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“Why not send her back the minute you saw her?” I seethed.

“Why should I play the villain when I knew you would do it so well?” Gerarda patted my shoulder with the hand that wasn’t flipping her throwing knife. “Keera, she is already angry at you. Why should she be angry at us both? The training is helping her. She hasfriendsand the other morning when I got to the training ground she was singing.”

I stilled. “Singing?”

Gerarda nodded. “I only want the best for her too.”

I sighed. “And what about this one?” I jutted my chin in the direction of Fyrel who was trying to hide amongst the other Shades.

Gerarda tilted her head. “I told that one she could fight.”

My jaw snapped shut, but Myrrah whistled drawing our attention to her. “Fyrel is ready. Gerarda and I did not make that decision lightly.”

I crossed my arms. “When you pledged your swords, I thought you meant theShades. Fyrel never earned her hood. She is too young to fight.”

Fyrel shoved the others out of the way. “I was not too young to fight the soldiers when they came for the other initiates in the middle of the night. I was not too young to stitch their arms back together and hum them to sleep as they cried. And I was not too young to fight when we left that island to come here. This is my home as much as it is yours, and I wish to fight for it.” She cleared her throat. “And if you tell me no, I will just sneak onto the ship.”

I scoffed.

Myrrah pushed her chair forward. “Keera, you are no longer Blade. You fought to free us, so we did not have to answer to anyone, but you freed our swords as well. You cannot be surprised that some of us will choose to use them.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You will stay on the ship with Elaran and Myrrah. You will do anything your superiors tell youwithout questionand that includes any command to save yourself and leave the others behind.”

Fyrel’s brows knitted together.

“Am I understood?”

“Yes.” Fyrel nodded enthusiastically. “Thank you, Keera.”

I turned to the rest of them. “You understand the risks. This will not be like any other mission. We are not fighting with the resources of the Crown, but against them. All of them.”

Myrrah shrugged. “I always thought I would die at sea.”

I ignored her comment and stared down the Shades behind her. Each flexed their jaw and stared right back at me. There was no hesitation, no reluctance in their eyes. They knew what lay ahead because they were soldiers, soldiers who wanted to fight.

Myrrah pulled a white box from the bag hanging off her chair. She opened it and handed it to me. “Since there are no leaders among us, I made sure everyone got one.” I looked up and saw that each of them was wearing an identical pin around their necks. It was cast in white metal, carved into the shape of the Order. Its three towers stretched across the fastener with tiny gemstones atop each one to represent the glass emblems.

Myrrah grabbed the fastener and threaded the lace of my cloak through its center. “We wore weapons around our necks for so long I think it’s time that we wore a symbol of home to remind us what we’re fighting for.”

My throat tightened as Gerarda lifted her chin. A bright white pin was around her neck too. She gave me a knowing look. “We all deserve to fight for a worthy cause, at least once.”

The scars along my skin tingled and I nodded.

We stepped onto our ships and my breath hitched as I looked out at all the faces along the three decks. Halfling, Fae, and Elf fighting together as one. We were no longer a band of rebels trying to destabilize the Crown, we were a united front.

The rebellion was over and the war had officially begun.

CHAPTERFORTY

WE ARRIVED JUST BEFORE DAWNwith black sails along the horizon. Thirty ships circled the east side of the island and I knew we would find more along the western shore. Gerarda and Syrra flanked me on either side.

“It’s as we expected.” Gerarda assessed the canons and archers along the ships with a spyglass. “Our best bet is to go through the channel and hope that we can get our ships out before the rest of the fleet can close in on us.”

I took the spyglass for myself. “How long would it take for the others to circle around?” Each ship had two hundred soldiers along the deck and even more waiting along the shore.

“Thankfully, the winds are against them.” Gerarda clipped the spyglass to her belt. “An hour at most.”

I nodded. “Then we have to disable their ships first. Break the line. Then I will go in while the rest of you deal with the threat along the shore.” I nodded at Syrra who still had a spyglass to her eye. “Do you see those bolts?” There were large mechanical bows lined up on the beach with arrows as long as the tallest Mortal and thicker than his arm.