His voice softened to near a whisper. “Those schemes fed me for so long that when they came true, I was blind to the reality of what they meant. I’d lost my other half, my constant companion, the person who was with me every day of my life. And he was… until he wasn’t.”
The weight of his words hit Amarande hard enough her breath hitched. To her astonishment, the ice blue of Taillefer’s eyes shone wet in the firelight, though his voice did not betray his tears.
“Princess, have you ever wanted something so much it filled youup, every crack and crevice within you, and when it finally happens and the want falls away, all that is left is ash?”
“Yes,” Amarande whispered.
Taillefer turned away. There was nothing left to say.
They paddled onward, into the winding dark.
CHAPTER34
THEYleft without word from Osana, Urtzi, or Amarande. This did not sit well with Luca. But the plan could not wait. After seventeen years, this was a window that could not be gambled.
And so he sat with Ula within the body of a carriage, meant to look the part of a Torrent-burnt caravan vehicle, watching the sliver of night splicing shadows across their space.
Their tight-knit unit was full of dedicated watchers. Tala leading—his black wolf left behind, of course—along with twenty others, all assigned for their acumen and specific skills in communication, strategy, dart making, sword fighting, and the like.
Together, they rode to join the Isilean Caravan. With the help of loyal members of the resistance who had been planted in the caravan years earlier, they planned to slip in with it as cover to enter the Warlord’s camp for one final reconnaissance before the planned uprising.
Still, as the plan became closer to being a reality, Luca could not ignore the fear in his stomach that something had gone very wrong for Osana and Urtzi. Apparently, Ula was thinking about it, too.
“I should have been the one to get Amarande. Not Osana. I could’ve gone alone. I know the way, and I wouldn’t have needed a babysitter,” Ula grumbled, as they sat in silver silence, the fabric tightly drawn across the carriage’s windows to protect their identity—this was the dangerous part. Five carriages did not a caravan make, and until they were with a larger group, they were extremely suspicious. Then, much more quietly: “I wouldn’t have let you down. I swore my life and I meant it.”
It wasn’t Ula’s oath that worried Luca. It was Osana. There was something about her that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, and he wished he had asked more questions of Amarande about her during those few hours they had together on theGatzal. Though it was justhim and Ula in the carriage, he found himself lowering his voice. “Do you know how Osana came to join Renard’s party?”
Ula, who had been sharpening her sword, stiffened. “Why?”
“Tell me and then I’ll tell you.”
Ula stared at Luca speculatively. “She was with the Pyrenee party when they came upon Dunixi, Urtzi, and myself. I remember her saying something to Renard and then we were surrounded. There weren’t any other girls.”
Luca nodded, working through the scene in his mind. The scorching Torrentian sun, Renard’s desperation to find Amarande, and the prince’s likely elation at discovering the kidnappers she’d sought, fought, and escaped. “Is it possible she was identifying you? When she was speaking to Renard?”
Ula squinted at him, trying to read his face in the shadows before answering. “I never asked, but yes, perhaps she was identifying us. When we were tasked with guarding the princess’s tent at the Pyrenee camp, I was prodding Amarande about why on earth she would go with Renard, because she obviously loved you as much as you loved her. Osana chimed in—saying she’d seenusat the watering hole, and that she wouldn’t forget the way you loudly spoke of Amarande.”
Ula continued. “I do remember a girl there. It must have been Osana if she was imprisoned with Amarande at the Warlord’s camp. But I never asked.” A little smirk crossed her lips. “I was distracted by saving you.”
Luca ignored Ula’s teasing, his mind stuck on the leader’s words during the attack at the resistance outpost.
“We saw your face, girl! You can’t hide from the Warlord!”
They’d been stuck in his mind for days now, tumbling around with the man’s sneering familiarity. All of it festering together until his uncertainty became something more tangible—and problematic.
“It’s just…” he started. “ItwasOsana at the watering hole. I remember her now, but I didn’t realize it until after the attack at the outpost. She never mentioned it to me.”
“Okay,” Ula answered, unsure. “But she didn’t keep it a secret—she told both the princess and myself.”
Yes, but.Luca drew a deep breath. “I only realized it was her when I recognized the lead bandit and his men—they were her escort.”
Gazing sightlessly out the window, Ula said nothing for a moment. Finally, she asked, “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Her plan to burn the bandits with the sagardon was a good one, though she didn’t need to fetch the horses with Urtzi for it to work—we could’ve just rushed them with the jug as it was. But shedidneed to get away before they recognized her and even then, she wasn’t fast enough.”
Ula swallowed and Luca knew she was replaying the scene in her mind. The bandits converging on them; Osana’s fevered plan; the leader yelling in her wake that he’d seen her face. “I want to hear you say exactly what you think this means.”
Luca did not hesitate. “I worry that Osana may be a watcher for the Warlord.”
