“I thought you’d sacrificed yourself for Naiara,” Amarande tried to whisper, but the healer’s name came out in a sob—she didn’t know if she’d survived. “I thought it was the stars giving me one last look at my love before stealing him away.”
“I did not mean to shock you, Ama, only the Warlord and her cronies,” Luca answered. It was just then that she realized he’d stowed a sword at his back—one just like Ula’s, slick with lifeblood that caught the firelight and moonlight as they ran. “I would never hurt you.”
“But you would sacrifice yourself for another—”
“The timing even had me guessing, and I knew the plan!” Ula called from up ahead. She dodged down a different row. “Over here. There’s water and cover. Princess, sit.”
Amarande wanted to do nothing of the sort, looking over her shoulder to the battling bodies in the firelight, but both Koldo and Luca forced her down. Her back to the cartwheel, as Ula gathered water in clay cups from a covered tanker cart with a spigot, stacked to the side.
Amarande drank deeply, clutching Luca’s hand. “I have so much to tell you.”
“I know, and I have so much to tell you, but I must finish what I’ve started. My people need me.” He cradled the sides of her face, then leaned in and planted a kiss to her brow.
Wait.She pressed her palms to those hands that held her, fingers curling tightly over his. He came away smiling, pried one of her hands away, and kissed the sand-crusted knuckles. His lips were warm.
“I do not want to go, but I must lead. I cannot be away until it is through.” Amarande’s heart caught as he read her face, golden eyes light. “It’s what you would do in the same situation.”
Pride and loss flooded into Amarande’s chest, as equal as they were heavy. Suddenly she couldn’t breathe, yet her grip loosened on his hand, still gently cradling one side of her face.
“I would. But…”
“Amarande, I will come back to you. You know this. I will always come for you. Always, Princess.” He looked to Ula and Koldo. “Stay with her.”
“On my honor.” Ula.
“Of course.” Koldo.
Luca pressed another fevered kiss to Amarande’s lips, the princess shutting her eyes and drinking it in until, with one last gentle sweep of a thumb against her cheek, he drew away. She opened her eyes, willing the warmth of his touch not to fade as he charged back in the direction of battle, the curved sword drawn and out front.
Tears snaked rivulets down her ash-flecked cheeks. “No, no, he can’t go back there. He made it out safe. He can’t go back in. What if…”
Amarande was already struggling to get to her feet, but Koldo held her down. “Ama, he’s won. I’ve seen enough war in my lifetime to guarantee it.”
Ula nodded, pressure on Amarande’s blood-soaked arm. “The moment the Warlord went into the pit, all the fight fled the people who feared her.”
Amarande fought against Koldo enough to sling her clay cup toward the fire and fight, letting it smash against some unseen patch of desert dirt. “But that wasn’t therealWarlord—” Amarande squinted through the night for Luca, but at that distance, all bodieswere a smudge of movement. “My mother never relinquished. They’re going to regroup. He’s not safe; he’s not—”
“Amarande, we heard it all—Luca and I,” Ula insisted. “What the Warlord told you. About your mother and the puppet this one was. He knows, but the Warlord’s people don’t.”
“Geneva didn’t relinquish power? Are you certain?” This from Koldo.
Amarande shook her head but then thought better of it as a wave of nausea passed over. “She didn’t. This Warlord planned to march me to the Itspi and bargain for her power.”
Ula squinted at the princess. “Why were you with Taillefer? You should be with Osana and Urtzi. Who is Ferdinand?” She spun to Koldo. “And who isthis?”
Where to begin? The princess had so many questions for Koldo herself. About her motivations. Her relationship with Amarande’s father. Her relationship with Amarande’s brother.Stars,her relationship with Amarande herself. She had all those questions, but she had the most basic answers to share in this context. None of that had changed.
“It’s a mess of complication, Ula, but in short, this is General Koldo. My father’s best friend, my surrogate mother, and the actual mother of my half brother, Ferdinand, who is sitting on the Ardenian throne.”
Ula drew her knife. “Can we trust her?” She addressed Amarande but thrust her dagger across the princess’s body, holding it a whisper from Koldo’s throat. “Why are you here?”
“I am here because I love the princess and I was concerned for her safety.”
Ula’s eyes cut as deeply as that blade could. “But if yoursonis sitting on Amarande’s throne, your loyalty is suspect.”
“Ula, I trust her,” the princess insisted. She didn’t know where Koldo’s heart sat, but she knew she was here and, even if it was simply powered by memories and what they’d just been through, that she still had faith in her. “I trust Koldo now because of where we’ve been, same as you.”
The pirate removed the dagger from the general’s throat. “Fine. But you have not earned my trust yet. Princess, let me inspect your arm.”
