And it only takesone mistake.
“Meryn!”
I jolt. Stark does, too. Noemi looks confused and glances between us. It’s Egith’s voice, urgent and breathy.
“Killian and his forces are approaching Blumenfall.”
My entire body goes rigid.
56
MERYN
Fuck.
“He wasn’t with Jonah and the group that attacked us? We’re sure?” I ask urgently.
Egith shares information she’s observed with her own eyes with Stark and me through the bond. A huge mass of forces, Bonded and soldiers alike. And leading them all—yes, it’s unmistakably Killian.
Stark shakes his head. “The group pursuing us was only a small contingent of his larger forces.”
“Killian?” Noemi asks. Her dark eyes are round and wide. “Is he coming for the rest of the Bonded?”
“It looks like it. Egith has eyes on troop movements,” I say.
The numbers of our loyal followers are low already. I can’t abandon the rest of them to Killian and Alistair’s mixture of violence and magical enslavement.
And they’re inside a fiefdom. Commoners’ lives are going to be at risk if Killian attacks the Bonded there.
“Is he going after them simply to wipe them out? Take the rest of your army?” Noemi speculates, voice tight.
“No,” I say. “Or not only that, although I’m sure that’s part of his goal. Alistair’s trying to provoke me. And you know what, fuck it. It’s working. I’mprovoked. And I amdonehiding from him. Done running from him.”
The others watch me with a mix of fear and resolute drive on their faces.
My voice rises. “I’m done with him! He has one Tear, and I havefour. They’re making me powerful. He can tap into my shadebending magic, but I’d wager the Tears live outside that power—and with this ability to create and destroy, I can take him. And I have another thing he doesn’t.”
“Knowledge of Lumina?” Noemi says, looking uncertain.
“Sheer, incandescentrage,” I correct her. I start pacing, looking at Anassa. “How long will it take us to reach Blumenfall?”
“About five hours at full speed,” she replies.
I nod, calculating.
“But we need to rest first, Meryn,” she adds sternly. Her tail whips. It’s something she mostly does when she’s expressing annoyance.“You have not slept. No one has. Linsfall was difficult, emotionally and physically. And…”
“And?” I snap.
“You stink of unwashed human,” Anassa snarls.“Eat. Sleep. Wash.”
I grit my teeth. “Oh, I’ll sleep, all right.”
She bares her teeth at me to scold me for being stubborn, but I just bare mine back before turning my stare on Lucien. He’s standing with his eternally calm expression on his face, like he’s sitting at a vaguely entertaining party he attended only so he could have an excuse to drink.
But when he sees me staring at him, his brow lifts and his eyes focus.
“I have found you to be a very confusing person,” I tell him, too tired for subtlety.
