Luca nodded. “I planned to tell the resistance fighters in the morning. They will know, and they will want to confront her.”
“Theyneedto confront her.You needto confront her, Luca.” Ula jabbed Luca straight in the shoulder. “The Otxoa cannot be restored if the Warlord’s power is still viable in any way.”
Luca jabbed her right back. “Then we storm the castle.”
But Koldo wasn’t convinced. The general halted her pacing and turned to them, every inch the woman who had been by the Warrior King’s side for more than half her life.
“It is incredible what the rebels did last night, Luca. I do not want to diminish that success.”
He drew in a deep breath. “But?”
“But they are not professional soldiers. They benefited from long-term planning and the element of surprise. We don’t have either advantage here.”
“What if we arrive at dark?”
Koldo shook her head. “Even if we gathered them to march right at this moment, we’d be approaching in complete daylight, as slow as they are. And if we put it off for a nighttime arrival, we might be too late and meetbothGeneva and Inés.”
Right.The general’s experience was invaluable here. She understood not only the timing but also the psychology. Koldo was, as always, the best possible person to have at one’s back.
Amarande’s attention pooled on the parchment at the center of the tent. Her father, so wise, had to have the answer here. Somewhere. Yet after several minutes, his tenets stayed silent in her brain, exhaustion worming its way into her second wind.
But then instead of her father’s voice came his actions.
“We stay the course.”
The moment the words were out of her mouth, a new energy ignited within her belly.
Yes.This was right.
“The Warlord sent a letter via caracara to Geneva telling her she was coming with me in tow. She wanted to beat Inés there, which means she planned to arrive to Ardenia by midday tomorrow at the latest. So, we stay the course—and havethe Warlorddeliver me to my mother.”
Amarande caught eyes with everyone in the room. She squatted to Ula and tipped the girl’s chin up to hers. Reading her face shape. Her height. Osana would’ve been better, but yes, this might work.
“Ula, how would you feel about donning a tyrant’s clothes?”
Amarande expected the girl to balk. Sigh. Or put up some other form of a fight. Instead, she simply asked, “Do I get to keep my sword?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Koldo’s face puckered. “It is a good idea, Princess; it is. But Geneva handpicked this Warlord. Even if the rest of us manage to disguise ourselves well enough to appear as guards, which is doubtful at best,shewill know Ula is an imposter the instant she opens her mouth.”
Now came the Warrior King’s advice, perfect and true—straight from her own line of thoughts rather than a menu of tenets.
Amarande grinned. “Which is why we must make the first mark.”
CHAPTER56
TAILLEFERhad not imagined the end would be like this. Covered in blood that might be his. Might be Captain Nikola’s. Might be someone else’s.
It didn’t matter, of course.
He was still alive and mostly upright, lashed to Nikola’s torso and manning the reins from behind, adding blood he knew was his to the mess that was both his shirt and the captain’s uniform with each sputtering cough. That was the blood he should be concerned about—the kind that signaled a festering problem from within and grew darker with each new wheeze and hack.
But no. He had much larger things on his mind.
As the sun peeked over the eastern horizon of the Port of Ardenia, the stolen horse they were riding was pulled to a pause. Taillefer read the scene below like a memory because it was exactly as he’d pictured it.
At least fifty warships crowded the mouth of the harbor. It wasn’t a full armada—too many soldiers were inland, protecting the borders—but it was still impressive and was designed to be. Just the size alone was meant to be a warning shot in intimidation.
