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Raum and Lynx passed around what skydguard leathers we’d stolen. Oskar donned his full uniform with the dark gambeson and leather vambraces. The rest of us added what small skydguard touches we could. A blade on a skyd belt, a woolen cowl with the symbol of the Black Palace, a cloak used during the frosts and rainy seasons.
It would need to be enough. Oskar would need to play his role and convince his fellow skyds, and whatever fae awaited us, that we belonged.
I pulled on one of the hoods, shadowing my face. I’d become Elof again. As the most recognizable to Ivar, it would keep the others safe if I was concealed.
Malin’s hand curled around my arm. Her hair had shifted to snowy cascades of curls over her shoulders, and one by one her freckles were fading. “Kase, if you wind up fatally wounded up there, I will kill you.”
A smile cut over my face. “Is that a threat?”
“A promise.”
My palm covered one side of her face, the other kept her body tucked safely against mine, and breaths came sharper. “I love you. Stay safe, stay near that fool—” I used my chin to point at Ari. He would keep Malin’s face concealed. The ambassador pretended not to hear me, but he made a gesture with his hand that was a silent curse for me to go to the hells. I grinned back at Malin. “If anyone comes close . . .”
“I know.” She ran her thumb over my bottom lip. “Introduce them to the Otherworld. You make this difficult, Nightrender.”
“As do you.”
One final kiss, and I joined the others at the front.
A prickle of mesmer rippled over my skin as I shifted features and concealed others around me in night. Valen came to my side, focused on securing his second axe to his belt. His eyes widened when he caught sight of my face.
“I didn’t realize you were an illusionist.”
“Only when I’m afraid.” My jaw pulsed in tension. What a thing to say. The words spilled out before I could stop them, and I promptly looked away to hide the flush in my face.
Valen gripped my shoulder, shaking me briefly. “Glad I’m not the only one.”
The king took the first step into the night. A small grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. At times I was too focused on my own fears, I never noticed anyone else’s.
The truth was we were all terrified.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
THE MEMORY THIEF
Ari kepthis eyes trained on the treetops. I snorted a laugh, desperate to forget the ache in my legs. My skin prickled like blood constantly rushed and pooled in my toes, shooting a spark of pain up my shins with every step.
“Has your raven returned?”
The ambassador shot me a narrowed glance, but soon returned his attention to the tangled branches. “As a matter of fact, I did spot the bleeding bird.”
Ari Sekundär laughed a great deal, talked even more, but he was brutal. A true warrior with thick arms for swinging blades and axes. His face had grown a layer of russet scruff over his chin, and the smeared kohl under his eyes added a feral look to his complexion.
He killed as well as anyone, but simply enjoyed grinning through the blood.
To think such a man was frightened of a bird became one of the most entertaining things I’d heard in a long time.
“You’re laughing at me,” he grumbled, “but I tell you, there is a raven following me.”
“What if it is following me?” Elise tossed her braid off her shoulder and batted her dark lashes at her friend. “Not everything is about you, Ari.”
“The fact that every word is not praising my handsomeness is truly one of life’s gravest travesties.” Ari faced the road again, but the corded muscles in his neck held tightly to his unease. “In this case, however, I would like the damn bird to find someone else to pester.”
Elise laughed and let her head fall to Ari’s shoulder for a moment. “How fortunate we two queens are to have the man who is the desire of a raven’s heart as our mighty protector tonight.”
“I am not protecting. I am walking in a place which happens to be beside two queens.”
Elise gave me a bemused look, shaking her head. “You forget, Ari, I know my husband better than you—”
