by Erin Beaty
“Here! I found him!”
Men came running down the hill, weapons and torches held high. They spread out, some going over the next rise to set a wide defensive circle around her. The more footprints disturbing the area, the better. Alex was on his knees next to her, gently rolling her toward him and pulling the scarf away. “Henry, are you all right?”
She groaned as she turned to her back but kept her eyes shut, partly to make him think she was unconscious and partly because she didn’t want to see his face when he recognized her. The hand on her shoulder froze.
“Captain, that’s Mistress Fowler!” a voice gasped.
“I know who it is!” Alex’s hands felt along her neck, head, and shoulders, checking for injuries. Sage moaned and fluttered her eyelids but kept them closed. He moved down to her arms and her ribs, then lower until he had checked her whole body. “Bleeding hell, Sage,” he muttered. “What are you doing here?”
“No tracks we can follow, Captain,” came a voice and the bright light of a torch. “But the wind covers everything real quick. We were lucky to find him. Her.”
“Gather everyone, we’re going back.” Alex bent low over her and stroked her cheek. “Can you hear me, Sage? Wake up. Please.”
She couldn’t help opening her eyes at the note of hysteria in his voice, but the light was too bright, and she shut them again almost immediately. His face was stricken, terrified. Though she would’ve done it over again, the fullness of her betrayal hit her. “Alex,” she mumbled.
Sweet Spirit, I’m so sorry.
“Yes, it’s me. I’m taking you back.” He slipped his arms under her shoulders and knees and lifted her up, cradling her against his body.
She grabbed his jacket and sobbed into his chest. Oh, Alex, I’m so sorry.
He held her tightly as he climbed up the dune and began the long walk back to camp. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you. It’s all right,” Alex whispered.
No, it wasn’t.
43
THE SUN WAS several hours above the horizon and the air stuffy with heat when she woke. Sage pried her eyes open with difficulty; they were swollen and crusted over from crying herself to sleep. She must not have even woke when Alex set her down.
Alex.
Sage lifted her head and looked around, finding him immediately. He sat cross-legged on the other side of the double tent, elbows on his knees and hands folded under his chin, watching her.
“Good morning,” he said.
His tone was as dead as his face. Alex waited for her to sit up, then nodded to the bowl on the ground beside her. Sage avoided meeting his gaze as she dipped the cloth lying next to it in the warm water. He remained as still as a statue as she wiped grime from her eyes and face.
When she finished, Alex tossed a canteen across to her and went back to his silent position. Sage was so thirsty she’d been ready to drink the dingy water left in the dish, and she chugged half the contents of the canteen without taking a breath. Then she cleared her throat and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and waited for him to speak.
“I told you to stay at the training camp,” he said flatly.
“Yes, you did,” she whispered.
“You disobeyed a direct order.”
“Yes, I did.”
“You almost got yourself killed.”
Sage rubbed her nose with her knuckles and sniffed.
“Do you understand now, Sage? Do you realize this is not a game?” His voice began to rise. “Do you have any idea what could’ve happened?”
He was wrong in so many ways, but that didn’t change that she’d disobeyed and deceived him. That she’d scared him out of his mind last night. He had every right to be angry. She looked down, fresh tears coming to her eyes. “Alex, I’m s—”
“Save it, Sage,” he said coldly.
There was a long pause while she studied her hands in her lap.
“Guess who else I found with us?” he said finally.
Nicholas. She wondered if he had been discovered or if he’d given himself up.
“He swears he acted on his own,” Alex continued. “But I find that hard to believe, given how the pair of you worked together to hide for so long. I wonder if the Casmuni would’ve abandoned their hostage had it been him.”
Alex didn’t know she and the prince were responsible for their escape. Yet.
His next words were so low she could barely hear them. “Did they hurt you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Well, thank the Spirit for that.” The relief in his voice threatened to break her.
Sage took a deep breath to stay in control. “Have you found them?”
“No, they’re gone. They took their weapons and your knife.” Alex rose to his feet. “And now that you’re awake, we need to leave before their friends come looking for revenge.” He reached for the tent flap. “Get your things together.”
“Alex.” He stopped and looked back at her. “I really am sorry,” she said.
There were so many emotions in his eyes, she couldn’t begin to separate them.
“So am I.”
44
HUZAR WAS READY. The moon was waning, but every day increased the risk of being caught. They couldn’t wait for a fully dark night, just the next time part of the Norsari went on patrol. He would divide his men and attack the group when they were a few miles away from the camp, forcing the rest of the soldiers to come to their assistance, and take the prince while he was relatively unguarded.
A diplomatic party was traveling down the Jovan Road, and was no threat, but it caused a delay when part of the group left the road to visit the Norsari camp. Another company of soldiers was coming south from Tennegol as well, but Huzar suspected they were headed into Tasmet. When the diplomat stayed only a day and camp activity immediately picked up, indicating a patrol, Huzar told his men to be ready. Quinn himself led the expedition, and it was larger than all the others before. Perfect. It was astonishing how quickly everything fell apart.
First, the Demoran prince disappeared. He’d never been known to go on a patrol, but the morning after Quinn left, the boy wasn’t seen going to the river as he did every morning and evening. Huzar decided to wait a day, on the off chance the prince had gone along. If so, the Kimisar could attack just them, and it was better to let them get farther away in that case.
Then Quinn went into the desert. Huzar wasn’t willing to follow him where there was nowhere to hide. Plans changed to attack the regular roaming detachment when it approached instead, but the prince still did not appear. By the third day, Huzar concluded the boy had gone with Quinn.
Shit.
The delay wasn’t a disaster, but the Kimisar were getting anxious. Many grumbled at how the lives they’d built in Demora the past year were preferable to returning home. If Huzar dispersed them temporarily, he wasn’t sure he’d get everyone back. Far be it from him to force men who had been otherwise abandoned to return, but it risked exposing them all.
Then the army company on the road turned east rather than going through the Jovan Pass. Whether it was on the way to the Norsari camp or following the diplomat didn’t matter. It was close enough to change the numbers that were already against the Kimisar. The regular roaming detachment came and went. Dispersing was rapidly becoming the better option.
Huzar was one hour from giving the order when an observer from the far side of the river came running. Quinn had returned.
The roaming squad was still within reach, and the company on the road was at least two days out. The prince was spotted among the returning platoon, which looked exhausted. The night would be solidly dark with the new moon.
Now.
45
THE NORSARI GROUP made it to the river as the sun sank behind the mountains. Sentries from camp met them at the tree line and walked with them to the water, giving Alex a few updates on what had happened in his absence. It was a short list.
Colonel Traysden hadn’t arrived yet, which gav
e Alex at least a day to explain everything to his officers and piece together what exactly had happened in the desert.
Lieutenant Casseck waited on the riverbank. Alex stepped off the rowboat and wearily returned his friend’s salute. “Sergeant Carter passed through two days ago, and he’ll be back probably tomorrow,” Cass informed him as they walked up the hill together. “He said to tell you ‘Not a ripple.’”
Ash had found nothing. Alex kept it to himself that there might be waves coming soon. He took time to clean himself up, shave, and get a bite to eat before summoning Sage, Nicholas, and the officers to the command tent. He hadn’t discussed the events in the desert with anyone yet, but now he’d bring Casseck and the other lieutenants into the loop. Gramwell came in last, his shaggy bronze hair dripping onto his fresh shirt.
Sage and the prince stood at attention. Cass raised his eyebrows when Alex put them at parade rest rather than direct them to sit when the officers did. Sage was silent, her face blank. She’d also washed up and was now wearing breeches and a clean, light-brown overshirt that came to her knees. Her remaining dagger was hooked to her belt on the right side. The thought of her being dragged across the sand with her own knife to her throat made Alex sick. He didn’t know what he would’ve done if she’d been hurt or kept as a hostage. Or maybe he did know, and he just didn’t want to think about it.
Full explanation of the situation could wait until Sage and Nicholas had told their stories and were dismissed. The prince started, once again insisting Sage had nothing to do with his sneaking into the desert mission. He also asked that Harold not be punished, as the other squire had been afraid of disobeying a royal. Alex believed him but still considered Sage to be his inspiration. However, as the prince had so rarely accepted responsibility for his mistakes before now, perhaps not all her influence had been bad. Sage said little other than that she’d also acted on her own in coming along.
Alex took over the conversation then, telling Cass and the others how they stumbled across the lost Casmuni pair and held them after a brief fight. “They acted compliant until last night, when the wind blew a lantern over and set a bunch of tents and bedrolls on fire, and the Casmuni took advantage of the chaos. Mistress Fowler happened to be near them, and they managed to get her knife and free themselves—”
“That’s not what happened,” Sage said abruptly.
Something in her tone—or rather what it lacked—frightened him. There was no trace of emotion whatsoever. Alex frowned and sat back in his chair. “Then by all means, please describe what happened, Mistress Sage.”
She raised her gray eyes to look straight at him, fully meeting his gaze for the first time in weeks.
“I cut their bonds and set them free.”
46
FOR A MOMENT he was sure he hadn’t heard her correctly. She couldn’t have said what he heard, but then Casseck’s and Gramwell’s jaws dropped in shock. Tanner, Hatfield, and Nadira glanced at one another in confusion. The prince didn’t look surprised at all.
Alex jumped to his feet. “YOU WHAT?”
“She wasn’t alone,” said Nicholas. “I set the fire as a distraction.”
Alex was around the table and towering over her before he knew it. “Why in the name of everything holy would you do that?”
Defiance sparked in her pale eyes. “Because holding them was wrong.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Alex stormed back and forth in front of her, throwing his arms out and trying to keep his voice down. “You don’t have half the information I have.”
“Half of your information is wrong.”
She spoke with such conviction that he stopped to stare at her. “Explain.”
“You think Casmun scouted into Demora, looking for a place to invade,” she said. “That is why we’re really here. You came to investigate and do some scouting of your own. To catch them in the act and find out what they’re up to.”
The lieutenants and Nicholas were all staring at him now.
“Except there was no one to catch,” Sage continued. “You patrolled for weeks and found nothing, so you took matters into your own hands. You were so obsessed with getting answers to the wrong questions that you invaded another country and kidnapped two men.”
Her summation was harsh but completely accurate. “I’m trying to prevent a war, Sage!”
“No,” she said. “You’re provoking a war. I’m preventing one.”
Before he could respond, she rushed on. “It wasn’t the Casmuni who came here last year. They’ve never been seen in these parts after the first day of summer. The invaders also had horses, which the Casmuni have never been seen with.”
Apparently she and the Ranger had discussed more than geography. “Just because something hasn’t happened before, doesn’t mean it can’t start happening now,” he said.
Sage shook her head. “The desert can’t be crossed after summer because the chain of springs they have to follow dries up. Nor can they follow the river—the Yanli Gorge forbids it. If I hadn’t freed those men, they would’ve had no chance of getting home this year. When their countrymen came to retrieve them, it would’ve been with an army.”
“And how do you know releasing them won’t bring about the same?”
She took a deep breath. “I’ve been studying old Casmuni trade agreements and treaties for weeks. I’ve come to understand what is important to them and … how to speak with them.”
“You talked to the prisoners.” He gaped at her. “In their own language.”
“Yes.”
Alex had thought nothing she could learn or do would astonish him anymore, but he was wrong. Part of him swelled with pride. But none of her investigating had started with what she’d observed here—she’d come prepared and with purpose. Alex turned his head to address the silent officers behind him. “Everyone but Lieutenant Casseck is to leave now.”
As one, the group stood and came to attention. “You will discuss nothing of what you heard tonight,” said Alex. He would handle them after he got to the bottom of this. “Dismissed.” They filed out of the tent, Nicholas trailing. Casseck came to stand behind Alex, off to the side.
“Who are you working for, Sage?” Alex demanded.
She hesitated. “Myself. You were hiding something. I wanted to know what.”
“Don’t lie to me!”
Sage shrank a little, showing regret for the first time since yesterday. “Her Majesty,” she whispered finally.
He couldn’t decide if that was the worst or best answer she could have given. “Bleeding hell, Sage. You could be charged with treason.” Alex gripped the hair at the back of his head. “Why would you agree to something like this?”
“The queen knew there was more to this mission, but the king wouldn’t tell her what. He put her only son in danger and wasn’t honest about it.” Deeper color rushed to her sunburned cheeks, and rage flashed in her eyes. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be lied to like that? To not be trusted to know what’s important?”
“I know the importance of following orders, Sage.” He let that hang in the air for a long moment. “And so do you.”
She looked down at her feet. “I’m not sorry for what I did, but I’m sorry it was necessary.”
Alex had a sudden vision of standing before her last year, apologizing in the same way for his own deception. I regret nothing except that you were hurt. It had taken a long time for her to forgive him, but maybe she hadn’t fully forgiven him after all.
“Pack your things,” he said. “You’re leaving as soon as I can figure out how.”
To her credit, Sage raised her head and met his eyes. “Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed.”
47
MINUTES AFTER SHE was gone, Alex still couldn’t breathe.
“Alex,” said Casseck quietly, making him jump. He’d forgotten his friend was there. “Sending her back may not be the best idea right now. We might need her if the Casmuni return.”
&nbs
p; “No,” said Alex, pivoting away.
Cass stepped around to face him. “Alex, she can talk to them. They’ll trust her, and she knows much more that could help us.”
“I don’t care!” Alex roared.
“Be honest with yourself! She wouldn’t have done this if you hadn’t been pushing her away for weeks. She knew you wouldn’t have listened.”
“Whose side are you on, Lieutenant?”
“Your side, dammit! But you aren’t even on your side right now.” Casseck grabbed his shoulders. “What is this really about, Alex?”
The memory of rolling the limp body toward him, realizing it was her, thinking for a split second that she was dead. Carrying her back as she sobbed into his chest and swearing to himself he would revisit the Casmuni with a hundredfold of what they’d done to her.
He should have done whatever was necessary to keep her from coming, just as he never should’ve let her attempt to escape Tegann last year. Everything was compromised, like it had been that night.
It wasn’t about her lying. It wasn’t about her betrayal. It was about him, what she did to him.
Alex looked up at his oldest friend. “I can’t have her here, Cass. I can’t,” he whispered.
Realization dawned on Casseck’s face. “This is about Tegann, isn’t it?”
“You were there, Cass. I thought she was dead, and you saw what it did to me.” Tears flooded his eyes.
Casseck shook his head. “Anyone would’ve broken in that situation—”
“But I’m not just anyone, am I?” Alex flung Casseck’s arms away. “What if I’d thought she was alive? What if instead of tossing that damn bloody knife at me and letting me draw my own conclusion, D’Amiran made me think she was being tortured or taken to his bedchamber for his own special revenge? What should I have done? Nothing. Leaving her there would’ve been the right thing to do. And I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
“Alex—”
“I would’ve gotten everyone—you, Gram, everyone else—killed. I would’ve lost a war. Over her.”