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“I know.”

The bearded man he’d killed at the inn flashed in my mind.

“I’m not someone you would have chosen to be with. I’m someone you were intrigued by and attracted to despite yourself. I’ll never be safe, Prisca. I’ll always be the monster who slaughters anyone who attempts to hurt you. I don’t know how to be anything else. My mistake was attempting to shield you from the sight of that monster.”

“We will all do terrible things before this is over,” Demos said. I sent him a grateful look and changed the subject.

“I’m going to meet with Conreth again. I want to learn about the barrier. If there’s a chance we could somehow bring it down, we might be able to convince other kingdoms to help us.”

“Barrier?” Asinia asked.

Since Tibris and Demos already knew, and Vicer didn’t look at all surprised to hear about it, I filled her in.

Asinia looked like I’d dumped a bucket of icy water over her head. “There are more continents?”

“Regner had the information struck from the history books. I’m sure there are people in the cities who knew of the other continents, but villagers like us…”

Asinia’s mouth twisted.

“I’m leaving too,” Vicer announced. “I’m returning to Eprotha.”

I gaped at him. “Why?” We’d all barely escaped Eprotha with our lives. He would be at the top of Regner’s kill list.

“There is a hybrid camp located in the foothills of the Normathe Mountains. I’ve been communicating with them for years now, attempting to convince them to join us—especially now that so many hybrids are making their way to this camp. They’ve had a hard winter. The area is at constant risk for landslides and flooding, not to mention Regner’s iron guard is always looking for these kinds of camps so he can destroy them.”

“Why don’t they want to join us?” Asinia asked.

“They’re isolationists. They want to be left alone to raise their families. Which is understandable. But Regner will learn of them eventually and wipe them out. It’s only a matter of time.”

“You’re going to try to convince them to travel down here?” Demos asked.

“Yes. Their leader is a woman named Kaelin Stillcrest. We’ve met twice over the years, and she refuses to see reason. But I’m hoping she will understand the increased risk and choose to join us.”

All of us were separating. A wave of anxiety washed over me. Was this the right decision? We would be far apart, with no way to help one another if any of us were attacked or captured. Or…worse.

Asinia nudged me with her leg beneath the table, and I rolled my shoulders. It had to happen. We were lucky we’d had the luxury of spending this time together. Luckier still we’d all managed to do some training. It would have to be enough.

“What do we know about the fae amulets?”

Demos leaned back. “Not much. I’ve been spying on their spies, but they don’t have anything so far. What are you thinking?”

Asinia smirked and then turned her attention back to Demos. “She’s thinking if Conreth takes our hourglass, she’ll take something of his.”

Tibris’s mouth dropped open, and he stared at me like he’d never seen me before. Demos gave me a pleased grin.

“If Conreth wants to double-cross us, we will do the same to him.” He nodded. “I like it.”

“Hopefully we won’t need to,” I said. “We all have the same goal—to kill Regner. We need to fight together. But if he wants to neuter us, and to force us to rely on his goodwill…”

“At least we’ll have something to trade,” Asinia said

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

Lorian stood in front of me, eyes hard, expression blank. In his arms, Piperia batted at his chin with her fist. Lorian’s eyes lost some of their sharpness as he caught her tiny hand. He kept his gaze on me, though, watching me thoughtfully.

It was time for him to leave. Galon strode over, holding out his hands for the baby, and Lorian scowled at him, whispered something I couldn’t hear into the baby’s ear, and handed her over.

I rolled my eyes at them. Cavis’s daughter was going to grow up entirely coddled with this group of murderous mother hens fighting over her attentions.