“I thought your kind couldn’t get drunk?”
“Not on human alcohol. But here, we have certain plants, certain mushrooms, that have an intoxicating effect when smoked or brewed. The Rivertoads never turned Brahm away until he ran out of coin. Rivertoads almost killed us on the way to Mount Damocles. They would have killed me, if not for you. No one should trust a Rivertoad, Eloise. Their only loyalty is to the highest bidder. They have no conscience and no limits. They’ll work for elves or shades or witches, sometimes fighting on both sides of a skirmish. I don’t relish having to use them, but we may not have a choice. I owe it to you and this kingdom to pursue every option when it comes to fighting this war, and that includes the Rivertoads.”
“What use are soldiers we can’t trust?”
“Good question. Warbill seems to believe that Victusforged a relationship with the travelers. According to what he heard, the Rivertoads are as frustrated with this regime as the other regions of the kingdom. For the first time, their routes of travel are being disrupted by new laws and taxes. It’s possible we have aligning priorities.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend?”
He slants me a sad smile. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“So, we talk to their leader and convince him that joining us is for their own good. Promise them freedom once you’re back on the throne.”
“Sounds easier than it is. For one, no one knows who the leader of the Rivertoads actually is.”
“What? How is that possible?”
“Rivertoads are extremely secretive about their political structure. I’ve heard they’re ruled by a king, but the person holding that title seems to change frequently. In the past, by the time my father figured out who it was, they’d been replaced. Their rulers are not named by bloodline, although I can’t say how it is done. My family never understood their culture.”
I ponder that as I watch the children hunker down in the nest of blankets in front of the fire. They look so tiny. So vulnerable. “We should get some rest,” I say. “I need my strength tomorrow if we are going to trick the Rivertoads into believing we’re someone else and trusting us with vital information. I need to be at my strongest.”
He moves toward the bed, but I stop him with a hand at the center of his chest. “Ariadne and Warbill claimed the bed. I’m afraid we have the floor. Lucky for us, Ariadne brought some material with her when she fled her shop. We have something that will serve as a blanket.”
I dig in the wardrobe and find some heavyweightfabric that looks and feels like wool. Damien helps me spread it out in front of the small wood-burning stove in the kitchen area. He lies down first and offers me his shoulder. I cuddle into his side, resting my head on his broad chest, the thump of his heart beneath my cheek a steady, soothing sound. He tosses his cloak over both of us, and we fall into an uneasy sleep, waking only for a moment when Warbill and Ariadne return.
8
Journey
Damien
My bride deserves the softest bed, the sweetest waking, and a breakfast fit for the queen she is. Unfortunately, when we open our eyes again, we are on the same hard floor on which we fell asleep. The material beneath us is no match for the rough, splintered wood under it. I have no coffee to offer her, just more blood and drying meat. Now that she’s a shade, it will keep her strong, but I suspect she doesn’t enjoy it. I can see the fatigue setting in. We haven’t even mounted our steeds, and already, she looks tired.
“Damien, whatever is causing that scowl on your face and the absolute brooding coming across the bond, you’re wrong.” She takes my face in her hands. “Everything is going to work out. You know it will. The prophecy says so. The one with the dragon wins, remember? Trust the goddess. Have a little faith.”
“Did you know when you married me you’d becomethe queen of a broken kingdom, of battle-scarred men, orphaned children, and land soaked with spilled blood? A queen of ramshackle cabins? What kind of king makes his queen sleep on the floor?”
“Don’t be so dramatic. If you’ll remember, I put it at fifty-fifty odds that I’d be queen of nothing and we’d both be dead right now, so this is a vast improvement.” She stands from our spot on the floor and cracks her back, then smiles down at me, offering her hand to help me up. I don’t need her help, but I take it anyway, standing with a shake of my head.
“How can you be so consistently positive about all this?”
She shrugs. “I’m happy.” She repacks her bag, which doesn’t take long because we slept in yesterday’s clothes, and heads outside. I follow, confused.
“You’re happy?” My voice strains on the words. “How can you be happy after everything that’s happened to us? Everything that’s in front of us.”
The giggle she gives as she straps her bag onto Romulus is frustratingly simple. “Because I would rather be going through this with you than with anyone else on any world.” She snorts. “When are you going to understand, Damien? We’ve already died together. We’ve walked the shadowpath hand in hand and faced a vengeful goddess. What’s sleeping on the floor in comparison?”
I kiss her with enough vigor she has to arch her back. She’s grinning ear to ear when I stop.
“What was that for?” she asks.
“For being the person you are. The queen I married. The love of my existence.”
She snorts. “Are you ready to become someone else? Velis and Marquis, cousins from the west villages, fleeing certain starvation on their steeds, Scout and Atticus?”
I shake my head. “I was wrong to assume that anyone from the west villages was free to roam Tenebris. After what happened to Victus, I think our safest story is to claim we’re citizens of the Borderlands. I believe Odette’s people still have favor with the crown.”
“Velis and Marquis, from the northwest Borderlands, then.”
