Chapter 41
Kiera
After we picked a few more moonbloods, we walked back to camp with full canteens, sticky fingers, and swollen lips.
My heart had not stopped skittering around in my chest after I’d realized my feelings for Aiden. It reminded me of when Melaena claimed that I loved him, and I’d immediately tried to deny it in my mind.
Had I loved him even then?
Maz grinned like we were bringing him a barrel of Sunshine and happily caught the moonblood Aiden tossed at him. “Had a nice walk, did you?”
I ignored him, and the heat crawling up my neck, and sat next to Ruru, who accepted the moonblood I handed him.
“Is that blood or juice?” he asked, pointing at his own neck.
I slapped a hand over the sticky stain on my skin. “Juice. They’re, uh . . . a bit messy.”
“Juice tends to get everywhere when you’re . . . eating,” Maz said with a solemn expression that belied the laughter in his blue eyes.
Aiden glared at him as he sat down by the fire. “Shove that fruit in your mouth before I do it for you.”
Maz rolled his eyes and cut into his moonblood. “Gods, only you would still be cantankerous after tasting such delicious fruit.”
Ruru slurped the crimson juice from his. “Holy Four, that is good. Like an orange, but so much better.”
I smiled at him, grateful he was actually talking about the moonblood. “And a little sparkly, don’t you think?”
He nodded, his smile drooping a bit. “I miss my sticky bread, though. Gods know when I’ll ever have it again.”
I squeezed his arm. “We’ll get back to Aquinon soon.”
“Do you really think this Henry fellow will march his army there?” Ruru asked.
We’d told the others about the letter I’d sent. But it could’ve gotten lost or seized. He could’ve decided not to come.
I swallowed hard. If I died in the mine, no one would save Everett and Delysia. Or Aquinon. Renwell would win.
“I hope so,” I said thickly. I met Aiden’s eyes across the fire. The same concern was etched between his brows.
“He’d better be here in the next two days,” Maz said around a mouthful of bloody fruit. “We can’t wait.”
“I know that,” I snapped.
His brows lifted.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I just . . . need him to come.”
Maz’s face softened. “Of course, lovely. I’ll keep watch with you.”
“You’re not doing a very good job of that,” said Nikella as she appeared out of the darkness.
Maz waved his hand. “I knew you were coming.”
Her lips quirked, the first sign of a smile in days. Her arms were full of leaves, branches, berries, and tools.
Ruru jumped up to help her set everything down.
“Did you find everything?” Aiden asked. He jutted his chin at the mortar, pestle, and hatchet she laid at her feet. “Where’d you get those?”
“Friends,” she said. “You four will need to cut down a tree and create several hollow lengths to store everything in.”
I gazed up at the massive trees surrounding us. “Won’t that make Viridana angry?”
“We’re not the ones taking more than our share,” Nikella reminded me. “She’ll grow back swiftly.”
Suddenly, I very much wanted to see that.
We quietly ate dried pork mixed with boiled beans while Nikella stripped, ground, and sifted the flora she’d collected. She explained as she went, but I nodded off as she was showing us how to braid something called shiverroot into a fuse.
The next two days passed much the same, with the notable difference of not kissing Aiden again. We shared looks. We brushed past each other. We sat together by the fire. But our battle preparations consumed my thoughts.
Every hour I prowled outside that gods-damned fortress, every time I spied on the other side of the river, searching for a soldier who could be Henry, killed a little more of my hope.
We were also no closer to figuring out how to take a shipment without arousing too much suspicion.
We did manage to chop down a tree, cut it into three pieces, and hollow those out.
I’d winced when Maz had delivered the final swing that cracked the tree trunk from its stump. It landed with a mournful crash in the woods. Aiden had brushed his fingers over the jagged edges and whispered his thanks.
Ruru and I stared at the stump, waiting for the mythical tree to grow back. I almost didn’t believe it would happen. But then, the edges smoothed and elongated, like pointed fingers reaching for the sky.
I gaped as Ruru whooped and danced around. Slowly, slowly, tender twigs curled out from the growing trunk. They hardened and lengthened. Leaves sprouted. The bark groaned and sighed, stretching back to its original height.
“Fucking Four,” I breathed, my eyes wide. “I mean, thank you, blessed Viridana.”
No wonder Father—and then Renwell—had gotten greedy with these woods. The goddess had made sure there was an endless supply.
But to feed a forge of deadly sunstone armor and weapons? To build warships? Things that would end countless lives?
No, the gentle goddess would’ve abhorred that. Just as Mynastra likely hated how Renwell was using her beloved pieces of night sky.
If only the Four were still here to fix things. But it was our mess. We had to clean it up.
We’ll fix it, I promised Viridana’s tree. Aiden will stop this once he’s king.
Nikella had nodded with satisfaction when she saw our work. She worked from dawn into the deepest night on her explosives. She even ground a handful of black seeds from a blackrust tree into a powder she said wouldn’t harm skin but would eat through metal.
I also wasn’t the only one searching for someone.
Ruru usually accompanied me on my routes. He’d climb a tree almost as nimbly as Aiden and sit up there for hours. He noted routines and faces, but he was looking for one in particular—his brother, Daire. Once, he thought he spotted a young boy he once knew, but couldn’t be sure if he was the same.
I told him that if we were victorious, all of this would change. No more innocent prisoners. No more Shadow-Wolves stealing people in the night. We would make Rellmira safe again.
He’d smiled, but it hadn’t quite reached his brown eyes. So I asked him to tell me more stories about growing up with Daire in Aquinon. He eagerly obliged, his usual spirit rekindling.
As the sun set on our last night in Twaryn, I paced by the fire while Aiden watched me, sympathy twisting the lips I desperately tried not to think about.
Nikella had finished her explosives. The logs were ready. The plan was simple and full of holes—steal a shipment along the river in the dead of night and hope we didn’t raise any alarms.
But still no Henry.
“Perhaps he misread your letter,” Ruru suggested, munching on a handful of nuts Nikella had picked.
“I was very clear,” I said shortly, pacing a rut in the dirt.
“Perhaps he got lost,” Maz offered.
I shook my head with a growl. A child could’ve understood my message, as innocuous as it was, just not its intent.
“Let’s search one last time,” Aiden said softly, getting to his feet and pulling his hood over his head.
Gratitude flooded me. I made sure I had my knives and shrouded myself in my cloak.
We slipped into the shadows. I walked between the trees that now felt like old friends and guardians instead of hiding places for our enemies.
But then I heard the clank of armor.
Aiden and I darted behind a wide tree. I unsheathed a knife and felt Aiden do the same.
We listened as the sound of booted footsteps and shifting armor grew closer.
Aiden tapped my shoulder three times. Three people.
I nodded.
They walked toward our tree. We slid around to the other side, flanking them as they passed.
They moved cautiously, but I didn’t see the glint of weapons in their hands. No torches, either. Could it be . . .? They were headed straight for our camp.
“Henry?” I called without stepping out from the trees.
Aiden stiffened.
The movement stopped. “Who’s there?” a man’s voice barked.
“Friend or foe, depending on your answer,” I replied. “What is your name?”
There was a pause, during which I held my breath.
Then: “Henry Avincourt, captain of the eighteenth. Now you answer me.” Something rustled nearby, as if someone were creeping closer.
Aiden darted out and snatched a dark shadow, putting his knife to its throat. “The last person you’ll ever see if you’re lying,” he growled.
The dim light revealed a man’s face with a dark mustache and wide eyes. “I give you my word,” he said quickly.
Metal scraped, and two other shadows leaped at us. I whipped out my sword.
“Stop!” the one in Aiden’s hold cried. The other two hesitated. “Please tell me your name.”
I stepped closer to him. “What is the name of the woman you love?”
“Delysia,” the man immediately replied. “She has the most beautiful golden hair and blue eyes. Her favorite color is pink. She hates the dark and studying.” He took a breath. “And she loves her older brother and sister more than anything.”
A lump wedged itself in my throat. I blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears at bay. I grasped Aiden’s arm. “Let him go,” I said hoarsely.
Aiden released him and backed away, but he didn’t stow his knife.
Henry rose to his feet and peered at me in the dark. “Kiera?”
Kiera. Not Emilia. I hadn’t signed the letter, yet he’d called me by the name Delysia did. She must’ve talked about me.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m so glad you came.”
“I almost didn’t,” he said. “I actually brought someone along who said he knows you. Just to be safe.”
I jolted, lifting my sword. I didn’t know any soldiers.
Aiden shifted in front of me as one of the other men stepped closer.
“Hello, Kiera.”