Page 170 of Of Bargains & Betrayal

She gave me an eager nod. “Of course. However I can help out.”

Gallan and I exchanged a glance that seemed to graze right over her, and the Umbrite set his hand on her back. “Come. We’ll get you introduced to Matteo. He’s one of Malakai’s brothers, but you’d never be able to tell. This one has the most incredible manners.”

Goddess below, Enora laughed at that and flashed me another smile over her shoulder before Gallan led her away.

I’d lock that sight and sound into my mind before all hell broke loose and hope it carried me through with a shred of my sanity intact. First, though, I had to relay Maksym’s orders, and not to the Elixia. The kingdom’s most elite weren’t even entirely here yet, but Enora was none the wiser.

I had only made it a few steps toward the planning tent when I halted and spun back.

“Wait, Enora!” That I’d had a stroke of remembrance, given everything and the ever-deteriorating state of my memory, was a hell of a feat. “I have your necklace.”

Enora’s eyes widened, and she jogged back as I fought to dig it out of the innermost pocket of my jacket, tucked right against my chest. I refused to keep it anywhere I couldn’t feel it constantly, not with how much it meant to her.

“It wasn’t damaged, thankfully. It just needed cleaning.”

The only cord I’d found in a hurry to replace the ruined one was much too long, but Enora slipped it around her neck anyway and stuffed the pendant beneath her layers of leathers.

“Thank you.” Goddess, she flashed me another smile so earnest, it seared itself into my mind. “I’ll see you later.”

She was going to be so pissed with me.

38

WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?

ENORA

“So, Maksym’s bride…” Matteo called back with a humored drawl.

Despite having limited personal experience with the shifter lord Malakai, his younger brother really was far more pleasant to deal with, and it had only been minutes since Gallan passed me off to him with strict instructions.

“Arm her, station her, and do not let her get hurt, so help you Mina.”

I had a stocked quiver slung over my shoulder now with the war bow I’d gotten back at the Keep, and we were climbing the narrow staircase up a tower dotted along the border wall. From the ground, the thick, black stone battlements looked giant enough, but it was infinitely worse as I tried to make my way to the top. Thank the goddess the thick cloud cover and trickle of rain left the air remarkably cool; it was too damned early to be breaking out in a sweat.

“Yes, Malakai’s brother?”

“Oh!” he laughed. “And here I was about to compliment you. I had a seat at the first trial, you know. A little miffed they whisked you all away for the second round, but it was a lovely view, spectating from the council box.”

I wasn’t sure if the shifter was just trying to make me feel more comfortable, or if this was his usual mode of operation, but I had no complaints. When we arrived at the camp, I’d spent every ounce of masking energy I had putting on an eager face for Jasper, and I was thoroughly drained of keeping up any false pretense.

“Go on…”

“All I’m saying is, if your shot is as good as any of the displays you put on that day, we’re ecstatic to have you, strange circumstances aside.” Oh, he was definitely trying to placate me. “I’ll have to prod the old archivists someday, but I’m sure it’s been a hot millennia or two since we had a future Queen of Grimmoria lining the parapet with her lowly disciples. Probably even longer since we last had a sitting king who’d even allow such a thing, so there’s that too. Trailblazers, both of you. Really fortuitous that⁠—”

“It’s a day for the books. Fantastic.” I’d done a half-decent job so far of keeping thoughts of Maksym bleeding out from his side wound to a minimum, but they were back in full force and were the entire driving force behind my quick interjection. “And if my shot isn’t enough, we’ll just have them scrub the ledgers, right?”

“Oh, no. We’ll write about how awful you were after we toss you over the wall and run for the hills. But I’ll shut up about that now.” He tossed a smile back over his shoulder, pale-green eyes glinting in the light filtering in from the open door at the top of the tower. “Your post.”

Matteo swept his arm through the doorway, and I headed out onto the wall walk ahead of him.

Goddess, it was a lot to take in.

Archers tucked every few feet along crenelations as tall as me, small braziers lit with flickering nytefire in between them all. Most seemed to be shifters, if the sweep of different hair colors and tanned, warm skin was anything to judge. It made sense to tuck me in amongst their masses, where I wouldn’t stand out like I did against the Umbrites, but I didn’t get to linger on that for long.

My eyes settled on the Odessan camp past the ridgeline, and a shaky breath tore out of my lungs.

It was sprawling.