“Exactly,” Stran said. “Look me in the face and tell me you wouldn’t. You’d die for your wife. I know you would. So how dare you tell me I can’t do the same?”
Jentt opened his mouth and shut it.
Good,Kreya thought.Maybe he’s beginning to understand my choice.Maybe in time, he’d forgive her. She hoped they had that time.To all of them, she said, “I have a plan, if you’ll trust me.” Eklor wanted all five of them to withdraw their accusations. He’dexpect them to either charge in recklessly and demand Amurra or capitulate to his demands. He wouldn’t expect Stran especially to show restraint and trust his team.
“Always,” Stran said.
“The army exists. The construct that attacked”—she wouldn’t say the word “killed”—“Amurra proves it. It’s coming.” Even though, yet again, they had no proof. She looked down at the little crushed scout in her arms. This also wasn’t proof, though it was enough for her. The army was coming from the valley. She’d have bet her life on it.
“So we fight?” Jentt asked.
“Not yet,” Kreya said. “We’re not ready yet. Zera?” Her friend grinned and rubbed her hands together in gleeful anticipation. “Choose your strongest talismans for Stran and Jentt, and leave me your spare, unused bones for my constructs. We will need to all work together to be ready, after I get back.”
Jentt frowned. “Back from where?”
Back from atoning for my mistakes,she thought.
Out loud, she said, “I’m going to get Amurra.”
“How?” Stran demanded.
“I’ll give him what he thinks he wants. Lie as much as I have to.” Her eyes landed on Grand Master Lorn’s beloved son. She’d try the truth too, if she could, but whatever she had to say, she’d say.
“You do know diplomacy isn’t your strongest skill?” Zera said.
“An old dog can learn new tricks,” Kreya said. “I can change. For Amurra. For us. But only if we’re all agreed that saving her comes first, before anything else. If I go down this path, then we’re committed.”
“Committed to what?” Marso asked.
“War,” she said bluntly. “If I do this, there will be no more words that will save us or Vos. Only the spilling of blood.”
Her team was silent for a moment, chewing over their memories and their fears.
At last, Zera said, “I think... that was always our fate, from the moment we heard his laugh on the plains.”
“Then we’re agreed?” Kreya said. “First I lie, then we fight.”
Around her, her friends nodded, one after another, with Jentt last, reluctant but agreed. Unanimous.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Holding the boy’s hand, Kreya walked through the stone skull into the guild headquarters. She gave their names to the guards at the front but spoke to no one else. It was crowded—Grand Master Lorn had summoned bone workers from across Vos to experience Eklor’s “miracle,” and they’d obviously begun to arrive, clogging the hallways and filling the great hall.
“Are you scared?” Yarri asked in a small voice.
“Of course,” Kreya said. “Only fools aren’t scared.”
“Oh.” His voice was even smaller.
“But that doesn’t mean we don’t do what needs to be done anyway. Fear just means you’re alive. And that you care about staying that way. It’s a good thing. You just can’t let it make your decisions.”
“Will Master Eklor be here?”
“I certainly hope so.” She tried to keep the viciousness out of her voice and knew she’d completely failed. She gripped the boy’s hand harder and increased her pace. She wore her best don’t-fuck-with-me expression, and the clumps of bone workers reacted accordingly—they parted to let her through.
As she passed by, a few bone workers called to her by name.She glanced over, and their names clicked into her head as she recognized them: Uvi, Penrek, Briel. But she didn’t stop to greet them. One of them, Briel, jogged up to her. Once, they’d been students together here. Now, the years had carved craters into Briel’s cheeks. “Master Kreya!” Briel sounded delighted to see her. “It’s been years! How have you been? Is it true what I heard, that Jentt lives?”
“You should leave,” Kreya told her. “Quickly and quietly, with as many as will go with you. No matter what you’ve heard or may hear. If you value your life and your soul, leave.”
