Page 88 of The Silversmith

No more.

Just because I wasn’t ready didn’t mean they had to stay.

“Enough.” I stood. “You will go home. All of you.”

Gemma gave me a warning glare. “Ary—”

“The four of you will head west to Avendrel.”

Conviction. I’d had to fake it many times before, but not this time.

“If the leg can’t be saved, Caz will rest until dawn tomorrow,” I continued. “And you will leave once the bleeding stops. You will take horses. Do not stop until you get to the Caves. If at any point you are followed, Elias’s forces are strong enough to deal with them. Smyth and I will go to Brinnea, to Simeon.” I cleared my throat and looked up at him, hopeful. “That is what I want. Will you take me?”

Utter relief and awe stared back at me through his yearning eyes. “Yes, I’ll take you.”

“Let’s all go,” Ezra insisted, looking nervously between me and Gavin. “All of us, let’s go home.”

He meant all of us other than Gavin. But home, to me, did not feel like those Caves.

“I’m not ready.” Whether or not I would ever be ready, I didn’t know. At the very least, I knew I wasn’t ready until I met with Simeon.

And I wasn’t ready to leave him.

Gemma took my hand. “Ary—”

“This is not up for debate. I need to go to Brinnea. It is…” I forced a swallow, forced that fear and anxiety down. I knew I better start practicing. “It is an order.”

Ezra shook his head. “Elias will—”

“If Elias didn’t deem it crucial to deliver me to the Caves himself, he can wait a few more weeks.” The words clapped out of me, angry and hard.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gavin’s lips twitch for a moment before he tamped down his pride with a clenched jaw.

“Caz.” I knelt down, resting my shaking hand on his clean-shaven face. He was in and out, so I wasn’t sure he had heard. “You are going home. Gemma, Finn, and Ezra will take you home. To Marin and the baby.”

His sweat drenched his skin—far too pale now. “Marin will disown me if I don’t bring back her queen.”

“Then you tell her it’s an order,” I gritted my teeth, eyes burning, “from her queen. And that I will…” My throat tightened at the promise I was scared to make. “I will come when I’m ready.” Then I smiled, because this next part was true. “I’ll have to meet that sweet baby, after all.”

His responding grin was his strongest yet.

***

Finn and Ezra stayed with Caz in the tavern’s back room, where they’d moved him to a sofa near the hearth roaring with fire and heat. I watched as Damond fastened a metal lock on the door. Now that the front was incinerated leaving the main room open to the elements, there was direct access from the outside.

It was an effort to refrain from helping Tovick townspeople sift through the temple rubble, but Damond assured me few people had been harmed. Those remaining were under the care of the town healers, and the town leaders were searching for the source of the implosion. My efforts were better spent preparing our friends for their journey.

So I gave those efforts in the kitchen, preparing food to send with them. I chopped and boiled potatoes, sliced bread and meat. Hopefully the food would last to nourish them until they arrived at the Caves. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get there on horseback, but surely faster than we’d traveled from Warrich to Tovick.

For Caz, they had to.

Heat warmed the kitchen from both the stove and wood-burning oven. I cracked open the window above the wide metal sink basin for some crisp, fresh air to dry the sweat on my brow and heard Gemma’s shouts.

Standing on the tips of my toes, I peeked outside to see Gavin, gathering and sharpening blades, preparing them to be stored on belts and in satchels. Gemma followed him around the forested area directly behind the tavern, arms waving, beautiful eyes blazing.

“She is not going anywhere alone with you!”

“She is.” Gavin filled a quiver with arrows. “It’s her choice. She wants to go to Brinnea. I will take her there. She is safe with me.”