back of his mind, Sev wanted to believe too. He wanted to believe in something, and whatever his mixed feelings about Kade and his cause, Sev couldn’t let him take the fall for this.
Kade had been watching him, staring intently at his face. They were the same height, their faces on a level, but Sev was much narrower, thinner—like the sinewy string to Kade’s carved bow, the supple branch to Kade’s sturdy tree.
A dull pain shot up from Sev’s hands, and he looked down, unclenching his fists. His joints ached with the release of tension, and his knuckles had gone white with the lack of blood flow.
Kade’s hands still rested on the llama, and they were shaking. He was afraid. Did he fear being alone out here with Sev—or did he fear being caught alone with Sev?
Something dark and desperate unfurled in Sev’s stomach. He was afraid too—but not for the same reasons.
“Come on,” he said, turning around. “We’re going back.”
As the end of the convoy came into view, Sev realized it was no longer moving.
He looked at Kade, who had also noticed the halted progress.
“Just—let me,” Sev said. He shoved the llama’s reins into Kade’s hands, then lengthened his strides.
As the three of them rejoined the party, Captain Belden—who had long since returned from his meeting with the informant—was standing at the back of the line. Sev’s insides turned to liquid. This was not good.
Officer Yara, who was next to Captain Belden, noted Sev’s approach and marched over.
“How dare you remove an animal from the convoy, mageslave?” she barked, speaking directly to Kade and ignoring Sev entirely.
A hot spasm of anger lanced through Sev’s stomach, and a protective urge reared up inside him. He hated the way the soldiers treated the bondservants, and he hated the reminder that this was the very reason Kade disliked him in the first place. But they were in a dangerous position right now, and Sev had to be careful.
“It was me, Officer Yara,” Sev said loudly, stepping forward. “I took both the llama and the bondservant with me,” he explained, putting extra emphasis on the proper term for Kade’s position. Though Sev didn’t dare glance in his direction, he thought he sensed Kade’s reaction to his words. Soldiers never stood up for bondservants.
Officer Yara, too, seemed surprised by them, raising her eyebrows and causing her burn scars to stretch and turn white against her brown skin. “And who gave you permission to abandon your post, soldier?” She jerked her chin at Kade and the llama. “They are the property of Rolan, governor of Ferro, and by proxy, Captain Belden. They are not yours to do with what you wish.”
Property. Sev took a deep breath, composing himself. Lowering his voice to the slow, dim register the others were used to, he answered.
“The llama was limping, Officer Yara. The bondservant reckoned he had a muscle cramp and needed a quick rubdown, so we stepped aside to treat the animal. We didn’t want to delay the convoy.”
“Is this the lame beast?” Captain Belden asked, cutting in before Officer Yara could respond. He had been standing just behind them, consulting a map that his attendant held out for him. Waving the map impatiently aside, he stepped forward.
The captain was a weasel of a man with a pale, pointed face and thinning straw-like hair. He was battle-hardened, though, and had a reputation for cruelty, despite his taste for fine wine and embroidered silk.
“Yes, Captain. He’s walking fine now, sir, and—”
“Stand aside,” he commanded, and with a quiet snick and a flash of steel, he drew his dagger. The elegant weapon put Sev’s stolen dagger to shame, with its embossed leather grip and swirling, knotted embellishments, not to mention the gleaming Ferronese steel blade. He snatched the llama’s leads from Kade, who resisted for a breath before releasing them. Without a moment’s thought or hesitation, Captain Belden drew the knife across the animal’s throat.
Sev barely had time to register what was happening before the llama let out a strangled snort of pain, then collapsed, a shower of blood spattering across the ground as the warm flicker of his life was snuffed out.
Next to him, Kade staggered, and Sev fought to hide his own visceral reaction. Only an animage would truly feel the animal’s death the way Kade did, and Sev couldn’t give himself away—not while the captain stood there, bloody blade in hand.
There were plenty of misconceptions about animages in the empire. Many thought they were half-animal, wild and