“I will.” I gave her an appreciative nod as the mage left me to fix the meal on my own.
No one noticed minutes later when the contents of two waxen green bottles slipped into the rabbit stew. They were from Nyx’s inventory at the keep. Certainly no one cared that the prisoner was refusing to eat.
“Did you do something different?” Darren poked at his bowl, his nose wrinkled in distaste.
I shrugged. “I followed the same recipe as Hadley. Why?”
“It tastes…” Paige frowned as she dug into her own and took a big swallow, making a face as she chewed. “Strange.”
“Strange can be good.”
“Not as my dinner.” Darren attempted another spoon, cringing as he swallowed. “Something must have been rotten. Or some mice got into the packs.”
“If I get sick,” Paige looked me in the eye, “the gods won’t be able to spare you my wrath.”
“I ate it too.”
“Where is your bowl?” Darren stared at my hands folded in my empty lap. “Ryiah, even if you don’t like your own cooking, you need to keep up your strength.”
“I already ate.” Lie. “And I didn’t taste anything strange.”
“Ryiah, this stew is terrible!” one of the Combat mages started to laugh. “What did you do?”
Another followed. “I wouldn’t feed this to the palace hounds.”
“Leave her alone,” Hadley was the only one to speak up in my defense.
“Gods, I would take the slops those mutts are given over this.”
“See?” Darren’s lips twitched in a smile. “We aren’t the only ones.”
I drew myself up, feigning upset. “I tried to do something nice. Remind me not to offer again!”
“Don’t bristle at us.” Paige rolled her eyes. “We were only teasing.”
“Ryiah,” Darren began, “we didn’t mean—”
“All I wanted was a distraction!” I raised my voice into hysterics, hating this ploy but knowing I needed to act it out all the same. “Three days I’ve been forced to pretend the traitor who recruited my brother isn’t standing three yards away, set to live for a crime my brother never could!”
Before Darren or Paige could say a word, I stomped over to the other side of camp, splattering mud against my heavy cloak and entering the royal tent. I waited for my husband to follow me inside.
Sure enough, Darren appeared moments later, rainwater dripping from his hair and lashes.
“I’m sorry.” The prince’s eyes sought my face; they were filled with shame. “I didn’t stop to think what this might be like for you. You’ve been so….” The prince took a step closer and cursed as his boot caught on the bottom of the tent’s flap. “Sstrong through all of thisss.” Darren made a face as he tried the words again, only to slur once more. “I f-forgotttt—”
The prince slumped forward, and I caught him in my arms.
I slowly transferred Darren to the ground and wrapped him in heavy furs.
Don’t. Don’t you dare think about what you’ve just done to the boy you claim to love.
The sleeping draught had hit just in time. The Black Mage was fast asleep, and when he awoke, his last memory would be my barely restrained outrage over the rebel’s life. The whole camp would remember that rage. I would never be a suspect in Tallus’s escape.
I brushed away Darren’s choppy bangs and pressed my lips to his forehead. “I’m sorry.” They were the words I could never say to him before, and it felt so good to say them now. “I’m sorry for everything.”
*
I waited until the murmur of voices died down and there was only the patter of rain. Then I tiptoed back into the center of our camp, taking care to duck around trees just in case someone was still awake.
No one was.
Twenty knights and mages were sprawled across the camp’s floor. Twenty of the Crown’s best unaware of the true traitor in their midst.
I ran forward to adjust Hadley so that she could breathe easier from her position on the ground. I felt guilty while thinking of my comrades—my friends—left out in the pouring rain to freeze, but I couldn’t draw suspicion by dragging them all under cover. Paige and Henry were clustered together on the ground, drawn swords scattered close by. They caught on faster than the rest.
I made one final scan of the scene before hurrying over to Tallus.
“Thank the g-gods.” The man’s breath was coming out in white puffs of air, his limbs shaking from the cold. Someone had taken his blanket away after I’d left, probably because of my scene. I bit back a groan. The price of my speech.
“Here.” I slashed at his bonds with a cooking knife before tossing it to the ground. I couldn’t let anyone think he’d gotten free through magic.
“We need some of my blood on those ropes,” the knight croaked. “No one will believe I escaped that easily.”
“I’m not letting you take any more injuries.” I grabbed the knife, but Tallus snatched it away, his reflexes surprisingly fast.