His expression was sad. “It has to be me. You can’t awake with new injuries. They would know something was wrong.”
I ground my teeth and looked away as the knight let out a low grunt while cutting into his palm and then pressing it against the rope’s end. You know he’s right. You need to focus on what comes next.
“You have two hours, three if we’re lucky.”
“Only three?”
“The stew diluted the potion’s effects, but it was too risky to drug the ale. Most only took a bite or two at most.” I flushed in the dark. “It wasn’t a pleasant aftertaste.”
The knight studied the range behind us. “Nyx stocked a hideout for me a day’s ride north from here. Enough supplies for a month.”
“We need to get out of here now. Don’t worry about covering your trail. I’ll do it on my way back.” I tossed the knight some bandages from my saddle pack. “Wrap your hands.”
Tallus opened his mouth, his question already on my mind—
I cut Paige’s mare loose and watched her flee south. My guard would kill me if she ever found out.
“We’re going on foot.” Tallus needed as many distractions as two hours could buy. “When they try to decide which path you took, Darren will assume you’ve fled south to the rebel base after he tracks those prints.”
The prince wouldn’t want to waste time combing the forest when his brother’s life was at stake. He would send others later after he was back with the king, but by then Tallus would be long gone north.
The knight swallowed heavily. “Thank you, princess.”
“I’m one of you first.” Darren would never have made me his wife if he knew.
I gripped the knight’s waist as we started forward, using my other hand to cast a light. A day in the prison and three days of travel with old injuries hadn’t helped, even prepared as Tallus was.
“Tallus…” I cleared my throat and squinted up through the pouring rain at the man who had braved so much for his cause. We had walked an hour together, and as much as it pained me, I had to turn around. Any more time would jeopardize our cause.
The knight didn’t regard me with disdain, but I wouldn’t have blamed him if he did. After all, I subjected him to that night in the dungeon. “Your sacrifice won’t be for nothing. I promise.”
“Derrick was—” Tallus’s voice cracked, “—a great friend of mine. I volunteered for this role.”
I never knew. I opened and shut my mouth, finding no words.
“It is an honor to help the sister he cherished so much.”
Breathe. My hand shot to my throat and the leather cord hanging just beneath my cloak.
Tallus didn’t leave time for a reply. The knight had already turned back, a limping shadow against a mountain of black.
I shut my eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. But it didn’t work.
All I could see was Derrick. My little brother, the bravest of us all. And I had left him to suffer alone.
I saw his angry face yelling at me in the palace cell.
And then I saw the final night. Jacob thrusting Derrick before me, crippled and hopeless, waiting for his older sister to take his life. Waiting for me to betray him.
I slumped to my knees.
Tallus’s words entered my heart. The sister he cherished so much.
Salty tears mixed in with icy sleet as the howling wind took control of my hair, whipping locks of scarlet against wind-chapped lips and a breaking heart. I reached up to clutch my brother’s ring through my cloak, holding on to the copper circlet like it was Derrick’s hand instead.
I won’t let you down again.
*
An hour later, I sprinted into camp, soaked to the bone. Raw magic danced out scattering the last foliage on the ground.I prayed that what my casting would be enough to mask Tallus’s trail.
It was another reason I had chosen night. It was harder to track.
In minutes, I was sliding into the tent, discarding my cloak, and drying my hair before feigning sleep beside the prince.
Ten minutes later, the first person awoke.
“Darren! Ryiah!”
The prince stirred once, and then his head fell back to the side.
“Your Highness!”
Darren shot up at the same time as me. His head crashed into my chin. I fell back, tasting blood as the prince placed a hand to his head, wincing. “Paige? What is it?”
“The rebel escaped—”
“What?”
“He—”
Darren staggered out of the tent, shoving his feet into boots and shouting for the rest of our men before she could finish. “Henry! Markus! Landon!”
“Paige?” I groggily blinked my eyes and attempted to stand, falling back as if I were much weaker than the rest. “D-did you say the rebel es-escaped?”
“Must have slipped an elixir in our meal.”
“M-my stew?” I groaned and reached for her shoulder. “The s-storm! The supplies were w-with Hadley.”
“She was also in charge of transporting the rebel.”
“The s-storm must have made it easy f-for him to slip it in t-the food.”
“I don’t know how he got it. We searched him thoroughly before we left.” The knight helped me up, her back tense. “The whole camp was out for hours after you left.”