The Wind's Call (The Broken Lands #4) - T.A. White Page 0,154

or I'll kill you myself."

"Promises, promises."

She narrowed her eyes at him. Even laid out on a stretcher, so weak she doubted he could stand even if they were attacked again, he was giving her grief. Typical.

"I had things handled. Next time I tell you to go, you should listen. You're not the only one who can make a plan, you know," she said.

"It looked like it too, with you sprawled on your ass when I got there," he returned.

Eva bared her teeth. The small guilt she'd had that he'd been injured because of her fell away. "You know nothing."

"I know you feel something for me," he taunted. "Otherwise there wouldn't have been so much crying."

"The blow to your head has addled your brain. There was no crying, no weeping."

He chuckled, falling asleep soon after. Through it all, she didn't let go of his hand.

Fiona gave their clasped hands a significant look.

"You hush too," Eva said, not wanting to hear it.

"As you wish," Fiona said, with a slight smile that briefly peeked through the veil of her grief.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"It'll be a few days before we can continue on," Darius was saying to the group of leaders assembled to discuss their next step.

The battle in the cenote was over. They'd lost Laurell and several other Trateri who hadn't survived the attack, but the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Jason had gone for help, finding Darius and showing him the way into the cenote. His people had also lined the edges of the cenote, shooting arrows and spears down at any they spotted through the trees.

Caden had survived, though the healer had been confused as to how. To Eva's relief there had been surprisingly few questions from him or anyone else about the mysteriously disappearing wound.

Eva wasn't so naive as to think they believed her story. Not with the torn clothes over the wound or the amount of blood and Caden's overall weakness afterward—a product of all the blood he’d lost. But they had kept any questions or observations to themselves.

For now, Eva would accept it. If the day ever came when they pressed for more, she'd face that hill when she got to it.

Eva lingered on the edge of the group, present, but content to observe. It occurred to her she needed to correct Darius about continuing on, but that seemed like a lot of work and an argument she'd prefer to avoid for as long as possible.

How did she explain the planned journey was no longer necessary because the alliance they thought they were securing hadn't been on the table to begin with?

She didn't know much about politics, preferring the simplicity of her life over trying to think in a dozen sideways manners at once, but even she could guess the effect those words would have on those present.

It didn't take a genius to see how it would play out. The Trateri who saw their word as their bond would not take kindly to being deceived. It would strain the alliances they'd already built with the Tenrin and make impossible any future alliance with the Kyren. That was a door Eva didn't think should be fully shut for all of their sakes.

If nothing else, this journey had highlighted how important it was for humans to learn to live in a world with mythologicals again. This enemy had been defeated, but there were likely other offshoots to the rebellion.

They'd won, but it was a hollow victory. Putting more strain on the Trateri's ties with mythologicals could only hurt them in the long run. As her adopted people she didn't want to see that happen.

Caden sat on a wall close to the general, his color pale but his eyes alert.

Eva waited for him to say something. By this point he had to have some inkling as to the deception Sebastian had perpetrated. He'd overheard enough to have suspicions.

When he kept silent, Eva stirred reluctantly. Despite it being easier, she couldn't very well let Darius lead them further into the Highlands when the end destination was no longer open to them. Not when dangers lurked. She didn't want to see any more unnecessary deaths. And if a single person died from here on out, those deaths would be laid at her feet.

Her hands already carried enough blood. They didn't need any more.

"Darius—"

"There's no need for that," Ajari said, his strong voice drowning out Eva's tentative one.

Darius and the rest stared at the troublesome mythological in their midst, one who seemed entirely