Page 24

“Too late, bud,” Nell quipped. “You’re a part of the Penumbra.”

I smiled back at her. “The Penumbra… I like it.”

“You can’t say it too much or else it’ll start to sound like it’s not a real word,” Whit jeered.

I swore I could feel Miles roll his eyes from behind his mask.

My eyes landed back on Nell. “I’m assuming you have a plan.”

“You assumed correctly,” Nell said, moving to sit next to me. “My idea, of course, no thanks to these idiots.”

Miles immediately straightened. “I am your Lieutenant and–”

“Except you’re not,” Nell quipped, all the formality I’d seen her show Miles back at the Outpost completely disappeared. “I’m not a soldier, remember? You said so yourself.” She looked at me and gave me a wink. Miles stayed still, staring at the not-soldier from behind his mask. “Saints, I’d love to pull that mask off you and see the bloody look on your face. Lucky for you, I do havesomerespect.”

I decided then that I really,reallyliked Nell.

“Alright,” Nell started again. “We need to get to Aera. Since you’re the only one in plainclothes, Petra, you’ll take a few coins and go into town to buy us all cloaks. Landgrave, Whit, and I will hang back. Don’t really want to draw attention to our armor over there. Aera has a Cabillian military presence, but not much. We’d stick out, and we don’t need people asking questions.”

“What about the damned mask?” I asked, gesturing to Miles.

“I’ll keep the mask on under the hood of the cloak.”

I blinked, dumbfounded at his resolve to keep his fucking face hidden. “Are you kidding me? What is so wrong with your face that you won’t show it?”

“The mask stays on.”

I raised my brows at him as Nell leaned in and whispered, “Definitelyugly.”

Whit cleared his throat. “Once we have cloaks, Nell and I will get food. You and Lieutenant Landgrave will go to the blacksmith.”

My eyes squinted in question. “You need a weapon,” Miles offered.

“Why would I need a weapon?” I asked incredulously. “I kind of…ama weapon.”

“You can’t control it,” Miles said matter-of-factly. “Until you learn to control it, you’re going to learn to defend yourself with a sword too.”

I wrinkled my nose at the thought. “Why don’t I practicecontrolling itnow?”

“Look around, Petra. This entire forest could go up in flames with one wrong move. Dry wood and fire? Not a good idea.” I knew that all too well, a lesson Castemont decided to teach me in Inkwell when he set my home ablaze. But I didn’t like the fact that Miles was right. “You won’t be able to learn much between now and when we get back to Taitha, but I’ll teach you the basics of sword fighting so you have options other than burning the whole city down.”

“Again,” Whit added.

Nell rose and began dismantling our makeshift campsite, descending into an argument with Whit as to which of them had more kills back in the throne room.

“Are you going to be able to walk?” Miles asked quietly as he stood.

I sat up. My joints were a bit stiff, but nothing that would keep me from walking. “I’ll be fine.” I stretched my neck, wincing at the tightness of my muscles as I pushed myself to stand, ignoring the hand he’d outstretched for me.

“We can get to Aera in two days if we hustle,” he said. I gave a nod, Whit and Nell’s bickering fading into the background as I followed behind them. “Until then…” Miles looked around before finding a broken branch about the length of my arm, testing the weight in his grip, then tossing it to me. I fumbled to catch it, but with the haze of unconsciousness still hanging over me, it landed on the ground with an inelegantthud.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” I asked as I grabbed the branch from the ground.

“That’s your sword until we can get you a real one.”

“I’m not carrying this–”

“That’s your sword until we can get you a real one,” he repeated, his tone sharper.