A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) - Amanda Joy Page 0,79

called Pagra. Anali tells me there are ruins of an ancient Godling Temple outside its walls. We’ll regroup there and make our next plans.”

“Why north?” Kelis asked, her cool tone effectively masking the suspicion the young bloodkin felt. “Why not back toward the coast? We’ll encounter more and more soldiers the closer we get to the border.”

“Our ultimate goal, for now, is in the North,” Eva said slowly. Last night Eva told Aketo that she planned to tell the guard about Sher n’Cai, but now, with the threat of capture, hiding their true destination would be prudent. “I know we risk more soldiers, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. However, I will not force you to gamble your lives. You should know that my plans will put me in direct opposition with the crown and the Queen’s Army. That is why I want to offer you all the opportunity to leave.”

Almost everyone began talking at once. Only Anali remained silent, watching the soldiers under her command take this in.

Eva looked to Anali. “I am grateful for every sacrifice you have made for me. You have risked much for me, and in exchange, I refuse to risk your lives. From today on, you are no longer renegade soldiers in the Queen’s Army. If you follow me north, let it be your choice alone.”

Eva’s gaze swept the room, hesitating on her sister, before finally settling on Aketo. The tone of Eva’s emotions was so distinct it stood apart from the storm of tension. Her doubt and uncertainty as cold as spreading frost. Aketo gave what he hoped was a reassuring nod. This was the right thing. Her guard deserved to know what they would face if they stayed with her.

Undercurrents of relief and suspicion left him worrying how many would join them on the journey to Pagra, and then up into the mountains. Many, he suspected, would chart a new path.

Eva took a shaky breath, fists clenching and unclenching at her waist. “It’s settled, then. Be ready to leave in an hour.”

When the door fell shut behind the last guard, Eva, once leaning against the table, slid to the floor and dropped her head into her hands.

Even though his magick was attuned to her emotions, it took a moment to realize, beneath Eva’s laughter, she was crying.

Chapter 18

Eva

Not even a third of my guard remained when we gathered out front an hour later. My cousins, their packs heavy with the food we’d been packing away this morning, were there, but from the guard, only Anali, Aketo, Falun, and Kelis remained. I’d watched from a window in my bedchamber as twelve of them left together, traveling south. Maybe I should have felt betrayed, but I was relieved. The fewer lives that depended on me, the better.

Unlike most days on the Arym Plain, the sky above was a flat gray. Outside of Orai, aside from the occasional jut of a large outcrop, dry golden grasses stretched on for miles. The land was almost completely flat, though the distant shadow of mountains rose far, far in the west.

I wore my saddlebag on my back, below the apex of my wings, and it served as a reminder to keep them tucked in. I’d hardly had time to get used to a new set of limbs, marvelous as they might one day be. This run would finally test the limits of my newfound strength. Already the muscles of my back were too tight, a sign of cramps to come.

Isa’s bags, once hiked high up on her shoulders, now hung askew. I had decided not to replace her shackles, but I was wondering whether I would eventually regret it. I saw the way Isa’s eyes scanned the horizon, hopeful in a way I hadn’t seen in months.

We stopped at the well outside the village to fill our water skins. Aketo was already stretching and jogging in place to warm up his limbs. We set off the same way we had begun traveling the Plain, switching back and forth between a jog and a walk.

* * *

Aketo set our pace, just as he and Anali had when we first traded our horses for tents in Dahn and started onto the Plain.

Those first days of walking and running on and off had been grueling on our bodies, but once my blisters healed a week later, I came to enjoy it. The grassland stretched on forever; and eventually there came a point in every run where the pain of