Ericen lowered his hands to his sides. “You were right about her, Thia. About everything. I always knew you were, but I was too much of a coward to act on it.”
I swallowed against my dry throat, unsettled by the earnest look behind his eyes. He’d lied to me before. In Rhodaire, he’d convinced me he was every bit the cruel Illucian prince I’d expected, and I’d believed it. He was too good at telling me what I wanted to hear.
Who was to say he wasn’t pretending now?
But what did he gain—what did Razel gain—by his coming here alone to spin a wild tale?
Slowly, he sheathed his sword. “I made a mistake. I get that. But I thought you of all people would understand how hard it is to have your entire life turned upside down. For everything to change.”
My grip tightened on my bow. After Ronoch, normal had seemed so far away, the word had lost meaning. That lost feeling was akin to drowning, trapped beneath the dark waters with no idea which way was up.
“You asked me to leave everything I ever knew behind.” Ericen’s voice roughened. “I thought I couldn’t do it, but I was wrong. You showed me that I could.”
“And you showed us that you’re a traitorous bastard,” Kiva replied. She angled her sword toward his throat. “I don’t believe a word he’s saying, Thia.”
But I wanted to. I wanted to more than anything, and that scared me.
Ericen didn’t look away from me, even as Kiva’s sword hovered inches from his throat. The idea of her running him through bothered me a lot more than I wanted it to. He held my gaze unflinchingly, a familiar glint in them. A challenge. To trust him?
The rooftop door banged open.
Another dark figure erupted onto the roof brandishing a black gold sword. I barely got my bow around to block the upward strike. The force of it knocked my bow from my hands, sending it skittering across the rooftop.
Kiva pivoted to intercept the second attack, forcing them back. I retreated, Kiva between me and the now grinning Vykryn. Shearen looked every bit as vicious as he had when he’d tormented me in Sordell.
“You made for a wonderful distraction, Eri,” the blond boy said.
My stomach dropped. Ericen had been stalling. Everything he’d said was a lie.
The prince stepped forward, lips parting as if to say something, but he swallowed the words down even as his eyes begged me to understand.
“This was far more than I expected to find.” Shearen hefted Sinvarra, grinning at the growl Kiva emitted. “You’ll be returning with us, Princess. Ericen?”
The prince drew his sword, his eyes promising apologies even as he lifted the blade.
A resounding screech barely preceded Res’s diving form. Rising from the dive, he landed, talons extended, on the rooftop ledge, wings flared wide. In a powerful stroke, he brought them together, releasing a wind that forced Shearen and Ericen back a step.
Kiva moved, striking Sinvarra from Shearen’s hands. She swept the sword up through her forward momentum and rose with the point directed straight at Shearen’s neck. Ericen fell still, eyes wide at the balancing crow. Was that…awe? I’d known Ericen had an interest in the crows. He’d tried to ask me about them more than once, and I’d refused to answer. But I’d always thought it was a fascination with their power. Not this…reverence.
“This seems familiar.” Kiva grinned and pressed the sword point a little deeper into Shearen’s skin.
He hissed.
“I should slit your throat,” she said.
“No!” Ericen lurched forward but stilled when Kiva tilted the blade further.
“Ericen,” Shearen growled, but he fell silent at a sharp look from the prince. The last I’d seen the two of them, they’d been at each other’s throats. Now Shearen was taking orders without complaint? What had happened these last couple of weeks?
I hurried across the roof to snatch up my bow, nocking an arrow and aiming it at the prince. “Leave.”
“Thia—”
“Be thankful I’m allowing you to go unharmed,” I said, ignoring Kiva’s sidelong gaze that asked why in the Saints’ name I was doing just that. But I couldn’t explain it to her. I barely understood it myself.
Despite everything that’d happened, I couldn’t bring myself to think of Ericen as my enemy again.
Ericen grabbed Shearen’s arm, forcing him toward the door. Even up against a crow, Shearen looked loath to surrender. But as Ericen shoved him through the door, the prince glanced back at me, and I swore he looked relieved. Then they were through the door and down the stairs.
I leaned over the building edge. Two massive black Illucian warhorses waited at the mouth of the alley below. Shearen and Ericen emerged, swiftly mounting and kicking their horses into a canter.
Make sure they clear town, I told Res.
He leapt into the air, circling us once before taking off after the horses as they made for the boulevard that curved out onto the traveling road.
“Come on,” I said to Kiva. “Let’s go check on the others.”
* * *
With the help of the town’s leader, Samra had seen to the townspeople. By the time we returned, they’d already organized cleanup crews and started guiding the remaining crowd back to their homes.
As Kiva left me to get a report from a nearby soldier, Samra stepped up, blocking my path. She’d yet to remove her mask. “You let him go.”
I frowned. “Malkin? What did you want me to do, kill him?”
Her gaze cut toward me. “You’re at war. You’re forging an alliance against one of the greatest military mights this world has ever seen. You can’t scare it with a little rain and wind. Eventually, you and that crow are going to have to spill blood.” She didn’t wait for me to respond before pushing on through the dispersing crowd.
I let her go, unsettled. My mother probably would have captured them and had them executed or killed them before they could escape. I hadn’t wanted to risk Res when forcing them out was an option, but it was more than that.
This was the first time I’d ever asked him to hurt someone. The first time we might have killed or seriously injured someone. But Samra was right. Eventually, we would have to.
I continued through the crowd, seeking Caylus. I didn’t make it far. It seemed every single person wanted to speak to me. They bowed and thanked me, pressing tokens of thanks and luck into my hands that I respectfully returned, promising them their safety was enough.
Then a curvaceous, thick-muscled woman stepped into my path, a broad smile on her kind face. I let out an involuntary gasp of recognition. “Jenara!”