Relief was written on his face, and my heart sank. “What’s happened?”
“Sevran went to the queen.”
“Yes, I know.” Fear sounded as certain as ever.
That did not comfort me.
“His clan uncovered something there.” Asrael’s gaze had a slight wildness. “The queen sent a message to Nightwalkers she’d already dispatched, trying to stop them. They had been sent to retrieve weapons from the Caer Lira kingdom. After that, they were to find Cara and kill her.”
Fear took it in with his usual calm. “She dispatched them before we were married. Buying herself time to see how things played out. Ready to kill her if it turned out to be the better play.”
He did not seem alarmed. Asrael looked at me, his gaze softening.
Fear’s decision was quick. “We’re leaving now. Asrael, you’ll stay and help Obsidian?”
Asrael nodded. “While Anayla leads the contingent on our mission.”
I did not like Bismyth spread thin. I did not like leaving the clan behind. I did not like, either, how Fear was already moving us toward the stairs, his hand at my back as if my path was decided.
“Ander has what he needs,” Fear said, anticipating my protest. “We need to get you back to Corbyn’s camp, where you’ll be shielded. Bismyth will be well without us both.”
I glanced at the shadows in the corridor, momentarily convinced they might be alive with Nightwalkers. My fear was in the tightness of my chest and the too-rapid pounding of my heart, but neither mattered.
“You have a blind spot,” I told Fear gently, putting my hand on his forearm to halt him. “Bismyth won’t be well without us, and neither will the rest of the clans, and neither will the mortals. You cannot disappear from leadership. And neither can I.”
“If we lose you, there was no point to any of this,” Fear reminded me.
“If the Nightwalkers try to kill me, we’ll see if Lightbringer comes out to play,” I told him.
“If the Nightwalkers try to kill you, I’ll cheer them on, you terrible mortal—”Lightbringer snarled in the back of my mind.
“We can’t let the rebellion collapse now,” I told him. “If the Nightwalkers come for me, protect me.”
His jaw tightened. “Just like that. Just protect you.”
“Just like that. I have faith in you.”
The door at the far end of the hall opened, and Corbyn stepped through it.
Corbyn was alone. He should have been at the camp with Mam and Lidi. Images of Tay and Lidi and my mother being slaughtered by Nightwalkers who found them instead of me rose, fast and furious. My mother’s falling corpse toppling over Lidi. A Nightwalker leaping out at Lidi from the shadows, cutting her small throat. My brother, trying to fight, landing on his knees before he fell forward into a pool of his own blood.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, and I barely recognized my own voice, tight and seething with anger because beneath it was fear, so much fear.
Corbyn paused. It was Fear who translated between us. “Is her family safe?”
Corbyn’s hard expression eased into compassion. “Your mother’s staying with Lidi where it’s safe, Cara. They’re both well.”
For a moment, I was seized with relief. Then I understood that he had not mentioned Tay.
Corbyn held out a folded square of paper. “She wanted to come. But she’s staying with Lidi. Tay hid with the mortals to leave the camp. We’ve been trying to track him down.”
I took the note. It bothered me to know they were watching me read it, and I wished for a distraction.
Fear asked Corbyn, “Do you know the route he took?”
“Yes,” Corbyn answered. “The mortals went by the?—”
Their voices faded for me as they carried on their conversation.
