Evander’s side. Haldir huddled behind them.
“How can we trust them? His wife betrayed us,” Giles mumbled. “She revealed Cobblepine’s location to Cadmus to save his life.”
Valenna ignored them, pouring clear alcohol on Evander’s hands, then wiping the blood away from Samara’s side so he could see. Evander marveled at her measured calm, the look of grim resolution on her face.
“Do with me what you will,” Valenna said without bothering to look up, but her voice grew stronger with each word. “But your captain is right. More blood than Bournemuth’s will be shed today, and you’ll be murderers the same as he. Worse, because Samara is one of your own, and I am your only hope of freedom. I do have spring magic, and I am the Botania!”
Evander’s fears were coming true. Valenna was angry and frightened; she would lash out with her blightedmagic, and Cobblepine would never trust her. Talwaith would be lost, and with it any hope of atonement.
But when Valenna glanced at him, there was no anger in her eyes.
Only shame … and hope.
A tear slipped off her chin.
Giles gripped his knife with trembling hands. “Just step aside and stop shielding Bournemuth, and we won’t kill you.”
Evander wondered where the timid boy had found this sudden surge of courage. He ignored him, squinting in the darkness at the jagged gash in Samara’s flesh, but Haldir reached over his shoulder, trying to grab the shotfire.
“No, you idiot!” Evander barked. Giles stepped toward them and Evander handed the needle to Valenna and stood. Haldir ducked behind him.
“Move aside!” Giles yelled.
“I will not.”
Giles lunged and touched the tip of his knife against the soft spot at the base of Evander’s throat. “Trevelyan, move aside.”
His vision clouding red, Evander ignored the knife and clutched a handful of Giles’s shirt. “I saved your life,” he gritted. “More than once, at my own expense. I’ve been harsh; I know you think I’m cruel, but if you can look into my eyes and say I’ve done anything but look out for your best interests, you’re a fool. I will be a better leader, I swear it, but you must trust me. Right now, I need to keep this girl from bleeding to death, and I will not let you stand in my way.”
Giles glanced at his friends, questioning. A tangle of loud opinions rose from the group, Rosemary urging him to do it, Ignatius and Elspeth shouting for him to leave Evander alone.
Evander looked past Giles to Valenna, who was pressing a blood-gloved hand to Samara’s side. Another tear slipped from her eye and struck the damp ground.
The mountain tremored.
A crack snaked across the stone. Valenna grabbed Samara under her arms and scrambled back as a tree unfurled out of the fissure, its branches spreading like a bird stretching its wings. Leaves opened along its boughs, and then erupted into white blossoms. More trees followed, cracking out of the widening chasm, thundering to life. In seconds, a grove of dragon willows waved in the breeze, snowing petals on the damp stone.
Silence followed. The wind sang in the willow branches, and the Dread Five crew gazed in horrified wonder.
Then a high, clear aria split the silence. It echoed beyond the mountains from the Scathmore Barrens.
The conscripts looked at the sky as if they expected a lightning bolt to strike them.
“That was the sunbird,” Giles whispered.
Evander’s heart leaped. He watched Valenna, and pride and terror surged through him.
But there was no time to admire the trees or wonder at the song. Taking up the needle and thread, Valenna bent over Samara and began to stitch. “I am Tahlia’s heir,” she said. “I have proven it. If you will put down your knives and follow me, I will restore your homeland to you. The dragons will come home to roost.”
The conscripts whispered to one another, conflicted, frightened.
“If you would rather spill your blood for this cowardly colonel, then so be it,” Valenna continued. “But know this: if you touch one hair on my husband’s head, I won’t forget it when my sister is queen.”
Tentatively, Giles began, “But you betrayed us to …”
“Yes, I betrayed Cobblepine to Cadmus,” Valenna interrupted. “I did it because, when I begged Ariadne for help, she turned me away. I, the Botania, came to her for help, and she refused me. I am sorry for what happened to Cobblepine. As penance, I will restore Talwaith.”
