Page 131 of The Incendiary

His shoulders stiffened at my demands, and he cracked his neck like I was grating his nerves, but he complied. “Finch’s mother was a messenger. Four years ago, she went missing from a spot not too far from here, where we’re headed. Finch visits the place every year on the anniversary of her disappearance.” Elias glanced left and right, as if to ensure no one was nearby to hear. “Days before Cross was killed, one of my soldiers witnessed a confrontation between Cross and Finch while on patrol outside of the Caves. When Finch left the Barracks two days ago, I took the liberty of rifling through his things and I found… some correspondence.”

“With who?”

Elias hesitated for a painfully long moment. “Molochai.”

The breath whooshed from my lungs. “Molochai himself?” I shuddered, overcome by the memory of jagged, ravenous shadows spinning and darting around me. Why would Molochai seek out Draven Finch? Or had Finch sought out Molochai?

“Yes. Short notes, but incriminating. Molochai wanted to make a deal with him. Inside information in exchange for his mother, who Molochai claimed to have captured.” Elias glanced back at me. “I think Cross caught Finch sending notes to the enemy. Finch killed him before he could speak up.”

I swallowed thickly. “What will you do with Finch now?”

Eli’s expression turned grim. My fear of Molochai was overshadowed by dread that the intent of this mission wasn’t just to find Draven Finch but kill him.

“A life for a life, then?” It was a grim thought that made my heart hurt. Finch had made a terrible decision, engaging with Molochai, but he’d done it to save a loved one, and that tugged at my empathy. Intent mattered. At least, it mattered to me.

Doing something terrible for someone you loved? That sounded a bit like someone else I knew.

“As it needs to be,” Elias grimly replied. But he had told me he wanted to be merciful, like the queen. This didn’t feel merciful at all.

“What can you tell me about the queen?” I hoped a subtle reminder might plant a seed and spare a life. “Why was she kept hidden for so long?”

Surprisingly, he didn’t sound angry. “We kept her in the north because until a few months ago, Molochai and his Insidions seldom went there. Fewer resources, fewer people, and cold climates are never ideal for armies.”

“What changed a few months ago? Besides the queen’s… death.”

His head dipped when he looked at his hands holding the reins. “Simeon thinks Molochai could sense the power of the gods waking in her and drew north, along with his Insidions and some beasts. Until her, he didn’t have much reason to. Occasionally he used to send some of them to try and break through the border to ransack some villages, make a stir, test us, but we have numbers on our side, and we’ve been able to neutralize the threats quickly.”

“Do you have soldiers stationed in all the northern villages?” I asked, though I already knew. There were wards on Tovick and Brinnea, but the smaller northern villages could have used more protection.

“In the summer months,” he replied, “when conflict is more likely to occur.”

I bit my tongue to keep from correcting him as the wind blew a few stray black locks across my vision. I’d seen a northern village that had been ransacked in the middle of winter.

“We have to keep our numbers dense near the Caves and across the center of the continent,” Elias continued, gesturing with his hands like he was drawing in the air. “You could draw a line from southern Avendrel to southern Wymara, directly below the Caves, and everything south of that line belongs to Molochai. He has the bottom half of the continent thoroughly in his clutches. Venturing fifty miles south of the Caves without the proper protection in both numbers and arms is a death sentence, and without Simeon’s wards…”

The way he trailed off gave me pause. “Without the wards?”

“We have the numbers to protect the Caves against Insidions,” he answered. “It’s likely Molochai knows exactly where we are, but with the wards suppressing his magic, he can’t do a damn thing.”

But what happened if the wards fell? Could Molochai enter at any time? I couldn’t ignore that the last few times I’d left the fortress, I could have sworn the magic Simeon used to ward the walls had felt a little bit weaker.

While we rode in silence, I wondered if Simeon would teach me to make the wards with the magic I inherited from our bloodline or if he would withhold that from me, too.

Northern Avendrel was mostly flat forests, so the stallion kept an easy, steady rhythm that made me succumb to sleep. The forest was quiet and calm save for the errant call of a bird or scuttle of a deer or critter. I was exhausted, and my body betrayed me. Each time I woke up with my cheek against Elias’s back, I jolted back, pulled my hands from his waist and put as much distance between us as possible. Only to be mocked by amused laughter that set me aflame with embarrassment.

That evening, we found shelter beneath a dense crop of trees. When the sun set, the temperature dropped, and I had a difficult time hiding my shivering. Elias dismounted and offered me his hand. He’d been mostly kind to me today, if not a bit teasing, so I didn’t have it in me to spite him.

“There’s got to be some supper wandering around,” I said while he gathered wood for a fire. “If you’d like, I’ll go, and⁠—”

“You may be impressive, but you aren’t invincible. And I may have been wrong about you, but I’m not stupid. Look at your fingers. They’re cold.” He rose from a squat and gently gripped my wrists. They were only a little pale. It was unexpectedly cold for a summer night. “And you’re exhausted. You’ve got bags under your eyes.”

“Thanks.” I stepped back. “But I think I can manage to find us supper.”

“I’ll hunt, Fera,” he insisted. His concern made me anxious. “Just sit by the fire and get comfortable.”

I didn’t sit while he built us a fire. I stood beside the white stallion and stroked its mane in thanks for a successful day of travel. Dusk shone with an array of colors while the sun set, clear skies promising a peaceful night. The sun would soon descend below the horizon, and Elias and I would be alone next to a warm bonfire below sparkling stars.

When he finished, he returned to his bag a few feet away and sifted through it.