Chapter Twenty Odessa
Twenty
Odessa
Traveling through Laine’s dry, harsh plains was as torturous as my childhood harpsichord lessons.
We were too exposed in the desert. Too vulnerable. And time was running out. Whether the Mavins wanted to believe it or not, the migration was coming, and this journey was taking too long.
My days were spent listening for piercing screams and searching the horizon for black wings. But all I saw was an empty sky and a vast expanse of rock and sand.
We’d crossed through Ozarth days ago and were now riding through the heart of Laine. If I’d thought traveling with the Voster had been exhausting, four days with the Mavins had redefined that word.
We left at dawn each morning, only stopping to give the horses a break. Camp was usually made at dusk.
“It’s so hot.” Evie pushed a lock of sweaty hair off her face. “Can we stop?”
“Not quite yet.” We were both drained, but I wasn’t about to ask the Mavins for a break.
Where our bodies touched, her back to my front, our clothes were sticky. Faze panted from his carrier, equally as uncomfortable.
The sun beat down on us, and as much as Evie wanted to roll up her pant legs and push up her sleeves, I made her keep her skin covered so it wouldn’t burn.
My lips were dry and cracked. The split in the center was bleeding.
“I hate Laine,” she said.
“Me too.”
All around us were rock formations. Most were weathered, beaten and rounded by the wind.
Some had been worn through the middle to create arches of different sizes, probably from ancient rivers that had long since evaporated.
The ground was dotted with the occasional patch of dry, brittle grass. And otherwise, there was sand.
Sand that blew into my eyes. Sand that I couldn’t shake out of my boots. Sand that I tasted on my tongue, its grit stuck in my teeth.
I loathed sand.
Shades, I wanted a cold bath. I wanted to rinse away the sweat, wash my hair, and burn these clothes.
Jodhi rode up beside us, wearing his ever-present smirk. The magenta starburst in his gaze was brighter, like his eyes recognized he was in Laine. There wasn’t a single bead of sweat on his brow. How was he not sweltering dressed in all that black? “Not enjoying the desert, doll?”
“Not especially,” I muttered. “We’re too exposed.”
“This desert is mild. Be grateful we’re not in the dunes to the east.”
“I meant we’re too exposed to the crux.”
“Ah. Yes, the crux. The migration should be starting any minute now, according to you.”
Asshole. He still didn’t believe me.
In the past four days, we hadn’t encountered many people on the road, but every single merchant or traveler we passed, Jodhi made sure to ask if they’d heard anything about a crux scout in Turah.
Not a single person had heard the news.
Jodhi’s smirk had been growing for days.
I wasn’t anxious for the migration, certainly not until we were safe in my father’s castle in Quentis, but I was looking forward to watching that smirk get wiped off his face.
A drop of sweat dripped down my temple, and I wiped it away with my sleeve.
“Take off your shirt.”
My jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”
“Your shirt. Laine is not the place to wear a wool tunic. You’ve got something on underneath, right?”
A thin camisole that was none of his business. “My shirt is fine and staying exactly where it is.”
He shrugged. “Just trying to help.”
“I’m fine.” If fine meant miserable.
“Do what you want, doll. I will say, that pink flush to your cheeks is rather lovely.” He flashed me a white, handsome smile. A smile I was certain had lured more than one woman into his bed.
I rolled my eyes. “Go. Away.”
He winked and stayed beside me on the road, turning his attention to Evie. “Need me to take that pet, pet?”
Evie growled. Or maybe it was Faze.
Neither liked Jodhi. Both were excellent judges of character.
Maybe traveling with the Mavins had been a mistake. We hadn’t seen a single monster since the cave ginger bogs. The biggest danger we’d faced was getting lost. But the road was fairly well established, one that Evie and I could have traveled alone.
“Wouldn’t it be faster to ride to the coast and sail across the Krisenth?” I asked.
“Faster. Expensive. We debated it the other night while you were asleep.”
My lip curled. “Too bad I missed that discussion. You could have woken me up.”
“We tried. Thora kicked you. And you just kept snoring.”
No wonder my leg hurt the other day. “So why are we not sailing?”
“In case you are telling the truth about the crux scout, none of us wants to be trapped on a ship in the middle of the Krisenth at the start of a migration.”
“I am telling the truth,” I gritted out, wasting my breath. “So we’ll have to go through the Evon Ravine.”
“Yes. Have you ever been?”
“No.”
The Evon Ravine cleaved Genesis from Quentis. The chasm cut so deeply into the earth, it was said to be nearly black at the bottom. So dark that nothing could survive except obsidian and the chiropti—the bat-like monsters that called the Evon home.
“You’re in for a treat,” Jodhi muttered.
I wanted to ask if it was as terrifying as I’d heard, if the chiropti were as deadly as marroweels and bariwolves, but Evie was listening.
“So…why Quentis?” he asked.
“You asked me that question yesterday.”
“And I didn’t like your answer yesterday. Let’s try again.”
Yesterday when he’d asked, I’d told him that I was sick of the snow and wanted to experience a milder winter. “My husband is in Quentis.”
Jodhi arched his eyebrows. “Now she has a husband? How convenient. And he is in Quentis while you’re traveling alone with a child, on the cusp of a migration. You’re not a very skilled liar, are you?”
“I guess not.” I squeezed my thighs and urged Freya into a trot. If Jodhi wouldn’t leave on his own, we’d do it for him.
We settled behind Golding, a mountain of a man with warm brown skin, a bald head, and two stars tattooed at his temple. His weapon of choice was a mace.
From what I’d gathered, Golding and Jodhi were traveling companions but not friends. They never rode together or camped side by side. And I had yet to see them speak a word to each other.
Which made Golding my new favorite person.
“Dess?” Evie asked, her voice quiet. “Why did you lie to him?”
“To Jodhi?” I didn’t, not really. I was holding out hope that Ransom was in Quentis.
“Yeah. Papa is in the shades, not Quentis.”
This girl picked up on more than I realized. She believed, like everyone else, that Zavier was my husband.
It felt wrong to be the person to tell her the whole truth. It felt like something Ransom should do. But he would have other truths to give her. I could explain this one.
“You know how you have to keep secrets,” I said, bending so low that only she could hear. “About Papa and being a princess.”
She nodded.
“I have to keep some secrets, too. And my secret is about Ransom. Your papa was a very special friend, but I love Ranse. He is my husband. But we don’t tell anyone.”
She looked up, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. “You’re married to Ransom?”
“Yes, I am.”
Ransom and I were always careful to hide our relationship. In public, I was the Sparrow, married to the crown prince. He was the Guardian, famed warrior of Turah.
I’d kissed him in Ellder before taking Evie away to the dungeons. Maybe she remembered. Maybe not. It didn’t matter. This was already more than a four-year-old should have to understand.
“Oh.” Her shoulders sagged, and then she sniffled and her body began to shake. “But if you’re not married to Papa, then you can’t be my mama. Where do I go?”
“Oh, Evie.” My heart cracked, and the pain made it hard to breathe. I held her close, bending to kiss her hair. “With me. Always with me. No matter what. Okay?”
She nodded as the tears kept falling.
Someday, I hoped this would all be a distant memory. I hoped she’d smile more often than not. I wasn’t her mother, but I’d hold a mother’s hope that this beautiful girl would overcome her grief.
And she might not know it yet, but she wasn’t alone. She had her brother.
I touched my scar as I hugged Evie tighter.
We rode until the sun touched the horizon.
Thora, always at the front of the Mavins, broke off from the road, taking a path to a nearby outcropping of rock with a cluster of sparse trees. Only when she swung off her horse did the rest of us bother to do the same.
By nightfall, the roaring campfire was surrounded by saddles.
Evie and I had taken Mose’s place after he left the Mavins in Middle. Five of the bedrolls were empty, the men having spread them out before riding off to hunt.
While the days were scorching, the nights were cold. I folded our blanket in half, the bottom to keep us out of the sand, the top barely enough to keep us warm.
“Not too far,” I told Evie as she played with Faze outside of the ring of saddles. Then I took a seat, brushing the cursed sand from my pants.
“You said your last name was Wolfe,” Jodhi said from his place across the fire.
No matter which spot in the circle I chose, he was always in the spot directly across from mine so that whenever I looked up, he was there.
Taunting me seemed to be his new favorite hobby. “Is that your husband’s last name?”
“Yes.”
“And what was your last name?”
“Why does it matter?”
He shrugged. “Call it curiosity. A woman who can pay a thousand zillahs for each of us should have a fairly recognizable last name.”
“Shut up, Jodhi. Your voice is giving me a headache.” Thora was sharpening a knife. “Besides, you already know her name. Stop tormenting the Sparrow.”
My jaw dropped.
Jodhi grinned. “Thora always ruins my fun.”
“You knew?” I gaped at them both. “How?”
“The Mavins make it their business to keep tabs on the happenings of each royal family. You’re the only Princess Odessa in Calandra. And if you were in Turah, you must have gone as the Sparrow instead of your sister.”
Well, she wasn’t wrong. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I don’t give a damn who you are, Princess. I’m after the Gold King’s coin. I have a debt to settle, and he’s going to help me do it.”
I was simply a means to an end.
For the past four days, I’d convinced myself that I’d taken back some semblance of control. That I was no longer being manipulated by the Voster. I was even proud of myself for hiring the Mavins and making it all the way to Laine in one piece.
Except I was still just a pawn. Control was an illusion.
Thora would use me for her own gain.
Fair enough. I was using her, too. All I cared about was getting Evie to Quentis and finding Ransom.
Jodhi crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze shifting past my shoulder to where Evie was still playing with Faze. The cunning gleam in his eyes was enough to make my stomach drop. “You weren’t much of a mystery. But I still haven’t figured out who the girl is yet.”
“Mine.” I reached for the sword at my side, lifting it into my lap.
Jodhi could pester and annoy me to his heart’s content. But if he so much as looked at Evie the wrong way, I’d drive this blade through his heart.
Thora laughed. It was a raspy sound, a laugh rarely used. “I like her.”
“Any other questions, Jodhi?”
“Not tonight, doll.” He dipped his chin, then pushed to his feet, dusting his hands on his pants. “I’m going—”
Before he could finish, the thunder of horses bounced off the rock, and the five Mavins who’d gone hunting stormed into camp.
Golding came into the light first with a dead creature in his grip. He tossed it at Thora’s feet.
Thora sat taller, frowning at the dead beast. “I’m not skinning that.”
“We’re not eating that.” Golding fisted his hands on his hips.
I straightened, eyes wide as I took in the monster.
A kaverine.
They were nocturnal animals who lived in Laine’s sand dunes and could see almost perfectly at night. Its body was covered in thick brown-and-black fur, and its teeth and fangs and claws were snow-white. So were the two spiraling horns that extended from the creature’s skull.
Their dung was called korakin. When boiled to mush and reduced to a paste, it was the strongest hallucinogen in Calandra. It was another ingredient in Luella’s elixir that had led to the creation of Lyssa.
“We killed this one and another,” Golding said as the other Mavins joined the circle. “We’ll need to keep watch tonight in case there are more.”
“Evie, come here.” I waved her back toward the fire.
She scooped up Faze and came running.
Jodhi scoffed. “A kaverine isn’t going to come near a fire.”
Golding flipped the monster over, revealing a cut that traveled the length of the monster’s belly.
It seeped green, putrid blood.
Lyssa. The kaverine’s eyes should have been yellow, but even in the dim light, I could see the milky-white tinge.
Dair, a tall and lanky man with shaggy blond hair, came to stand beside Golding. “Are you all right?”
Golding nodded, bending to inspect the tattered remains of a pant leg. The leather was shredded and coated in blood. Red blood.
He snatched Thora’s knife and sliced away the fabric. His calf was covered in claw marks. “It came at me in the dark. Left a few gashes on my horse, too.”
“Kaverine are vicious,” Jodhi said.
“Nothing like this.” Dair marched to his saddle to retrieve a healing kit. “The other one was just as bloodthirsty. I cut off its horns and a leg with my ax. Still kept coming.”
My gaze was locked on Golding’s legs. “Did it bite you?”
Everyone’s attention swung to me at once.
Thora shifted to her knees, standing slowly. “Why do you ask?”
“Did it bite you?” I repeated.
“No.”
The air rushed from my lungs. “Good.”
“All right, Princess.” Thora crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you know?”
Maybe this was a story I shouldn’t share. Ransom had always kept Lyssa a secret because he’d feared it would only cause a panic.
But people should panic. About this and the migration.
Besides, there was a very real chance the Mavins wouldn’t believe me anyway.
I swallowed hard. “It’s an infection. And it’s called Lyssa.”