A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) - Amanda Joy Page 0,78

you recognize them?”

“No more than thirty miles from here. They could be here by late afternoon. They wore jackal masks.”

“The Earthbreaker?” She spat another curse. “Of course my mother sent Mateen after us. He was the first ever given the title of Second General. One of my father’s personal recruits.”

“They are coming from the east,” Anali said. “It’s possible they were stationed at the border, and are simply passing through the Arym Plain on the way to Asrodei, but . . .” The Captain trailed off, shaking her head.

“No,” Eva said. “They’d be farther east in that case. They’re searching for this village, looking for us. We knew coming here was a risk. We’re lucky this is our first encounter with the Queen’s Army. I’m surprised we’ve evaded them so far.”

Anali murmured, “Another blessing from the Mother.”

Eva stared down at her inked and clawed hands for a long moment before nodding. “Yes, a blessing.”

Tavan had begun dousing the fire in the stove at the first mention of the soldiers, and clicked her beak in agreement. “Elelai.”

The word meant “noble, or chosen,” in Khimaeran.

“So I was right,” Lirra said, though she did not feel glad of it. Her emotions were a thorny blend of regret and mourning and excitement. “You shouldn’t have come.”

“It doesn’t matter now. Even if we are captured, I won’t regret coming here. But now we have to leave.”

They started for the door, but Lirra stood near the stove, staring down at the tile floor. “You will come with us, won’t you?” Eva asked.

She nodded. “I must see what food we can travel with. You all go on. There is much to do and little time to get it done.”

* * *

It didn’t take long to gather everyone. The thirteen members of the guard, not including Aketo, Falun, and the Captain, were lined up in the back of the library. Some had already begun arming themselves and the rest fidgeted, longing for the calming grip of a sword hilt. Tavan and Osir sat on silk-backed settees on the other end of the room, speaking softly. Only Aketo sensed the anxiety emanating from them like acrid smoke. Theirs was a deeper fear than the rest of the soldiers felt. Aketo was shocked to find no sense of resentment from the two.

Eva’s arrival had upset their quiet life here. Even if they did manage to return to Nbaltir one day, it would be ransacked by the soldiers passing through.

Aketo leaned against the door, the best place to watch everyone in the room. A headache pulsed at the back of his head. The tension and agitation and fear in the room were like layers of thick perfume, each new essence overwhelming. His magick writhed eagerly, pushing him to use it. He wanted to soothe them, not just for their sakes but his.

Eva sat atop the long table in the center of the circular chamber, legs folded beneath her and wings fanned out on the table behind her. At her side rested an old map of Myre. Her hair was woven into dozens of braids of varying sizes, and pinned up so the woven stands framed her face. The beams of light filtering through the glass ceiling turned her horns to a glossy black, like shards of obsidian. And in Osir’s well-made but homespun clothes, she looked far different from the girl he’d met in Ternain.

Still that noble Princess lay beneath the changes—in the straight line of her spine, her shoulders thrown back, and her sedate expression.

Isadore eyed Eva from the corner opposite the door. Aketo was surprised to find she wasn’t wearing shackles, but he hadn’t had time to ask Eva about it. Isa had a glower for everyone who dared glance in her direction. She was all prickly agitation and, Aketo noted unhappily, practically buzzing with anticipation.

It hadn’t occurred to him until now that this would be the perfect opportunity for Isa to escape. Like they needed another thing to worry about.

“We don’t have much time,” Eva began. “I know you’ve all heard that as I speak, General Mateen and his Jackals are nearby, searching for Orai and my family’s home. I doubt he’s brought an entire battalion onto the Plain, but even so, we need to travel far from here, and fast.”

She slid off the table and moved the papers off the map. Before the guard filed in, she, Tavan, and Anali had pored over it, searching for their next stop. “There is a town directly north of here