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“Thank you, Harin,” Ivain said, making a quick note on a scrap of paper. “With those numbers, that makes the final count… 142 dead, four times as many injured.”

And the largest documented loss of fey life since the Schism.

Ivain didn’t say the words, but Skye heard them anyway, each one cutting sharp as a blade. He’d failed these people. They’d chosen him to lead, and he’d taken them to their deaths.

“I take full responsibility,” Skye said as hollow guilt caved his chest. He was unfit to be standing at this table, and everyone knew it. They were thinking it. They had to be. “The shades—they surprised us. We scouted every inch of the forest. I… I think they were using water magic. I felt it when I was scouting the area around the canyon, but I didn’t realize what it was until we were already on the bridge.”

Ivain gave him a quiet, steady look, as if he could see the inadequacy. “You’re right,” he said, reaching into his pocket. He produced a small drawstring bag and dumped out its contents. A handful of blue stones caked with gravel and dirt spilled onto the cluttered tabletop. “My men found water crystals buried just behind the highway wardline. These were discovered on the north side of the canyon, but there were twice as many on the south side, some as far as the turnpike. The enchantments were complex and expertly woven; I’m surprised you noticed anything at all. My guess is our enemy glamoured their forces and waited until you were crossing the bridge to launch their attack.”

Kato’s eyes cut to Skye. “Which would mean they knew where and when we planned to move. Almost like someone told them.”

The sudden pulse of strained silence that passed between the two brothers wasn’t lost on the rest of the group.

“Sire,” Eula interjected, turning to Ivain. “On the subject of security—”

Ivain held up a hand, and Eula ducked her head. Even Kato’s mouth clicked closed. “I’m already well aware of your troubles with foreign agents.”

The room stilled, the low din of the camp outside trickling into the tent as every eye settled on Ivain.

“How?” Harin asked in that low, gruff way of his.

“The same way I knew to come to your aid.” Ivain hesitated a moment. “I think it would be easier to hear for yourselves.”

The group glanced at each other apprehensively, trying to anticipate what Ivain was about to reveal.

His expression was stoic as he reached beneath a stack of papers and produced a fogged sheet of glass rimmed with alternating rows of shadow and water crystals. It was a glamour interface, the kind typically used in scrying relays.

Keying in a command that had the water and shadow crystals blinking to life, Ivain said, “We received this transmission from Vale five days ago.”

The picture on the interface remained stubbornly blank, but Ivain’s voice came through:“This is Relay 12-001—Ryme. Identify yourself.”

“Ivain?”came a breathless, feminine voice.

Eula gasped, and Skye flinched. Kato’s eyes went impossibly wide, and even Harin looked a bit more interested.

Because that voice—that wasTaly, and Skye wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. She had made it to the relay. She had actually gone for the relay. She hadn’t betrayed them.

Her voice was grainy through the playback, and Skye listened greedily, irritated when she would fade away, nearly snarling every time someone spoke over her. Her image flashed in his mind—dirty, flushed, hair a mess and falling out of its braid.

Beautiful. So beautiful. Soalive.

Taly started speaking faster, her words rushed and panicked.“I don’t know how much time I have. Um… Plum was burned, Vale is overrun, and someone here was talking to Strio. They said something about what sounded like a leader of some sort, and they have a list of people that they’re trying to recruit. That’s all I was able to overhear before they cut the connection.”

Something groaned in the background, and Taly muttered a quiet curse.“I need to go. Just to be safe, I wouldn’t trust any more transmissions from this relay or Strio.”

The message clicked, the lights along the interface flickering and finally fading. The room went silent.

Several long moments passed, and, surprisingly, Kato was the first to ask, “Where is she?” with what appeared to be genuine concern. Because even he couldn’t refute this evidence. No matter what kind of foreign magic he’d discovered penned onto her skin, Taly had done exactly what she said she’d do. She had made her way to therelay. She had sent out a distress signal and gathered valuable intel. She had secured the backup they so desperately needed and saved the life of every man, woman, and child on that bridge.

She wasn’t a traitor. Or a spy.

She was a hero.

“We don’t know where she is,” Ivain said softly. “This transmission came in just after the attacks began, and we haven’t heard anything since.”

“Shit,” Harin quietly cursed, turning his face away. The fire mage had always had a soft spot for Taly.

“Who was in the room?” Eula asked, mirroring Skye’s own concern.