The Whitefire Crossing - By Courtney Schafer Page 0,93

the forest. Kiran obediently turned to face the trees again. The hiding space hadn’t looked very big. “How will I breathe?”

“It’s not air tight,” Dev said. “That’s why you have to be so quiet.” He jumped down from the cart. Kiran followed, slowly. Now that the moment of truth was fast approaching, his nerves shrieked louder than ever. His imagination cast up one dismal scenario after another. The hennanwort, dissolving his barriers...Dev, handing him helpless to the Alathians...

Yet if Dev had intended to tell the Alathians, he’d surely have done so during his night in Kost, and returned with them in force rather than alone. Instead of focusing on fears, Kiran ought to consider the future after a successful border crossing.

“Once we reach Kost, you’ll take me to Gerran? Bren said Gerran would provide me the paperwork and supplies I need to travel onward.”

Dev jerked his head in a nod. “I’ll take you straight there. He’ll stash you someplace safe to sleep off the yeleran. And once you wake up—whatever Bren arranged, Gerran will do.” He spoke with an odd intensity that made Kiran wonder if Dev found it equally difficult to imagine a successful end to their journey.

Strange indeed, to think of traveling on without Dev as a guide. “When I wake up...will I see you, again?”

“No. I told you, once we cross, you’re on your own.” Dev’s clipped tone and dark expression reminded Kiran all too well of their conversation in the cave. Regret seized him with surprising strength. He hadn’t realized how badly he’d wanted Dev’s black opinion of him to improve. Kiran told himself it didn’t matter, not so long as Dev kept his word.

Besides, Dev’s brusque manner might be merely from nerves. His surely rivaled Kiran’s. After all, it was Dev who would die if Kiran was wrong about the hennanwort, and Dev who had to undergo the scrutiny of the guards and the mage at the border. Kiran was struck again by how much Dev was sacrificing and risking, to get him safely into Alathia.

“Dev. Um. I just wanted to say thank you. For everything.”

Dev shifted, uncomfortably. “I’m sure as hell not doing this out of the goodness of my heart.” He ran a hand over his face and turned away. “I’ll load up the sacks, and then we’ll go. Take a rest, and have something to eat. You won’t want to take the yeleran on an empty stomach.” Dev tossed a parcel to Kiran. “Got this in Kost for you.”

Kiran untied the parcel to find a loaf of spiced bread, a small tin of jam, and an almond pastry. His mouth watered with painful force. He hadn’t eaten anything since Dev had left the day before, too distracted by his fears. And before that, he’d had only jerky, hardtack, and dried fruit for days on end.

Dev flashed a wry grin as he strode past with another bulging sack. “Worst comes to worst, at least you’ll have had a proper meal, right?”

Kiran bit into the pastry. He tried to focus only on the sweetness bursting on his tongue. If these were his last minutes of freedom, he wanted to savor them.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

(Dev)

I let Kiran ride in the open cart bed until we were a quarter mile short of the settlement trail. When I pulled the cart to a halt, he stood with the grim intensity of a man waiting to be sentenced. I broke open the hennanwort vial and smeared the green gunk on a piece of seeded bread I’d saved. Khalmet’s hand, I couldn’t believe those crazy Sulanians ate hennanwort willingly. It looked like years-old mold and smelled like rancid oil. I handed the green-slimed bread chunk to Kiran, with a sympathetic grimace.

He stared at it long enough that I stirred, wondering if I ought to prompt him. But his mouth firmed, and he resolutely took a bite. “It doesn’t taste quite as bad as it smells,” he said, after a convulsive swallow.

“Thank Suliyya for small favors.” I handed him a waterskin. He forced down the rest of the bread, coughed, made a face, and hastily gulped from the waterskin.

My own throat felt dry as a sandflat. If Kiran was wrong, and the hennanwort let Ruslan through his protections...what would it feel like, to die the way Harken had?

Ruthlessly, I buried the thought. No going back now. I’d made my play, and the outcome was in Khalmet’s hands, not mine.

“How long until it takes effect?” Kiran was trying not to sound nervous, but