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It sounded like Sirna had used it to track her. It was possible he hadn’t seen through her invisibility workings on the street in Fernwell at all, he had simply known she was there, even though he couldn’t see her. That might be why he’d seemed so confused at the time.

He must have been waiting outside the palace gates, and been able to follow her easily through the crowd.

She wondered what the Focus looked like, and how the man on the horse had acquired it.

Maybe someone had broken into her grandmother’s house and taken something from her room.

It made her even more afraid for Velda and Tomas.

Tomas had said they would leave and stay away for a while for their own safety, but since the Speaker’s henchman had taunted her with the news that friends of hers were imprisoned, she had feared he’d been talking about Velda and Tomas.

And knowing the sheer level of harm the Speaker seemed willing to do when it came to her, she worried they were far from safe.

She closed her eyes at the thought.

She was far from safe, herself.

She needed to escape. To save her friends and return to Fernwell.

And she knew enough about statecraft to understand that this was not the time for the queen to vanish.

Chapter 8

They rode hard.

Luc could feel the urgency in all of them, the fear that they had given up so much, only for the prize, the safety of their people, to be compromised.

Massi rode on one side of him, Rafe on the other.

Revek brought up the rear of the eighty-strong unit, and the distance wasn’t just strategic. He kept away from Luc, and Luc didn’t object, or even feel that bothered by it.

He should, though. He and Revek had been like brothers.

But that was before.

Before he had tried to kill Luc. And then, more inexcusably, Ava.

Ava, the one who had most reason to dislike Rev, though, had been the one to excuse him. She told Luc he hadn’t been able to help himself, and he was a victim.

That was something Revek was probably struggling with. He was aware he’d been used.

They had all been victims for too long in the camps, and none wanted that to define them.

Maybe time would ease the tight knot of distrust and hurt in him for his old friend.

He hoped he could be the kind of leader who didn’t hold a grudge. But maybe the closer the friend, the deeper the feeling of betrayal, even if the blame wasn’t solely on Rev’s shoulders.

A whistle came from up ahead.

One of the scouts calling to let them know there was danger coming up.

Luc drew his sword almost at the same time as Massi notched an arrow in her bow and Rafe hefted his own sword.

All around him, others readied their bows or drew their own weapons.

They spread out, all talk ceasing, slowing their mounts, so that what had been a tight, fast column poured into the surrounding trees and bush like the slow glide of spilled honey.

Luc had not been part of the big clash between the Rising Wave and the Kassian forces. General Ru had led that offensive.