She gripped him as solidly as she could—Ferdinand had learnedthat one didn’t need size to have strength, and the ferocity in Osana’s grip was simply a tiny demonstration of the larger whole.
“I will find my way free. I will find my way to you. I promise. My father won’t win—he won’t keep us apart and he certainly won’t keep me locked in those black walls saddled by a title and his imagined duties.”
Her thumb caressed the top of his own. “But I also can’t put you in further danger. His ire is already high and set upon Luca and Amarande besides. I won’t give him a third reason to provoke a fight. You know that if I disappear with you again, he’ll mimic Renard and say you’ve taken me against my will. And these people will believe it because they believe Ardenia will lie at any cost.”
Ferdinand understood this. “I know. And I know my role in that problem.”
“It wasn’t you, it was Geneva. We know it, and they know it, too, but it’s an inconvenience to acknowledge something so obvious.” Osana nodded against him and then pressed her lips to his cheek. “Our separation now isn’t permanent—it’s an inconvenience of our own. We can and will best it. The world will see the truth soon, and we’ll help show them.”
He hoped so. Oh, how he hoped.
Suddenly, Amarande’s request welled up from within, and he had to ask though he hated to make any of this about more than what they meant to each other. Still, it was crucial they know if they had a spy in the meeting room. “Osana, can we trust your father? Is he in league with Geneva?”
She sighed. “They’re after their own power but they still share the same blood.”
Ferdinand met her forehead with his.
“That’s more a riddle than an answer.”
“Yes, but that’s what I can provide.” Osana’s eyes were bright, brighter than the candle flame, and watching him intently, her skin still gently pressed against his. “If I learn more, I’ll tell you. But given the vastly different actions of those who share blood on this continent have shown us… perhaps none of us can be sure of the choice anyone we call family will make when power is involved.”
This made Ferdinand smile, just a little. He squeezed her hand.
“You’re right. Perhaps the loyalty we can rely on most is in the family we choose.”
Osana kissed him again, hard and aching. It was everything and it was not enough to last until they’d meet again.
Then the candle was snuffed out and she was gone.
CHAPTER 34
FORnearly the entire northern length of the continent, the Divide was a straight drop down steep cliffs into the crystalline water below. This made it nearly impossible to dock a ship along the northern coast of the continent except at the Port of Pyrenee.
Unless one knew exactly where to look.
“That can’t be.” For once, Urtzi’s voice was actually quiet—a trick Ula was sure he’d acquired only in the past week. It was perfectly appropriate, because at the moment, they were pressed against a swell of juniper trees, watching a strange procession from afar.
One by one, the Warlord’s men left their horses with a stand of groomsmen, and then descended into a hole in the earth, only to appear below, where a pirate ship as black as night waited, anchored, along a thin pebble beach ledge about halfway down the giant cliff.
“How many times have we sailed the Divide?” Urtzi asked, attempting to make himself small and completely failing, though the trees and the distance kept them covered. “A hundred? Two hundred?”
“Maybe twenty.”
“Okay,” he answered, not arguing Ula’s accounting. “My point is, we’ve sailed ita lot,and we’ve never seen anything likethat.”
Ula leaned a little closer to the cliff, surveying the ship. “We haven’t seen it because the tide has to bejustright. If it’s not, the ledge won’t appear, and the tunnel would be waterlogged. Which means if we’re going with them, we have to go right now.”
“Now?We can’t go now. We’ll be exposed. And what about the horses?”
“The horses will go with the grooms.” She gestured to the corral and the hard-faced men there, tying reins together. “Didn’t you see Geneva have a discussion with them? They’re taking the horses somewhere specific. Everyone on that ship will need a horse when they disembark. They’re planning a rendezvous.”
“We should just follow on the horses.”
“No way, we won’t be able to trail them without being caught. Besides, we need to keep eyes on Geneva. Which means we need to be on that ship.”
“And how are we going to do that?” Urtzi asked, brows reaching for his dark curls, wet and sticking from the salt-spray air. It was criminally attractive for a boy who hadn’t bathed in days. “She knows exactly what we look like. It’s not like we can waltz down that tunnel-chute thing and parade around as crew members.”
Ula glanced down at the ship again. Then back to the line of people entering the tunnel—the procession was slowing now, only a dozen or so of the Warlord’s men and women remaining.
