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“What is it with you and those crates?”

“They’re down here when they should be up there.”

They were still standing toe-to-toe, neither moving to give up any ground. He considered stealing her clipboard again, just to see what she’d do, when footsteps began to approach.

They both turned to find Skye weaving between the tables the earth mages had set up to organize their supplies. He looked unamused, to say the least.

Kato shared a look with Eula. He’d heard that Taly had been pronounced dead, and he’d known it would hit his brother hard. But the man making his way toward them looked like he’d tried to carve a piece out of himself to send with her.

“When was the last time you slept?” Kato asked with genuine concern. Indeed, there were shadows beneath his eyes, his skin was too pale,and his clothes were rumpled and speckled with what looked like blood.

Skye just shook his head as he came to stand in front of them, saying to Eula, “You sent for me?”

She cleared her throat, glancing at her clipboard in what, Kato guessed, was an attempt to mask her surprise. “Yes,” she said, then at Kato’s inquiring look, shrugged. “What? You were right. This is more work than one shadow mage can manage.”

“And you couldn’t have told me that earlier?”

Her lips twitched. “And deprive you of an opportunity to whine about the unfairness of life? I’m not a monster.”

Kato threw her a crude gesture, and she laughed—a first for Eula Valdaerys, he was sure—as she began giving directions.

It took Kato all of five minutes to realize that bringing his brother in to help hadn’t been an act of leniency on Eula’s part. It was incentive. Even though the man looked like death, he moved like he was being chased by the Magnus himself, grabbing crates and darting up the earthen steps like they weighed next to nothing. It was 30 feet to the top, but he never stopped moving, not for a moment.

Kato, as much as he hated to admit it, struggled to keep up. Though he did. Barely. Andonly by using far more aether than seemed necessary for such a mundane task.

“Got somewhere to be?” Kato asked when Skye grabbed the last crate straight from his hands. He bounded back up to the top of the wall in a matter of seconds.

“I have my own duties,” was all Skye said as he stepped off the side of the battlement. His aether flashed, and he landed easily in a crouch. “What about this?” he asked Eula, gesturing to the long metal barrel of the cannon. By far the heaviest part of the gun, it had been wrapped in cloth and strung with rope, which Skye was already wrapping around his hands.

“It goes up as well,” Eula said. “But we’re still waiting on the…” Her voice trailed off as he grunted and heaved. The ropes strained, but then Skye… heliftedthe metal barrel over his head, resting it on his shoulders as he stood to his full height.

“…crane,” she finished weakly. She looked at him, slack-jawed, and Kato was sure his expression matched hers.

Skye stepped onto the first platform. A violet shimmer was collecting on his skin, like he was leaking aether. But he kept going.

Up and up and up.

“Should we help?” Kato asked.

“I’m not sure we can,” Eula answered. They had tried to lift the barrel that morning, but even between the two of them, they’d barely managed to get it off the ground. “Has Ivain had him doing special training?”

Kato shook his head. “Maybe? Golden boy always was an overachiever.” Though to be fair,the same could’ve been said for him when he was younger.

Another step and Skye cleared the top of the wall, disappearing from sight.

“That’s not emasculating. Not at all,” Kato drawled unconvincingly. Eula took pity on him and snorted a laugh.

Skye stepped off the wall, landing with slightly less grace than before. His boots scraped against the dirt as he staggered to his feet. He gave them a wave and was already walking off, wiping sweat from his eyes, when Eula ran to catch up.

“Wait,” she called.

He stopped, turning.

“Sarina said she was looking for things that represented Taly. For the funeral.”

Skye looked for a moment like he’d been struck, but he quickly masked it. Kato felt a reluctant stab of pity.

Eula reached into her pocket, producing a folded piece of paper. “I taught Taly how to shoot,” she said. The words were thick. “Eight years old, and the kid had better aim than some of my Ensigns.” She held out the slip of paper. “It’s a target. The same kind I used to teach her. I thought… it seemed fitting.”