I tighten my grip on him.
"I am not as well as I look," I murmur.
"I know," he says.
Light breaks over us as we step outside, the brightness hitting first and then the sound, chanting and boots striking in rhythm, and I blink against it and look out at what is waiting for us. Rows of soldiers stretch outward in formation, gold banners rising above them edged in a spring green that cuts through the snow, alive and bright and carrying something dangerous beneath the beauty of it.
They see us and drop, all of them, to their knees. The movement is immediate and total, not a single soldier remaining standing. Even the horses lower their heads.
Two riders dismount and move toward us but I do not wait. The pain is already building and I need to speak before it takes me.
"Thank you for coming to our aid," I say, my voice carrying across the quiet. "And for following us." I draw in a breath and itcosts me. "I am Asharin, Queen Heir and daughter of Ryaran of Alarna. We will travel to Shalvar, the beast kingdom, where my husband is king. You will be treated as family and you will act as such. What we require now above all else is discretion."
I hold them, every one of them, and I feel their attention the way I have learned to feel a room. "For three days, thousands of undead came for this place. My husband stood against them alone while I brought forth Alarna's heirs."
Saurin steps forward and places the children into Colsar's arms. He moves to stand beside me and holds them where every soldier in that clearing can see them.
"These are our children. Princess Fiorakis. Prince Arakis. They carry power from two royal lines and many will seek to harm them, particularly as the controversy surrounding Thren bonding remains unresolved."
The pain shifts, deeper now, a slow pull rather than a sharp tear, and I hold through it.
"They are innocent," I continue. "You will protect them at all costs."
Silence answers me, not empty but held, the kind that means something has landed. Colsar steps forward. "We move to Shalvar," he says, his voice cutting clean through the air. "There is a hidden kingdom within it where the Queen Heir will recover. When she is well, we continue to Veynar."
The two riders reach us.
One bows, a woman, direct and unhurried in a way that belongs to someone who has spent a long time being exactly what she is."I am Wyn. Your sworn protector. Uralish sent me. I have been waiting some time to meet you, Majesty."
I look at her for a moment and something about the way she holds herself, without performance and without apology, tells me Uralish chose well.
The second steps forward. Broad, unhurried, with the particular knowing quality of someone who has seen a great deal and learned to keep most of it behind his eyes.
"General Trophi." His gaze moves over me once, quick and thorough. "We brought a healer. She will not fully treat you here, only enough to keep you alive for the journey."
Colsar's jaw tightens. "She lost too much blood. She looks fine until she moves and that will not last."
"I know," Trophi says.
"And the road?" Colsar asks.
Wyn glances behind them. "You will not be taking one."
I follow their line of sight. Beyond the soldiers something waits, low and reinforced, layered in heavy fabric that shifts faintly in the wind with something beneath it holding form and holding power.
"Warded transport," Wyn says. "Built for conditions like this. For recovery and protection." Her eyes move briefly to the children.
"How long?" Colsar asks.
"Two days."
He does not like that. "You expect her to survive that?"
"We will not be traveling as you think," Trophi replies. "Half the Avanki will move ahead using lightpace, clearing everything in front of us. The other half will move with you, rotating through the transport, reinforcing it, feeding power into it."
I understand before he finishes. "They will carry us."
"Yes."
