A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) - Amanda Joy Page 0,105

“That’s good enough for me.”

But when she turned around, her concentration slipped. Any other time, with a clear head, she would’ve been able to regain control of their minds. But one of the men was already lunging for Dthazi.

Isa didn’t think as she stepped in front of him. A choked gasp escaped her as the dagger bit into her stomach, and when he yanked it out, the pain sent her every thought skittering away.

She sank to the ground and didn’t see what happened next. Only heard the meaty crunch of weapons against flesh and bone.

Distantly she understood that she should hold the wound shut to try to stop the bleeding, but she curled up on her side, listening, wishing she’d offered a prayer up for their safety.

Soon the sound of more footfalls reached her ears. A panicked keen escaped her. But then Dthazi was crouching before her, gently rolling her onto her back. Flecks of blood dotted his cheeks in a macabre imitation of his freckles. “Can I take your pain?” Dthazi asked, voice so gentle that she wanted to remind him she couldn’t be killed. Not by any hand but her sister’s.

She nodded. His hand gripped hers and the pain almost immediately drained away.

Aketo’s voice called for them to leave. She thought she was hallucinating when Eva appeared on her other side. “Can you walk?”

“If I must.” Eva and Dthazi helped her to her feet. “What are you doing here?”

“We were in town too, and I heard you scream,” she explained, eyes scanning the street.

Aketo emerged from the closest house, wiping bloodied hands on his thighs. “All right there, Isa?”

All that was left of the soldiers were two small puddles of blood. “What happened?” Isa asked.

“I killed them . . . it was all too fast, I had to.” Dthazi switched to Khimaeran, spitting out a slew of curses Isa could barely parse.

Aketo spotted the fallen bottle of liquor and rounded on his brother, fuming. They began arguing, but Eva cut them off. “If we heard it, others will have too. We have to go. Now.”

Chapter 26

Aketo

“We should be evacuating everyone to the caves now,” Aketo said the following morning. “They could have already found the bodies. Throllo could be sending his men here as early as noon.”

“What good will that do, brother?” Dthazi asked.

“It’ll keep Throllo’s men from gathering up the first people they find and hanging them for the killings.” He glared at his brother. “You endangered everyone here with your recklessness, or have you forgotten?”

They gathered around his mother’s kitchen: Eva, Dthazi, Anali, his cousin Yayazi, and Isa. Late last night, when they’d carried a bleeding Isa into the house, Tavan, who’d been sharing the extra room along with Lirra, healed her. Isa’s hand still strayed to her stomach whenever she thought someone wasn’t looking.

“Aye,” Dthazi said, “I know.”

The intention to hold off a week before attacking had been upended last night. They’d already decided they couldn’t afford to wait to strike at Throllo. At dawn, they sent Falun to bring word to General Mateen, since he could use glamour to pass through the patrols unseen, and because he was the best tracker. Hopefully he could retrace their path down the mountain and guide them back to the hidden entrance to Sher n’Cai. Aketo hadn’t even slept; after he’d settled Eva in his bedroom, he’d descended the steps once again an hour before sunrise with a jug of water to clear away the blood.

The original plan they’d conceived when traveling with Mateen had been fairly simple. While the khimaer force his brother commanded would storm the General’s manor from within the Enclosure, Mateen’s Jackals would use magick to rend a hole in the outer wall of the Enclosure. That way Throllo would have to divide his attention between dual assaults.

Aketo explained all this, but his brother had an even more devious plan in mind. “There’s another way to split Throllo’s forces—wait for the inspection.” Aketo hadn’t forgotten about the early mornings when near a hundred soldiers flooded the Aerie, inspecting their homes for weapons and any other signs they weren’t the docile creatures who happily accepted his decrees. “The inspection is in two days. If we can trap a portion of the soldiers in the Aerie, we’ll have the advantage. If we storm the General’s manor while half his men are away and the rest are dealing with an unexpected attack, we’ll have a real chance.”

“That’s risky,” Eva added. “What if the bodies begin to smell?