Pheronia by my side. She would be my heir, and her children after her.
- CHAPTER 32 -
SEV
NO, KADE’S CROSSBOW WASN’T aimed at Sev’s heart, but at his shoulder.
Before Sev had a chance to inhale, a bolt whizzed by his head and landed with a thump, right into the chest of another soldier sneaking up behind him. He whirled, gasping, his brain catching up with the thunderous pump of his heart. It was Jotham; he lay on the ground, blood spreading from the quarrel embedded in his ribs. The llamas skittered away from the noise and the body—though Sev suspected Kade was calming them; otherwise they’d probably have trampled the pair of them in panic.
True night had fallen, and by the time Sev looked up from the corpse, he could barely see Kade as he took Sev’s arm and dragged him away. They left the pack animals and ducked behind the same copse of trees where they’d spoken privately together mere hours before.
Sev stared numbly at the chaos of the camp, just barely glimpsed between the branches, until he realized Kade was no longer next to him. There was a steep slope down to the waterfall and the gurgling pool, and there Kade crouched, silhouetted in the mist that rose from the water.
He was digging.
His shock receding, Sev scrambled after him, skidding down as quickly and quietly as he could. Did Kade mean to bury Jotham’s and Ott’s bodies? What would be the point, when the entire camp was about to be a graveyard?
Once he came to a stop next to Kade, Sev saw half-empty sacks of grain sprawled in the darkness beside Ott’s abandoned crossbow, their golden contents spread across the ground like scattered stars.
And there, piled on the ground next to them, were a dozen smooth gray rocks. But the way Kade handled them, delicately and with both hands, told Sev that they were more than just stones. This must have been what Kade was doing when he heard Ott accost Sev. But what was he doing?
Their eyes met, Kade’s features barely distinguishable in the twilight. “Those aren’t rocks, are they?” Sev whispered.
Kade slowly shook his head and held one up for Sev to see more closely. Its surface was rounded, like a stone found in a riverbed, its shape carefully smoothed after years under the steady flow of water. In fact, the shape reminded Sev of—
“Eggs,” Kade said, his tone was almost reverent. “Phoenix eggs.”
Sev’s mind flashed back to the conversation he’d had with Trix, when she’d said Sev had almost ruined everything after his failed escape attempt. He’d figured she was talking about getting Kade in trouble, but maybe it was more than that. These sacks of grain, were they concealing these priceless treasures all along? Had Sev unwittingly almost stolen a llama loaded with phoenix eggs?
Shouts echoed from the campsite, and Kade hastily put the egg into the small ditch he’d dug.
“I was supposed to take them to the Riders,” he said, reaching to add the others. “I’ve been watching these eggs from the moment we left Aura Nova, never letting them out of my sight—well, until your escape attempt. But now . . . I don’t think any of us are getting out of here alive.” He swallowed, eyes frantic. “I can’t risk them being discovered. All of this,” he said, his voice heavy with defeat, “for nothing.”
“Not for nothing,” Sev said fiercely. “We’re both here—both still alive. We’ll take them together.”
“There are soldiers everywhere. If they—”
“Exactly,” Sev interrupted, “and I’m one of them.”
Kade reached for an egg, then hesitated. “Sev, I . . .”
“Load up a bag,” Sev insisted, “and we’ll carry them together. If we’re stopped, I’ll tell them I’m under orders. Come on, quickly.”
Kade nodded, looking around for something to pack the eggs into.
Sev jogged up the slope, retrieving a satchel from one of the llamas. He emptied what he could and held it open for Kade to load.
The eggs were about the size of one of Sev’s hands, and as heavy as true stones. With twelve of them packed together, the straps cut deep grooves into Kade’s skin as he slung it over his shoulder.
Arms and legs tingling with adrenaline, Sev straightened and took in their surroundings. The river was the outermost boundary of their camp, enclosing them on its eastern side. If they followed it south, away from the falls, they could find a place where it was narrow enough to cross. Then, once over the water, they could proceed