They’d been traveling for two days. The scraggly trees that had dominated the landscape since they’d crossed from Kreah were starting to grow taller, their roots stretching deeper. The ground was less moist, the road firmer beneath their horse’s hooves and the wagon’s wheels.
But the air…Sebastian shifted uncomfortably in his saddle, wiping a bead of moisture from his brow.
The humidity here might kill him.
Ciana rode beside him, face set into a deep scowl. Her curly hair was both pressed to her face in damp ringlets and doubledin volume around the crown of her head. Sebastian had to bite back the urge to chuckle.
He had a feeling she would jump from her horse and slap him if he so much as made a sound.
“Gods,” Quentin grumbled from behind them. “I think I preferred the desert to this.”
“I do not want to hear a lick of complaining from you, Quentin,” Ciana shot at him. Sebastian buried his face in his sleeve to hide his grin.
“I think the frizz is a good look for you, Cee! The king is going to love it—ow.” Quentin’s words died with a soft thump, and Ciana twisted back in her saddle, a satisfied look on her face.
Sebastian didn’t bother hiding his smile now. “What was that?”
She shrugged. “Some nut I pulled off a tree earlier. I knew I’d need to shut Quentin up at some point today.”
He chuckled softly. “Brilliant. And nice aim.”
“Thanks,” Ciana said, giving him a small smile.
Sebastian opened his mouth, ready to say more, but froze as Quentin’s words finally caught up to him.
The king is going to love it.
What, exactly, had Quentin meant by that? Was he speaking of the Vathan King? Sebastian turned back to Ciana, the question already forming on his lips.
She met his stare then glanced away quickly, throat bobbing with a swallow as color flushed her cheeks. Sebastian closed his mouth, tightening his grip on his reins.
Ciana was keeping something from him. Something to do with the king. He’d suspected as much when Delaynie had told Sunil that they had an offer for the king he couldn’t refused. Whatever it was, Delaynie must’ve shared with Quentin.
Why had they left Sebastian in the dark?
He returned his gaze to the road ahead, vowing to talk to Ciana about it this evening when they would hopefully have a bit more privacy than what their travels could afford.
The rising roar of a river pulled him from his anxious thoughts. Ahead, their road veered sharply to the left, a break in the thickening trees revealing the rushing waters.
They pulled their horses to a halt, the beasts’ ears flicking curiously toward the raging river. One of the Idrixian rangers pointed at the river.
“The River Amfait marks the border between Idrix and Vatha,” he said, voice deep and muffled behind his cloth mask. “As part of our truce, we cannot cross it.”
Ciana leaned forward, the leather of her saddle creaking, and she looked up and down the rushing river. “That’s great,” she said, “but how do we?”
The ranger turned to his companion. Together they moved to the riverbank, bracing their feet against boulders that broke from the ground.
They lifted their hands and the ground began to shake.
Sebastian’s horse whinnied and shuffled back, ears flickering nervously. The others did the same, Ciana whispering soft words to her mare as she ran a hand down her neck.
A lowboomshook the trees, and earth burst from the ground between the rangers.
It was made of all kinds of organic material: rocks and roots and soil and vines. It wound together as it arched across the river, growing and growing both in length and width. There was another shudder as the mass dived into the soil on the other side of the bank, burrowing deep into the ground, wrapping around the trees, roots twining together into one.
The rangers lowered their hands and they gestured to Ciana.
“A bridge,” the first said pointedly, as if that were all the explanation needed.
