would notice regardless, but if he stared, she’d probably say something.
She waved her hand as Karris disappeared down the stairs, and the rest of the Blackguard withdrew from earshot.
“So, Gavin,” she said, folding her arms. “A son. Explain.”
Chapter 6
Green Bridge was less than a league upstream from Rekton. Kip’s body screamed at him to quit running, but every time he slowed his pace, he imagined the soldiers coming up the opposite side of the river. He had to get there first.
About twelve nightmares of enslavement and death later, he did. Isabel and Ramir and Sanson were relaxing against the bridge, fishing. Isabel was bundled against the cold, watching while Sanson tried to tease out rainbow trout and Ram told him how he was doing it wrong. They all looked at Kip as he bent over, puffing. No sight of soldiers anywhere.
“Gotta go,” Kip said in between breaths. “Soldiers coming.”
“Oh, no, oh, no! Not soldiers!” Ram said in mock panic.
Sanson jumped to his feet, thinking Ramir was serious. Sanson was bucktoothed and gullible, good-natured, always the last to get a joke and the most likely to be the butt of it.
When they’d first heard about the recruiters demanding levies, it had taken them about a second to conclude that if one of them were pressed into King Garadul’s service, it would be Ram. At sixteen, he was a year older than the rest of them, and the only one who seemed remotely like a soldier.
“I’m not,” Kip said, still bent over, hands on his knees, breathing hard.
Still uncertain, Sanson said, “My ma said the alcaldesa had a big fight with the king’s man. She said the alcaldesa told him to stick those orders in his ear.”
“If I know the alcaldesa, she didn’t say ear,” Isa said. She grinned wickedly, and Sanson and Ram laughed. They just weren’t getting it.
Kip saw Isa look at Ram—just a quick glance, looking for his approval. As she found it, Kip saw her pleasure double, and he felt sick in his stomach. Again.
“What’s going on, Kip?” she asked. Big brown eyes, full lips, full curves, flawless skin. It was impossible to talk to her and not be aware of her beauty. Prettier even than Liv, really, and infinitely more here.
Kip tried to find words. People are coming to kill us, and I’m worried about some girl who doesn’t even like me.
From Green Bridge, it was three or four hundred paces to the nearest orange grove. There was precious little cover between the bridge and the trees.
“There are—” Kip started, but Ram ran right over his words.
“If they conscript me, I’m going to volunteer to become a battle drafter,” Ram said. “It’s dangerous, I know, but if I have to leave everything I love here, I’m going to make something of myself.” He looked into the distance, off to a grand future. Kip wanted to punch him in his handsome, heroic face.
“Why don’t you and Sanson run off?” Ram asked. “You know, hide from the big bad army? Isa and I want to say goodbye.”
“Why can’t you say goodbye with us here?” Sanson asked.
Isa blushed.
Ram’s eyes flashed. “Seriously, you two, don’t be assholes, huh?” he said, pretending to be joking.
“Ram, listen,” Kip said. “The army is coming to make an example of us. We need to leave. Right. Now. Master Danavis said they’d seize the bridge.” In fact, Green Bridge itself was a relic from the last army that came through. It was all green luxin—the most durable luxin: when sealed, it broke down more slowly than any other kind. They said that when Gavin Guile had led his army through here on his way to crush his evil brother Dazen Guile’s army, Gavin Guile, the Prism himself, had drafted this bridge. By himself. In seconds. The army had pushed through without slowing, though its foragers had stolen all the food and livestock still in town. All the men in the town had been pressed into service on one side or the other.
It was why they had all grown up without fathers. No one in Rekton should treat an army passing through as a light matter. Not even the children.
“Do me a favor, Tubby. I’ll make it up to you,” Ram said.
“If you go with the soldiers, you won’t be here to make it up to me,” Kip said. He wanted to kill Ram when he called him Tubby.
An ugly look passed over Ram’s features. They’d fought