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Kase muttered a few curses under his breath, but didn’t scoop me back into his arms, simply stayed close while I crossed the room to Herja.
She beamed as I walked steadier with each step and took hold of the tray.
“How do you feel?” she whispered.
“It’s beginning to feel more natural.”
It meant something to know my brother’s lover, a woman who had known me a matter of weeks, seemed to choke on emotion for my sake.
Hells, it meant everything to know we were, in many ways, family with an entire castle in a distant kingdom. My brother was their brother now, and I had discovered, to the Ferus line, it meant Hagen’s family was also theirs.
Kase would never admit it, but I knew it mattered to him much the same.
“You should know, Raum and Halvar found a unit of your palace’s guards a few lengths to the East,” Elise said.
I grew fonder of the Northern queen the longer I knew her. She came to fight a war where some of her people might die—where she or her king might die—and every time she spoke it was with a steady voice. With confidence, as if this battle had already been won.
“We need to leave,” I told Kase.
“You’re barely walking.”
I pressed one palm to his heart. “We’ll move slowly anyway by taking back roads. By the time we reach the deep grove, I’ll be my old self again.”
He looked away, jaw tight. “You must promise me that if you aren’t, then you will stay back.”
My first instinct was to protest, but I bit my tongue. His request wasn’t only coming from his fears. If I was too weak to fight or use mesmer, the others would be distracted. They would be put at greater risk trying to save my neck and they could get theirs slit.
I kissed him softly. “I promise.”
With a curt nod, Kase took my hand and walked with me in slow, small steps to the door. He glanced at Elise. “Tell your warriors we’re leaving.”
“What are we doing with all the servants and Oskar Vill?”
“They’re coming with us. That or we only take Oskar and kill the rest.”
I pinched my lips. “Oh? Has my husband taken up slaughtering littles in the last four nights?”
Kase kissed the back of my hand. “As I said, we’re taking them with us. I don’t trust anyone but our folk not to scurry to the nearest skyd unit.”
I forced a smile, trying to hide my disquiet at the thought of walking with such unsteady legs all the way to Jagged Grove.
To know someone since childhood meant knowing subtle expressions. Kase could read the smallest flick of my brow, the slightest twitch of my cheek. When my mouth tightened into a thin line, he leaned in and whispered, “Don’t worry, Mallie. They have several horses and a wagon. With the other skyds we handled, we have enough fatigues and leathers to look like a small unit of guards traveling with supplies.”
My shoulders slumped in relief, drawing out a chuckle from Kase. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led us away from the pen where the people of the homestead were being guarded.
The gray face of Edvard Vill remained staked on a sword. To know it was done at the hands of Kase would’ve been terrifying once. But not now. I’d accepted his brutality long ago.
Kase pulled back a tent flap in the center of the yard.
Inside, savory herbs from teas meant to chase away sleep and briny hints of fish jerky awoke my senses. My insides grumbled, drawing out a chuckle from Isak who sat near the flap on a barrel of seed corn. Without asking, Isak handed me a strip of jerky and tin cup filled with the pungent drink.
The taste was smooth and ignited a bit of energy the instant it struck my tongue. I gave Isak a look of gratitude, unashamed at the sigh of satisfaction that slipped out on my next drink.
In the center of the tent, Halvar leaned over a saw table, a map of the four Eastern regions spilled out in front of him. Raum and Tova were describing the landscape near the grove and Black Palace. Valen sat at the head of the table, speaking in a low voice with Niklas and Ari, but the king was the first to see us.
He smacked Ari in the chest, silencing him, then rose. “Malin. Good to see you up.”
“Rather lazy of you, spending your days in bed while we sleep in the rain,” Ari said, a corner of his mouth curled up. “One more day, and I had a marvelous uprising planned to steal your crown.”
