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“Just listen.” Kallus put his hand on my shoulder, and warmth spread through my body. “I need Ebba—I need your kingdom—but I don’t intend to see him destroy Honor and her child. You have to help her.”
“I will.” The words came out almost unintelligible.
Kallus looked down at me and sighed. “I wish I were sure you were capable. Did you hear what you needed to tonight?”
“Ebba needs a mortal form.”
“And he has a moment of weakness when he assumes that mortal form. It’s your one shot. Well,” he paused, correcting himself. “It’sHonor’sone shot.”
I had learned something else, too. Honor and I weren’t the only ones who had ever carried part of Ebba’s power.Kalluscarried a fragment of Ebba’s power. I had seen Ebba’s power when he first altered Lerick, when Lysander spun his web. There were only two ways that was possible. Either he had taken Ebba’s blessing like Lysander… or he had taken Ebba’s power by trickery.
I forced my eyes not to focus on the scar just visible under the neck of Kallus’s shirt. The scar where he must have pierced his own heart to draw in Ebba’s power. Instead, I raised my eyes to Kallus’s beautiful, cruel face.
“Do you think the child is yours?” Kallus demanded.
“It's not likely.” The words tore something open inside me, unexpectedly.
“Small mercies then,” Kallus said. “If Ebba catches you, he will certainly kill you. So good luck.”
He laid his hand on my shoulder and his magic passed through me. It was gray and heavy, and I could’ve choked on it, but as soon as I had adjusted, I felt strong enough to shadow travel.
“I’ll protect her,” I promised.
“We’ll see,” Kallus said. “Because I can’t.”
His shadow was falling across my face, so I closed my eyes and slipped the bonds.
CHAPTER47
Honor
As we headedthrough the forest to Rylow, where we’d prepare for a counter attack, Branok, Lynx and Arren told us how they ended up at the village. Apparently the village had rebelled against Kallus’s soldiers. When the soldiers demanded shelter, the villagers had fed poisoned food to the soldiers. And so, here was their revenge.
“I wonder how much of this kind of violence we’re going to see,” Damyn said. “Yesterday, the predators and prey were at war. Today, we all have a common enemy.”
“Unity through bloodshed,” I muttered. “It doesn’t sound so great to me.”
Knowing how dangerous we would be to the villagers, and just what would happen to anyone who is found to be helping us, we decided we needed to stay away from any occupied areas.
We set off through the dense, treacherous dark forest, knowing we’d come out alongside the river near Rylow. Roving bands of Scourge passed by us, but we hid among the trees and they passed us by.
Hours into the journey, a whisper came in the back of my mind.“Where are you?”
“You're all right.”Relief flooded me. The next second, I thought,well that's unexpected.
“Hurtful,”Zehr thought into my mind.“I've been trying to help you. Trying to figure out where all those men of yours are.”
My heart lifted.“Do you know where Talisyn and Jaik and Caldren are?”
“No. But I can tell you where they aren't. They aren't corpses in the bone kingdom, and they aren't Kallus’s prisoners. So, ruling out the places that they aren't, it seems like good news.”
“What’s going on with the Scourge?”
“I can’t tell,”Zehr answered.“Some of them still seem out of control. Others are acting… human. Returning home. I don’t have any power over them anymore, either way.”
“We’re heading through the forest to Rylow. Kallus’s men are everywhere, and we're a danger to any village we stay in. I can’t reach them, but hopefully Jaik and Caldren will fall back there too… and we’ll counterattack.”
“Maybe we should have worked out the plan before you destroyed everyone's powers?”Zehr asked.
