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Prisca had translated the code, letting me know what her message had said.
Charge at the Eprothans and create as much confusion as possible. Leave one alive so he can run home and tell the king about how the Gromalians turned on them. All he will remember is that the group wore Gromalian colors and attacked without negotiating.
“We’d found a few hybrids who were traveling with us, and one of them can wield sound.”
I nodded. Being able to deafen an enemy was an incredibly valuable power to have.
Regner would receive word of the fight just as his ambassador informed him that she’d been seen getting close enough to the Gromalian prince that it was clear he was enamored with her. Not to mention the rumors flying that an engagement was soon to be announced.
Prisca was clever. Cunning. She’d proven that much—not just in Eprotha, but with the way she’d hit out at the alliance between Eprotha and Gromalia. But she was also tenderhearted and prone to blaming herself for things she couldn’t have known were coming. The village was a good example.
I had enough experience thatIwas the one who should have anticipated Regner’s actions. But this was insane, even for him.
Telean appeared. She’d merely nodded when Demos had told her about the village—presumably numb to the horror Regner wielded after so many years. She sat next to us, nodding to indicate we should continue our conversation.
“We were crossing over the border when Thol found us,” Demos said.
That was enough to prick my attention. “And just how did he find you?”
Tibris picked up a piece of bread and tore it in two. “He’s a tracker. That’s what his power does. Like all of us humans, he’s not working anywhere near his full potential, but it was obviously enough for him to find us.”
“Can he find objects or just people?”
“Just people,” Demos said. “Believe me, I’ve asked.”
“And how did he know to find you?”
“He said he focused on Prisca. His power brought him to us because we were the closest and we could get him directly to the person he sought.”
I didn’t like it. “And why did he want to find Prisca?”
“So he could kill her,” Demos said.
Every muscle in my body locked up, and I was glancing at the stairs before he’d finished speaking.
“He’s not here,” Demos said. “He went to get some air.”
“He wasn’t himself,” Tibris said carefully. “He said at first he blamed Prisca for all of it and wanted her dead too. But once he stole a horse, the journey took long enough that he realized that wouldn’t help anything. By the time he found us, it was because he needed answers. And because he had nowhere else to go.”
I watched Prisca’s brothers. They were young. Tibris, in particular, had been sheltered in his village for years before he finally left. Demos, on the other hand, had lived a difficult life. The kind of life that had shaped him into someone who understood the choices people made when they were at their worst.
Telean waved a hand at a barmaid, who nodded at her. “It would be foolish to allow him to be alone with her right now,” she murmured. “From what you told me of Nelayra’s reaction yesterday, I find it difficult to believe she would defend herself appropriately if he were to attack.”
Fury burned through my gut at the thought.
“You don’t give her enough credit,” Demos said, his eyes hard.
Telean shook her head at him. I pondered her for a long moment.
Occasionally, Prisca’s aunt saw her as little more than a tool to wield against their enemies. I recognized it, because my brother had used me the same way since I’d reached nine winters. The difference was that I was a born killer. Prisca was a born protector. And if Telean thought I would allow her to break Prisca and mold her into a weapon, she would soon learn differently.
Telean glanced at me, her eyebrows lifting at whatever she saw on my face. I watched her until she looked away.
Everything in me urged me to return upstairs. To shake Prisca from this depression. To dote on her. To doanythingto see her smile.
There was no use denying it anymore. The dreams that both of us had shared, the killing calm that had overtaken me when I’d learned of Conreth’s duplicity, the deepknowingthat had settled in my chest when I looked at Prisca.
She was my mate.
