He was only gone a moment, but when he returned, Rian was already beside me and took the blanket from his hands, glaring at Galen.
Galen sighed as Rian draped it around me, putting his arm around my shoulders. “Rian,” he said.
“No,” Rian snapped. “You and I will have a very serious discussion later. Not now.”
“About what?” I demanded.
Rian shook his head, rubbing my shoulder. “Come,” he said. “You need food, and rest. Do you want me to carry you?”
I pulled away from him, crossing my arms over the blanket. “Of course not,” I told him.
Kairos appeared on my other side with a smile. “Calix will never be able to take away the fact that she is desert born, Rian.” Osmost called out above us, and Kairos tracked him with his eyes. “We need to move. There are soldiers on their way.”
The Resistance had brought about twenty men, and they walked ahead of us and behind, some helping the Elementae to walk. Rian wouldn’t stray more than a foot from me, and Galen stayed ahead, glancing back at me every few moments.
We walked for more than a mile through the forest and trees until an inn appeared in front of us. Rian touched my arm, pointing to the roof. “See?” he asked.
For a long moment I didn’t see anything, but then I saw a small green dragon on the lowest shingle of the roof.
“Any place with that symbol is loyal,” he said. “Only green. We’ve put other colors around as false signals. Just green—remember that.”
I nodded, but caught his arm. “We’re staying here? We’re so close to the … Calix will know where to find us, Rian.”
“He won’t be looking. We’ve captured the guards and the quaesitori. Calix had already left for the Tri City; with no one to tell him otherwise, he won’t have a reason to come back for at least two days, and we’ll be gone by morning,” Galen said. His eyes met mine more meaningfully. “You’ll be safe here.”
Rian grunted, shifting to block Galen from my gaze.
The innkeeper and his wife walked outside, giving Rian and Galen grave nods as they held open the door, looking around as we all went inside quickly.
Rian brought me to a room, and a few moments later Galen knocked on the door.
“No,” Rian growled, standing between us as Galen opened the door, a pile of clothes in his hands. “You’re not seeing her right now.”
“Rian,” I said.
“Rian, please,” Galen said.
“Absolutely not!” he snapped, his hands curling to fists. “Are you going to tell me putting your hands all over her was some brotherly display?”
“No,” Galen said calmly, shaking his head. “I love Shalia, Rian. I’m in love with her.”
Heat filled my face, but Rian was slightly less happy to hear this. Before I even knew what he was doing, he launched his fist against Galen’s jaw.
“Rian!” I shrieked as Galen reeled.
Kairos slid into the doorway, pausing for barely a second before grabbing Rian, twisting, and pushing him outside the room. “Move, Kairos!” Rian bellowed.
“Oh please,” Kairos snapped, crossing his arms. “Let them talk.”
“He dishonored our—”
“Shut it,” Kairos said, pushing him back. “We need to talk about the plan for tomorrow anyway. She wants to talk to him, and you will respect that.”
“You knew about this?” Rian demanded. “You lied to me?”
Kairos gave an exaggerated sigh, pushing Rian toward the stairs. “After all the misery of the past few days, Rian, you have a spectacular ability to focus on the inconsequential.” Kairos turned back and winked at me before he shut the door.
Shaking my head, I went and sat on the bed with a sigh.
Slowly, Galen came and sat, his body almost a foot from mine. His hand was beside his knee, not near me, but after hearing those words, after all the horrors of the past few days, I wanted to touch him. I slowly reached across the space, edging my fingers over his.
He looked up at me and sucked in a breath as he turned his palm over, lacing our fingers together. “You’re sure this is all right?” he whispered.
“Holding hands?” I asked.
He looked down, his throat working. “If you don’t want to be touched, I’d understand. I’d respect that.”
I curled my fingers tighter on his.
“How is Danae?” I asked.
A muscle in his jaw flared. “She’s still asleep. I don’t even understand how Calix could have done this to her.”
“The blood,” I said softly. “He probably tried it more than once—he tried draining a girl of all her blood, and that must not have worked. I don’t know how he got it to work, but a girl—Dara, that girl from the communes, the one I thought—” I shook my head. “She died. And then Danae had her power.”
His fingers squeezed mine. “I know what he’s done in those experiments, Shalia,” he whispered, his voice rough. “I’ve been imagining—” He stopped his words abruptly.
I slid closer to him. “No,” I breathed, and even that called up tears. “He thought it would be more effective to hurt people and make me watch.”
His arm let go of my fingers to curl around me, pulling me against him, holding me so tight that every time we breathed we inched apart, only to be brought close again when we exhaled. “Kata said your baby’s alive?” he asked.
I nodded, and tears slipped down my cheeks. “My miracle girl.”
His hand moved down my side, coming between us to touch my stomach. “You’re the miracle, Shalia.”
I covered his hand with my own. “What happens next?” I asked, trying to swallow all the things I felt with his big hand covering my tiny, hidden child.
“We have to get you out of the Trifectate’s reach,” he said.
I shook my head. “We need to go to the desert first. I need to make sure my people are safe.”
“You broke the land bridge,” he told me. “We can’t cross into the desert.”
“Calix will think that,” I said. “But I’m sure I can find a way.”
He nodded.
“What will we do about Calix?” I asked.
“It is time he was deposed,” he said, looking to me. “And you are carrying his child.”
I pulled back. “You want my daughter to be queen? An infant who hasn’t even been born?”
He nodded. “With you as the regent. Yes. If we want there to be as little bloodshed as possible, we have to install a legitimate heir to replace Calix.”
“We would still need an army,” I said.
“Yes,” he said, his hand stroking my back.
I looked at him. “You could be king, couldn’t you?”
“No,” he said. “It’s either a legitimate heir or the crown reverts to the vestai.”
“I will consider it,” I told him. I took his hand from my cheek and clasped it in both of mine. “My family—the bodies—” I stopped, shaking my head.
“Burned,” he whispered, holding me tight. “According to desert custom, yes?”
I nodded, pulling back. “Which you know, because you’ve known my brother. For years.”
He sighed. “Yes.”
I stood from the bed. “So even when we met in the desert—you knew him. You knew about me.” My breath caught. “Did you know about the veil?” I asked.