that web until I saw that you were there with me.”
Kade turned—and was startled at Sev’s close proximity. “It’s too dangerous, Sev.”
“I’ll be careful,” Sev said. “I promise I’ll stay out of trouble.”
Kade’s expression was bleak. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
He turned and left through the hidden passage without another word.
Sev stared after him until the room grew so dark that he was forced to light a lantern. He packed his meager belongings—including the medicine delivered by one of Hestia’s assistants and the box of correspondence supplies from under the tile—and lay down in bed, staring at the ceiling. If he knew where Kade slept, he might’ve gone into the tunnel after him. But what could he say? Sev hated to part ways like this, but he knew he was doing the right thing—the only thing.
Still, sleep was a long time coming.
* * *
The morning dawned bright and clear, and the training yard was a racket of voices and shuffling feet and the clank and jangle of armor and weapons. Near the back of the column was a line of horses for their packs and supplies, and the sight reminded Sev of the last time he’d ventured into Pyra. Days and nights spent under the stars, with Kade and Trix for company. They’d not be traveling high enough to warrant llamas, and a part of Sev yearned for their gentle, woolly company.
Then he saw something that made his heart want to burst from his chest. Kade stood among the group of bondservants who were joining them on the journey into Pyra. Somehow, he’d gotten assigned to the same mission as Sev.
Kade would be coming with him.
He gave Sev a small smile, and Sev couldn’t help the wide grin that split his face in return or the surprising prickle of moisture at the back of his eyes.
He wasn’t alone after all. Kade still had his back.
I might be prepared to fail myself,
but I was not prepared to fail you.
- CHAPTER 26 - VERONYKA
WHILE FALLON’S LETTER BROUGHT news of an attack along the Iron Road, when Tristan sent in his hastily scribbled report about the Silverwood, the commander’s letter—which arrived several days after that—brought word of more attacks to come.
According to Sev, empire soldiers were expected to strike fishing communities along the Aurys, and rather than trying to fend off the upcoming assault along the river, the commander had ordered mass evacuations. Since things were heating up, he’d also decided to send Beryk to take over command of Vayle and assigned Tristan’s patrol to escort the soon-to-be-arriving refugees to Rushlea, where temporary housing would be set up. The Silverwood survivors were to relocate there as well. Vayle was now considered too close to danger and not an ideal place for refugees—or, apparently, Tristan’s green patrol.
Beryk and the rest of the commander’s patrol—minus the commander himself—were due to arrive five days after the Silverwood attack, bringing with them a contingent of stronghold guards as reinforcements.
Veronyka knew Tristan saw it as a demotion, almost as a reprimand or punishment, even though in this instance Veronyka didn’t think that was the case. They were the least experienced, and if soldiers were going to continue to come from the south, they needed their best warriors to be first to respond.
Once they escorted the displaced villagers to Rushlea, Tristan’s patrol would remain there to help build shelters, run the usual patrols, plus watch the road for any more incoming refugees. Some of Beryk’s guards would go with them to help. The commander had slowly been building their ranks at the stronghold since the attack at the Eyrie, with the intention of assigning the guards to villages in cases such as this, when the Phoenix Rider forces were stretched thin and they needed to fill the gaps. The guards would soon be in place in Vayle and Rushlea, along with those already stationed in Prosperity, helping the Riders keep watch and maintain their defenses.
Despite all the action and movement happening within Pyra, Tristan’s patrol seemed more uneasy about the Phoenix Rider sightings than the soldier attacks—which they had long been expecting. While they spent their days flying patrols around Vayle and the Silverwood and preparing for Beryk’s arrival, they spent their nights gossiping.
“But—why would Phoenix Riders attack merchants in the first place?” Anders asked the group as they sat around the cookfire one evening. “Especially if they’re supposedly allied with the empire?”
“It was a weapons shipment,” Latham pointed out. “Maybe they needed to arm themselves, and Ferronese