Chapter 44
JO
We’re in a race against the storm billowing in from the west. A few inches of frozen rain already blankets the ground and the horses’ hooves crunch over it with every step, ice clinging to their noses.
We’ve been riding for days, but the valley west of the capital shouldn’t be more than a half day away.
I look over at Irina as she rides nearby, keeping her head down.
Bundled up as she is, the majority of her face and hair is hidden under the hood, with only her eyes visible.
As much as it pains me to admit, I’ve been unfair to her.
She’s given me more understanding and grace than I deserve.
Hopefully, helping her return home will work to atone for my wrongdoings.
I’m grateful for Acker’s warmth at my back. He’s kept a hand flat against my stomach underneath my fur, tucked his face into the crook of my neck to offer as much of his body heat as possible. The kisses he places against the skin there are totally self serving, but they heat me up nonetheless.
Irina’s voice shouts over the wind. “Look,” she says, pointing to the sky.
Like a black smudge against the gray blanket overhead, the winged creature battles against the vicious wind as he flies toward us.
We slow our pace in preparation for his landing.
Shifting midair, Messer lands on his human feet, a few loose feathers scattering to the ground in the process.
His body is racked with shivers as he braces himself against the icy wind.
We sent him to scout ahead this morning and he should have been back hours ago.
“Oh, thank gods,” I mutter, dismounting.
But as I get closer, the look on Messer’s face makes my stomach drop. “They have the valley surrounded on all sides,” he says, shivering.
Acker appears with furs, throwing them around Messer’s shoulders. “Who?” he asks. “My father’s soldiers?”
Messer nods. “They’re spread out for miles. All the way to the Yanka River, to the city’s walls, and to the gulf in the north. Not close enough to provoke, but a boundary strong enough to defend the city in case Evelyn decides to invade.”
Acker cusses, scrubbing a hand across his mouth. “I didn’t think we had any men left to disperse.”
“Were you able to get close enough to see Drake?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I didn’t want to risk it,” he says, shuffling his feet in the freezing snow. “There’re too many archers. It’d be better to wait for nightfall.”
Fredrich stomps toward us, holding the reins to the horses. “We’re sitting ducks if we stay here,” he says. “Too close to the capital.”
Messer shivers. “Even if we weren’t, we can’t outride this storm. It’s too gnarly.”
Acker’s been staring into the distance, but when his eyes finally meet mine, he’s already shaking his head. “No,” he says, adamant. “We’ll turn around and find shelter at one of the neighboring farms.”
“You know that’s a temporary solution,” I say, fighting to speak past my chattering teeth. “After the storm passes, we’ll still be stuck where we are now.”
“We’ll backtrack to the closest port and make our way to Wells’s parents,” he says.
“There’s not enough time, Acker, and you know it.”
His expression is shuttered, jaw tense as he holds my stare.
“I will not march you into the walls of the palace with that—” he stops mid-sentence, mouth snapping shut as he struggles to get a hold of his anger.
After taking a breath, he tries again. “Even if the oath would allow it, I can’t control my father, and your gift is too valuable.
There’s no telling the price someone would pay to obtain it. ”
“He would have to know where my magic is, and your father won’t touch me, not when he knows that you’re tied to the oath to protect me.
” I don’t need to go into further detail.
He’s fully aware that the cost would be at the price of his life as well as mine.
I reach for him, grabbing him by the front of his coat.
“Nothing is going to happen to me,” I say, meeting the worry in his eyes with the assurance in my own.
“Your father is not infallible. We’ve seen as much already.
If anything were to go awry, we’d handle it. Together.”
Everyone shifts in place, waiting for Acker’s final decision.
He stares at me for long moments, eyes shifting between mine, over my face and neck and back again. Then he takes a deep breath, as if he was holding it the whole time before releasing it.
“Messer,” he calls, eyes shifting over my shoulder. “Are you able to shift into anyone?”
Turning, I watch as Messer tries to put together a reason Acker would ask. “It depends. Who do you need me to be?”
“My father wanted me to retrieve my sister,” Acker says, but Messer’s already shaking his head.
“No. Not Beau. You could ask me to be just about anyone, but Beau isn’t one of them.”
I’m slightly taken aback by his refusal, but after a moment to think about it, I can surmise why it’s a point of contention to him. She’s a friend, but also female. Having Messer take on her form feels … violating.
Acker nods, understanding.
But it’s Irina’s voice that draws our attention. “I think I could,” she says, pulling the furs from covering her mouth for us to hear her better from atop the horse. “Illusion myself enough to look like Beau, that is.”
Acker shakes his head. “While I suspect my father plans on using Beau and her gift for reasons I’m not privy to, I don’t know what he’ll do if he discovers he’s been deceived. I can’t ask that of you, Irina.”
She walks her horse closer to our grouping, dismounting and handing the reins to Fredrich.
She removes her hood, and we collectively gasp at the image of Beau staring back at us.
Dark hair, dark eyes, facial structure, all the complete opposite of Irina’s petite features.
She’s shorter than Beau, but it might be passable.
She smirks and her resemblance to Beau is uncanny. “Well,” she says, cocking her head to the side. “Am I convincing enough?”
Messer’s the first to speak. “That’s crazy.”
Fredrich makes a face, eyes cutting to Messer. “It has nothing on your grotesque masquerade of my dear friend.”
I interject before they can begin squabbling. “Acker?”
“I can’t deny that it’s good,” he says, tilting his head as he watches her. “Almost too good.”
“How would you explain the absence of your wife?” Fredrich asks.
“That I had a fit when I discovered Acker intended on bringing his Match back with him and ran off,” Irina answers. When Acker looks at her with a flat expression, she gives it right back: it’s odd to witness on Beau’s typically expressive face. “Is it not believable?”
He doesn’t refute her question.
And after a long stretch of silence, he turns to Fredrich and tells him, “Get the rope.”
Fredrich wastes no time turning to dig in the pack tied to his horse and Acker removes his hood as he ventures to look through his own pack. I’m somehow as relieved as I am nervous. Irina, too, as a shaky breath leaves her.
I reach a hesitant hand out, touching her shoulder. “Just pretend every man you see is beneath you.”
Messer shivers, obviously miserable in just his furs, but still manages an encouraging smile at Irina. “And that they’re just dumb in general,” he adds.
I’m rolling my eyes at his remark when Acker walks up to me. “Take off your cloak.”
“What? Why?” I ask, gripping the fur around my shoulders with tight fists.
“I wouldn’t care about a prisoner’s comfort, even yours,” he explains.
He stares at me expectantly and it’s then that I notice the shackles in his hands.
Not for Irina, but for me. When I meet his stare, he only lifts an impatient brow at me.
I debate the merits of fighting him on this but then consider how his father will view the situation.
Me, walking into the palace without safeguards in place.
Gritting my teeth, I begrudgingly jerk the coat off, tossing it on the saddle of the horse.
I hold out my hands for him to place the shackles back on my wrists, the locks clicking into place once again with a clang of metal.
“Not going to bind my hands this time?” I ask.
He doesn’t find my attitude amusing. “If the scenario arises where you need to protect yourself, I want you to be able to call your blade.”
Fredrich approaches Irina with a length of rope in his hands. “You can back out,” he tells her.
She gives him a shaky smile. “Right now, my only concern is pulling off Beau’s confidence.”
“Just let me do the talking,” Acker says, moving toward her as Fredrich ties her wrists in a vice. “But he’s likely going to put you in the dungeons.”
She nods, swallowing. “I can handle it,” she says, but her voice betrays her by trembling slightly.
The lack of confidence in her response doesn’t bode well, but no one calls it out.
Fredrich leads her to one of the mares, head tilted close as he whispers to her.
Irina is stoic as she absorbs whatever advice he’s giving her before finally nodding.
Then he hoists her onto the saddle and hands her the reins.
Acker walks with him back. “Go quickly. Enter the city by the northern gate. It’s where the majority of traffic flows in and out of the city.
If you get questioned, tell them you’re meeting family that’s already sought protection in the city’s walls.
Hasselback is a common name of some of the farmers in the area.
Then shelter at Wells’s smithy until I send for you. ”
Fredrich nods, then pulls Acker into an embrace. “Don’t do anything reckless without me.”
“Same to you,” he says, patting his friend on the back.
Then, to my surprise—although pleasantly—Fredrich moves in to hug me.
We don’t speak, knowing nothing we say will fit just right.
I don’t believe there’s a platitude that encompasses the complexity of our tenure as friends.
He offers me a smile after and I watch him mount his horse, the weight of Acker’s stare heavy on the side of my face.
Messer’s voice cuts through the moment. “I need to shift or I’m in real danger of losing my toes,” he says between chattering teeth.
Acker nods. “Lead Fredrich from above then come and find me after.”
Messer doesn’t need to be told twice, sliding off his fur off and handing it to me with a wink. “See you soon.”
In the next moment, he leaps into the air, body folding in on itself, shrinking into the form of a snow owl. He hoots, beating his wings against the force of the wind until he finds his equilibrium. Then it’s just Acker, Irina, and me as we watch them disappear into the night sky.