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“Not another word!”

Oh,hecan’t bear it?What about me?I want to snap. What about when I was ready to die in Ravis’s throne room, and Kellyn sold me out? Once again, he was only thinking about how he would feel if I died, not about how I would feel, forced to—

“Ziva, please—”

I look up just as one of the guards slaps at the injured side of Kellyn’s head. His face contorts in pain, and I leap forward.

“You stay right there, smithy,” the guard who struck him says, “or I’ll give him another good wallop.”

Tears prick my eyes, but I turn my head back to my work. I will not let Kellyn suffer because of me. I will not let the world suffer because of me. Iwillfind us a way out of this.

The pain of sleep deprivation pounds like a drum at my temples, and each slam of my hammer only intensifies the throbbing. I cannot think like this. Not when I’m worrying about what the next batch of swords will do or if Temra is alive or if Kellyn is smart enough to keep his stupid mouth shut.

Elany puts away today’s mending and stands next to me. “What’s your plan for the next batch?”

“I don’t have one yet.”

“And your plan for escape?”

I shoot her a glare. I can’t find it within myself to look innocent or surprised or anything else. “If I had one, I’m not about to tell Ravis’s lackey about it, now, am I?”

Elany twirls a lock of her golden hair around one finger. “That’s fair.” She pauses. “I know it doesn’t help, but I want you to know that I don’t approve of the way you’re being treated. We need a united Ghadra, but this isn’t the way to go about it. You can’t force loyalty. It’s something that can only be earned.”

I wipe the sweat from my brow with the back of my arm. “A united Ghadra doesn’t do anything except create more problems at this point. And if my current situation is any indication of how Ravis intends to lead a united Ghadra, then I have no hope for the future. Just look at Kellyn.”

Elany doesn’t say anything for a moment, and I focus on my swings, turning the metal just so.

“I cared about someone once,” she says at last. “The way you care about your mercenary.”

I don’t stop my hammering or correct her assumption about Kellyn and me. Maybe once we were close like that. Now I don’t have a name for what Kellyn and I are.

“Raiders from the west sailed across the sea and ransacked my village in Orena’s Territory. They butchered my Verryn right in front of me.”

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly.

“No one has done anything about it. Princess Orena isn’t about to stage a war against the western isles, nor demand justice from the individuals who attacked. She doesn’t have the manpower or the inclination. She’s too busy trying to figure out how to rule.

“Don’t you see?” she continues. “We have to be united. None of the other royals were meant to rule. We must have a united army. A force who can stand up for the people and make sure that all are looked after.”

At that, I pause in my hammering. “Who’s looking out for me right now, Elany? Who’s looking out for Kellyn?”

“I am, dammit!” she says. “I’m helping you however I can. But you need to do this for Ravis. For all the people who are being neglected.”

We stare at each other. Neither willing to back down.

“It isn’t right what happened to your village,” I say. “Your princess should do better, but this”—I gesture to all the work going on in the forges—“it isn’t right, either.”

“This is all I have left,” she says.

“And you’re trying to help destroy all that I have left.”

Elany turns away, puts distance between the two of us.

And I continue hammering.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The next batch of weapons takes a little longer.