Renna could stop the persecution like Esther did in the Bible. Surely it was the right thing to do.
If only she didn’t have to marry Respen to do it. She willed her stomach to stay where it belonged. How could she even think about marrying Respen? And giving up on Leith?
Martyn stepped in front of them and thumped his right fist over his heart. “My king.” He glanced at Renna before he fixed his eyes on Respen. “Fourth Blade Crossley and Sixth Blade Daas have returned.”
“And?” Respen’s gaze hardened. No trace of the softer, reminiscent man remained.
Martyn’s eyes darted toward Renna once again. She shifted. She would’ve returned to her room, if Respen’s grip on her arm hadn’t remained so tight.
Respen tugged her closer. “I want her to hear this report.”
Renna’s heart crumbled. If Respen wanted her to hear, then he suspected the news was about Leith, and that kind of report couldn’t be good.
Martyn cleared his throat. “Torren split from the Resistance group Shadrach Alistair is leading into the Sheered Rock Hills. Seventh Blade Kent and Tenth Blade Harding are still trailing them. Torren headed into the Waste.”
Renna gasped. People only ventured into the Waste if they wanted to die.
Martyn ignored her. His fingers clenched and unclenched. “Sixth Blade Daas remained outside the Waste in case Torren doubled back while the First and Fourth Blades trailed him until Craven was bitten by a rattlesnake. He ordered Crossley to turn around before both of them died. Crossley and Daas waited for Torren to leave the Waste, but he never did. Crossley assumes that both First Blade Craven and Leith Torren perished.”
Renna collapsed. Respen released his grip on her hand and let her tumble to the ground. She landed hard on the bluestone path, her knees and palms stinging. Leith hadn’t survived. He’d died some horrible death in that forsaken place. No one but God even knew where his body lay.
“He assumes?” Respen’s voice rumbled. “I need proof, not assumptions. Torren has tricked us too many times.”
Martyn flinched. “I believe, Your Majesty, that it’d be a waste of time and effort. If Torren is dead, it wouldn’t be worth sending Crossley and risk losing him to the Waste. If he’s alive, the rain washed away his trail. It already washed away Shadrach Alistair’s trail and prevented the Fourth and Sixth Blades from attempting to rejoin the Seventh and Tenth Blades.”
Renna studied Martyn’s face. Did he believe Leith was dead? The glance he sent her way held pain. His shoulders slumped.
Agony lanced through Renna’s chest. If Martyn believed Leith was dead, then what hope did she have?
Respen glared at Martyn. He lashed out and grabbed Martyn’s chin. The king bent his head close to Martyn. “I will listen to your counsel, my new First Blade, but tread carefully. I expect you to be an improvement over my last two First Blades.”
Renna huddled on the ground. Was this what Leith had endured during his time as the First Blade? Threats. Bruises. Constant terror.
Respen flung Martyn away from him. Martyn stumbled, clutching his jaw as if the king’s fingers had punched holes in his skin. Regaining his balance, Martyn saluted and strolled away at a clip that would’ve been a run if he’d been less disciplined.
When Respen turned to her, his eyes still burned. She gripped her skirts and tried to stop shaking. Her chest ached with emptiness, as if Martyn’s words had ripped her heart out and scattered it to the breeze.
Respen’s jaw tightened. He yanked her up by her shoulder and shook her. “You still love that mongrel. After all he did to your family.”
She gripped his arm. Pain shot through her shoulder and neck. “You personally killed my uncle and ordered the deaths of my entire family. All Leith did was keep my parents’ guards from saving them.”
“And slit your cousin Keevan’s throat.” Respen’s growl hissed across her face.
She froze. She’d known Leith must’ve killed one of her cousins, but she’d never asked him about it. Once she’d gotten to know him and had forgiven him for the deaths of her parents, it had seemed best to leave the past in the past.
“It was his sixth mark. He slipped into your cousin’s room that night, held his hand over his mouth, and cut his throat. Your cousin didn’t even have a chance to fight back.” Respen leaned closer until his long, angular nose nearly brushed Renna’s. “Is that the kind of man you thought he was? He might claim he changed, but I have seen him with his hands drenched in your cousin’s blood.”
Chills skittered across her skin. She couldn’t meet his gaze and instead focused on his pointed beard. If only Leith was here. Then she could meet his green eyes, read the hurt and repentance, and banish Respen’s lies.
But Leith was dead, his body abandoned to the crows.
A tear slid down her face and curled onto her chin. She swiped at it. She couldn’t break in front of Respen. He’d revel too much in her pain.
Respen’s lips curled. “Return to your room. I’m done walking.”
Gripping her skirts, she hurried across the lawn and up the brick staircase as quickly as her healing leg allowed. She didn’t stop until she slammed the door to her room behind her and leaned against it.
Leith was dead. The pain squeezed her chest and throat until she might crumble with the force of it. He wasn’t supposed to die. He was supposed to escape with Brandi. Her sacrifice should’ve saved both of them.
Was this what she’d been waiting for? Was this God’s answer to her patience? She pressed her palms to her eyes and slid to the floor. Hot tears trickled down her nose.
Why had he died? He’d fought so hard to gain his freedom from the Blades. Yet he never got a chance to live it.
She rocked, her sobs rising so hard and fast in her throat she choked on her tears. Over the past four and a half years, she’d cried these sobs too many times. The tears of loss, the final tearing. Yet this time, she had no one to hold her tight. Her parents were gone. Uncle Abel. Aunt Mara. Leith. Even Brandi was far away.
She couldn’t lose anyone else. Too many people in Acktar had already lost so many loved ones. She’d be selfish to do nothing when she could save them from this pain.
Tomorrow, once Respen calmed down, she’d tell him.
She was going to say yes. She was going to marry King Respen.
17
Brandi sat up at the babble of voices near the entrance to the cave. A guard rushed in and waved back the way he’d come. In the broad space, his hushed voiced echoed enough that Brandi caught the words “horse” and “Blade.”
She reached for the knife strapped at her waist. Was the other Blade lurking outside of their cave? He’d been wounded, but no one knew how badly. Was he still hunting her?
Shad gathered a few of the guards and led them outside. Brandi stood and slipped from the cave entrance. If the Blade attacked the cave and got past Shad and the other guards, she’d face him herself. No one else would get accidentally killed because she was mistaken for Brandi.
Jamie appeared at her side and grabbed her arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“That maid was killed because the Blade thought she was me.” Brandi yanked her arm free. Jamie should know better than to impede a girl while she’s preparing to fight. “I won’t let that happen again.”
A commotion startled a flock of sparrows to her left. She drew the knife and faced the trees.
Was she willing to kill again? She squeezed the hilt tighter. Maybe, maybe not, but she wasn’t going to run. Whatever happened, she’d face it with as much bravery as she could muster.
Shad’s voice filtered through the branches a moment before he and another guard pushed through the brush, leading a horse. Dust covered the horse’s dark blue-grey fur. His head sagged, his mane matted.
Blizzard.
“Leith?” Brandi stumbled forward, shoving her knife into its sheath.
The dusty shape hunched on Blizzard’s back moved. Leith’s green eyes peered from a gaunt and sun-blist
ered face. Dust covered his hair so thickly it appeared grey instead of black. His mouth cracked into a smile. “Brandi.”
She hurried to them as Leith slid from Blizzard’s back. His knees buckled, and he would’ve fallen to the ground if Shad hadn’t caught him.
“Steady there.” Shad looped one of Leith’s arms over his shoulders. “Let’s get you inside before you pass out.”
Brandi snagged his other arm. “Ugh. You smell like you jumped in a river of sweat and dead animals.”
“No bath. Sorry.”
While Jamie grabbed Blizzard’s halter, Brandi wrapped her arm around Leith’s waist to steady him. His spine jabbed through his skin like a row of knives. Leith wasn’t supposed to be thin and weak. He was the strong one, wasn’t he? “When did you last eat?”
He tipped his head toward the sky and closed his eyes. “Two days? Three? Not sure. I ran out of food. Too thirsty to eat much.”
She glanced at Leith’s knives, then over to Shad’s bow. Shad and Jolene had kept them fed with fresh meat as they traveled, but Leith didn’t have a bow. He couldn’t even throw his knives. Short of grabbing a rabbit with his bare hands, he had no way of foraging for food himself, at least nothing that could be done while on the run.
By the look of him and Blizzard, he hadn’t hung around in one spot long enough to set up snares. Had he even slept the entire time he’d been gone? The purple lines below his eyes and the exhausted sag to his body said he hadn’t.
She and Shad helped Leith into the cave and over to an unoccupied nook next to one of the boulders. After giving Blizzard’s reins to a guard, Jamie spread out his own bedroll. He slipped beside Brandi and eased Leith’s arm from her shoulders. “Do you think you could scrounge up some of that stew we had earlier?”
Brandi nodded and dashed across the cave toward the fire they’d built. A covered pot huddled on one of the stones that contained the fire. Cracking it open, she spotted a thin layer of leftovers coating the bottom. She reached for the pot and sighed. She’d forgotten a bowl to put it in.
After she placed the cast-iron pot into the coals to reheat the stew, she raced across the cave and dug out her bowl and spoon. Returning to the fire, she grabbed the thick towel hung on a nearby rock, grabbed the pot’s handle, and heaved it out of the fire.
When she returned to Leith’s side with the bowl of stew, he leaned against the boulder, eyes closed. If he hadn’t been talking, she would’ve assumed he was asleep. Shad rested a shoulder against the wall of the cave, arms crossed, as he listened to whatever Leith was telling him.
As she drew closer, Leith stopped talking and opened his eyes. A smile creased his face as she handed him the bowl. “Thanks.”
She sat down facing him and eyed his thin fingers. His skin outlined each bone and tendon as he folded his hands and prayed. Brandi fidgeted as his silent prayer continued for at least a minute. Of course, he needed to pray, but did he have to take so long? If he prayed too long, he might pass out from hunger or exhaustion before he had a chance to eat anything.
Finally he opened his eyes and picked up the spoon. He popped a bit of stew into his mouth, closed his eyes, and chewed slowly.
After he’d finished half the bowl, he glanced up at them. “What happened while I was gone? Did you get here all right?”
Shad kicked at a loose stone. “The Blades caught up with us before we reached the cave. One of the maids was killed before we wounded one of the Blades and killed the other.”
Brandi flinched and stared at the ground. Hopefully Leith wouldn’t ask for details. A part of her still ached at the feel of her knife plunging into that Blade and his agonized gasps as he took a day to die. She shivered and shoved the memories into the dark corner with all her other ignored memories. What would Leith think if he learned what she’d done?
When she looked up, she caught Jamie staring at her. She scowled. She didn’t need him tattling on her now.
“I don’t know if the wounded Blade is still following us.” Shad waved his fingers toward the light streaming through the cave entrance. “I haven’t seen him.”
“He’s still there.” Leith leaned his head against the boulder. “I’ll deal with him after I’ve rested.”
Brandi rubbed her arms as another shiver stole across her skin. What was Leith planning to do? If she’d learned anything about the Blades, it was that they carried out their orders or died trying.
18
When Leith woke, he felt better than he had in days. When was the last time he’d been able to sleep until he was rested?
He pushed himself up and dragged a hand through his hair. A cloud of dust puffed, and his hand came away gritty.
Shad plopped into the dirt across from him. “About time you woke up.”
“How long have I been asleep?” Leith glanced around the cave. Lady Alistair talked quietly to Lydia. The four Blade trainees huddled in a group while Lady Lorraine stood near the entrance as if standing guard. Leith didn’t see Brandi or Jamie, though his view of much of the cave was blocked by a couple of large boulders. Daylight still streamed through the cave entrance, so he couldn’t have slept that long.
Shad grinned at him. “The rest of yesterday and all last night.”
Leith grimaced and swiped his gritty hand on his even grittier clothes. Dust billowed, covering the blanket Jamie had loaned him yesterday. “I think this blanket will need a wash.”
“I’m not sure a wash would help. It might have to be burned.” Shad schooled his expression into a too-serious frown. “You look and smell like something no decent scavenger would eat.”
Leith didn’t try to find a comeback for that one. He leaned his head against the boulder. “I came close to being crow bait there in the Waste. If that rain hadn’t come through when it did, I wouldn’t have made it.”
“What’s it like in the Waste?”
Leith ran his tongue around his mouth, still tasting the endless dust. “You’ve never seen dry and dead until you’ve seen the Waste, not even during mid-summer.” He trailed off. How could he even put the Waste into words? “Not a place I want to face again.”
“I’m glad you made it.” Lines dug into the skin around Shad’s eyes.
“Me too.” What if he’d died? Respen would no longer have any reason to keep her alive. Leith would’ve failed in his many promises to keep her safe. He bowed his head. “One of the Blades hunting me didn’t.”
“And one of the Blades trailing us was killed.” Shad held out a knife hilt first to Leith. “He didn’t die easily. He was stabbed in the stomach.”
Leith took it and turned the knife over in his hands. The initials FK swirled on the hilt. Farsin Kent. A quiet Blade, better at assassinations of helpless victims than actual combat. Still, Leith wouldn’t wish that kind of death on anyone.
Shad clapped Leith on the shoulder. “As soon as you’re ready, we need to get moving. We’ve delayed here long enough.”
Leith bowed his head. “Understood.” He had to take care of the last Blade following them before he tracked them all the way to Eagle Heights.
Jolene eased onto the ground next to Shad and held out a plate to Leith. “Shad figured you’d be hungry.”
Shad grinned, and he and Jolene shared a look, like they were silently chuckling at a humorous secret. “I’ve been told food is rather essential.”
Leith took the plate. His mouth watered with the gamey smell of roasted venison though his shriveled stomach knotted at the sight of so much food.
After eating half the slice of venison, Leith hiked to a creek and scrubbed the Waste from his skin. He dressed in his clean, black clothes and left the clothes he’d worn into the Waste where they lay. They were beyond saving.
Strapping on all his knives, he returned to the cave, grabbed his pack with his medical supplies, and retrieved the knives that had belonged to First Blade Craven and Seventh Blade Kent.
Shad reached for his bow, but Leith waved at him to stay where he was. “Best if I do this alone
.”
“You sure?” Shad crossed his arms. “That Blade is hunting you, after all.”
“Based on the way he and Kent failed when they attacked you, he’s probably one of the younger Blades. He won’t attack me, not on his own.” Leith hefted his pack of medical supplies over his shoulder. Which Blade was tracking them? Blane Altin? Ranson Harding? Would one of them listen to Leith given the chance? “I won’t be gone long.”
He slipped into the brush surrounding the cave and studied the landscape. The Blade couldn’t be hiding close to the cave. Shad and his hunting parties would’ve stumbled on him. But he’d be someplace where he could keep the cave’s entrance in sight.
Somewhere like that brushy cliff to their west. Leith eased into the dense spruce cover. He circled up and over the ridge above the cave, sticking to the shadows.
Half way, Leith had to crouch behind a tree for several minutes to catch his breath. His legs already trembled even though he hadn’t hiked that far. He leaned his head against the tree’s trunk. So weak. He’d better hope the Blade didn’t attack him because he didn’t have the strength for a fight at the moment. He prayed for strength as he forced himself back to his feet and kept going.
Thirty minutes and two breaks later, he crawled on his stomach and peered over a boulder. A black shape lay under a scrub cedar, eyes glued to the cave entrance below and to his left. Leith stalked around the boulder, easing each foot onto the pebbly ground. He came at the Blade from the right. The Blade’s thatch of brown hair caught the sunlight. Ranson Harding.
Good. Leith could handle Harding. Perhaps even get a chance to help him.
Two yards away, Leith leaned his shoulder against a tree. “You should take the time to watch your surroundings, Harding. You never know who might sneak up on you.”
The Blade jerked, winced, and scrambled to his feet. One hand pressed to a brown-stained tear in his shirt while the other dropped to the knife strapped to his belt. Leith rested a hand on one of his own knives. “You don’t want to fight me.”
Defy (The Blades of Acktar Book 3) Page 9
