Page 79 of Because the Gods Left

She tried a few more times to get them to calm down, but they only worked themselves up further.

“Silence!” Iryana ordered, trying to infuse the same command her grandmother did into her voice. It worked, for the most part. The guardians and warriors quieted, eyes all falling on her. “What exactly happened?”

“We were escorting the goods back from the water village in the trees,” Edvar began, grinding his jaw as he struggled to speak calmly. “And the soldiers came from the trees. We weren’t on our guard because we had been too trusting of them. There were too many of them, and they demanded the supplies in exchange for our lives. Cut our scout good, though, to make sure we took them seriously.”

She glanced at the scout who had a bloody rip in his coat’s shoulder. Hopefully, they’d had the sense to wrap the wound under the coat.

“And you’re sure it was the 18th?” Iryana demanded. “If it was, there’s no way the general sanctioned it.”

“It’s the 18th’s territory, who else would it be?” Kladara snapped.

“Did you recognize any of them?”

She hesitated. “No, but I haven’t met that many of them.”

That was a comfort at least. Iryana’s mind swam, panicking, threatening to drive away all rational thought. It took a moment for reason to catch up with her. “There was an issue at the fort at the end of the summit. This might be related.”

“I think it’s just what we always expected,” Edvar cut in. “For the 18th to betray us.”

Iryana sucked in a breath. “It couldn’t have been them.”

“I thought all the brigades had banded together; an attack from one is an attack from all.” Edvar raised a challenging brow.

“No—that’s not what’s happening!”

Edvar rested a shaking hand on Iryana’s shoulder. “I know you wanted this to work, but clearly it didn’t.”

Iryana shrugged his hand off. “Let’s not get upset before we know all the facts.”

She needed to keep them from spiraling further.

“Anyone who is injured, go wait in the hall for Hadima to look you over. Edvar, tell those at the gate and the towers to be on guard, but to let any of the usual messengers through.” She saw Edvar open his mouth to argue. “That’s an order. I will be sending a message to the fort, and I want any response or word from them to reach me immediately.”

“Kladara, you will stay with me, and I want you to recount every detail, no matter how small.”

Chapter Sixteen

The clan met in the hall a few hours later, tensions high. Iryana had talked to the First beforehand, but she seemed more suspicious than Iryana would have liked. She hadn’t had a chance yet to send a message to the fort; it was unlikely someone would be able to return until tomorrow, anyway.

Her family was chatting around her, Kladara recounting again everything that had transpired. Edvar jumping in now and again for dramatic effect. Iryana had already heard it all.

Iryana sat there… festering.

Her mind was a swirl of what-ifs and worse case scenarios. What if this rebellion in the 18th was larger than she’d thought? What if Pyetar had been overthrown and one of Karvek’s followers took over? What if there really would be war against her clan for what she’d done? What if Pyetar was dead?

Iryana’s hands clenched around the glass goblet before releasing as she tried to calm herself. Only to wrap tightly around it again as horrible thoughts consumed her.

How would her family react if she’d so grossly misled them? If she had been wrong about everything she’d been pushing for as Third? She told herself that she had to believe they’d stand by her, that in truth, they had no choice. But the part of her that was sweating and breathing heavily still believed she’d be turned away from her clan.

There was a knock at the exterior door of the hall, and then one of the volunteers on duty led a heavily bundled soldier in, snow clinging to the edges of their hood and coat. Cold wind and a few errant flakes of snow slipped in through the open doorway. Everyone straightened, eyes trained on that figure.

“A messenger from the fort,” he grumbled. Iryana nodded at the volunteer and dismissed him.

Iryana could see her clan tensing around her, but she knew who that soldier was.

“Vaneshta!” She couldn’t help her relief. Vaneshta would clear everything up.

Iryana stood and picked her way through the maze of benches and chairs her clan occupied, ignoring the suspicious glares and worried eyes.