Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns #4) - Kendare Blake Page 0,101
to go back.”
“Absolutely not.” Caragh shakes her head. “Your mother is gone. I’m no warrior, but I won’t let you go alone.”
“I’m not alone.”
“But I’m all that—” Caragh stops.
Jules looks at her. Caragh raised her, when Madrigal left. She taught her how to use her gift. And those years she spent away at the Black Cottage were all for her. For Jules. No one makes Jules feel safe like Caragh does. Even now, when she would ask for no more, all Jules wants is for Caragh to stay.
“I need you to go back. For Fenn.”
“Fenn has Matthew,” Caragh says, but her face falls.
“I need you to go back for the others, to get them to safety if we fail. Every Milone’s life will be forfeit if we lose, and I can’t let that happen to Grandma Cait and Ellis. I need you in Sunpool to help the others fall back to Wolf Spring. And from there to disappear. Take my little brother. Take Matthew. And don’t let Katharine find you.”
“Jules,” Caragh says. She reaches out and hugs her tightly, like she has not done since Jules was a little girl. Too soon, she turns and walks away. “I’ll go,” she says over her shoulder. “And if I see Arsinoe, I’ll send her in the right direction.”
Caragh heads quickly down the hill, and passes Emilia on her way up.
“Caragh?” Emilia calls. “Caragh, where are you going?” She joins Jules at her campsite. “Where is Caragh going?”
“I sent her back.”
Emilia stares after her, as if considering the loss of another fighter. But then she nods.
“Good. I’m glad.”
“Arsinoe should have caught up with us by now.”
“She’ll be here,” Emilia says, unconcerned.
“We should send a scout back to look for her.”
“Mmph,” Emilia grunts.
“Is that a yes? I haven’t figured out how to interpret all of your noises yet.” She nudges the warrior in the shoulder. Emilia swats her away.
“Do not try to disarm me.” She glances at Jules, annoyed. “And it was a no. We will not waste scouts. The battle is ahead, not behind.”
“You know we need her and Daphne to stand against Katharine and whatever Katharine controls. What she did in Bastian—”
“We only need you,” Emilia snaps. “Our Legion Queen. I hope that Arsinoe falls down that hole inside the cave. I hope she and her dead queen leave us in peace.”
“You don’t mean that, and you don’t believe it. You’re brave, but you’re not stupid.” Jules looks down at the army, and stiffens. She cannot forget the things she saw in the warriors’ city. The brutality of it. And the utter one-sidedness.
“Are you afraid?” Emilia asks.
“Of course I am. Aren’t you?”
“Yes.” She grins. “But the war gift . . . I enjoy the fear. I drink it like ale. Do you not feel that?” She turns to Jules and runs a finger along her chin. The touch and the look set off something deep in the pit of Jules’s stomach. Something that feels both familiar and completely new. “Do you not like it, even a little bit?” Jules takes a shaky breath, and Emilia steps closer to take her face in her hands.
“It is not long before we fight. Not long before this is settled, one way or another. The fighting will be . . . chaotic. Full of blood and chance. We will lose friends.”
She is so close. Her dark eyes glittering.
Jules chuckles awkwardly.
“Is this what passes for war-gifted flirting?” Emilia laughs, and Jules takes her hand. “All this talk of losing each other . . .”
“I will not lose you,” Emilia says.
“You don’t know that. Unless—” Jules steps back. “Do you mean to keep me out of the fighting? So surrounded by soldiers that I’m completely out of danger? I didn’t come this far to do that, Emilia. That’s not the kind of warrior queen you made.”
“And it is not the kind of queen I want,” Emilia says. She pulls Jules close. Just as their lips touch, Jules shakes her head, and Emilia withdraws.
“I’m sorry,” Jules says.
“Are you afraid?”
“No.”
“Do you not feel it, then?”
“No, I—I don’t know. And I know this sounds stupid. I know that Joseph is dead. I know he’s not coming back, and he wouldn’t mind. I know that we’re fighting soon, and we might not have much time. But I—I just don’t know.”
Emilia drops her eyes, clearly disappointed.
“Are you angry with me?”
“For your loyal heart?” Emilia reaches out and tucks Jules’s hair behind her ear. “I would never be angry about that.”