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A few hundred paces later and they reached the road’s fork.

Nerys caught a glimpse of Idris’s eyes flaring gold for a brief moment, before his face shifted.

At least…she thought it did. An illusion ending wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, for his hair had changed from chopped dark brown to long and light blond.

She was right—his appearance at the camp was an illusion.

Idris’s nose was now the right size for his face, his lips were now a normal size, and—Nerys reddened—there was no way he would have blended in with the army as well as he did, if he looked as he did now.

She didn’t want to admit it, but even unwashed with his grimy hair he was still one of the most handsome men she had ever seen.

30 His features were sharper, brilliant, and—unlike the blank expression of most peasant men—Idris carried a look of someone who was constantly evaluating everything.

That explained why he was such an ass.

“Walk,” Idris said, tugging on Nerys from where she stood.

“Now? But we’ll be seen.” She nodded towards a group of people walking towards them, still far enough away for their features to be indistinguishable.

“No,” he whispered, grabbing her hand once more. “We can’t. But we can be heard. Move!”

Nerys obeyed. Once they stepped onto the grass, Nerys followed Idris into a run, soon struggling to keep up as he dragged her along. Her heart thudded in her ears, and she kept glancing back at the road. Did anyone notice them? Someone had to have seen them.

Once they reached the tree line, Idris stopped, letting Nerys double over to catch her breath. Air burned in her compressed lungs, which begged for mercy. “Take a minute,” he said. “We have some distance to go.”

“How…far…” Nerys covered her mouth to cough. Should she try to leave him now? No, he’d just stop her. Besides, she could still use him to get further away from the army.

“Far. A few hours.” Idris looked at her sympathetically. “Sorry. I should’ve told you—when you are part of the illusion, you won’t notice it.”

“Illusion?”

“How we disappeared.”

“How we…” Fuck, this night could end any time now. “I didn’t know Cerdorani could become invisible.”

“We can’t. Not quite. We can blend in very well—and it’s much easier in the dark. ”

“No shit.” Nerys coughed some more as she narrowed her eyes at him. “You look different.”

Idris grinned, flashing perfect teeth, perfect dimples, perfect…everything. “Ah. Well. Couldn’t exactly walk around the army with my normal face, could I? I’m far too pretty.”

An arrogant answer. A non-answer. Now, what was the real reason?

“Why were you there, anyway?” Nerys asked, looking him over. “I assume not waiting for me to come stumbling in.”

“You’re right about that. You’re just a fortunate surprise.” He pointed towards the darker part of the woods. “Later—I promise I’ll answer everything. We have a long night ahead of us.”

“Why the hurry?” Nerys pressed. “You’re worried about the army coming after you as a deserter?”

“Worry? Never—but I am Cerdorani.” He cocked his head. “Do you really think it’s a good idea if I stay here? My neck is far too handsome for that rope.”

“Long night” was an understatement. After an hour, Nerys was ready to throw her bloody shoe at Idris after she tripped for the hundredth time.

After two hours, Nerys wondered—while picking twigs out of her hair and wiping sweat from her face—if she could knock him unconscious, and thus let them both get some sleep.

By this point, she was far too exhausted and hungry to run away.

After three hours, Nerys started to think she made a big mistake not letting them get caught after all—at least the dead got some rest. And couldn’t bleed. 31

After several hours the sky started to lighten, though dawn was still a way’s off. 32 Just as Nerys contemplated planting her ass on a log and making Idris carry her, they emerged into a clearing next to a stream.

A stream. A clean stream .

Water.

Nerys lunged for the stream, but Idris grabbed her shoulder, tugging her back. Nerys’s fatigue evaporated when she followed the direction of Idris’s pointed finger.

They weren’t alone.

A lone woman laid next to the stream, sound asleep in a bedroll, oblivious to their presence. Was she really alone? Or were her companions hiding and waiting to attack them? There were two horses tied at the edge of the clearing…

Idris turned to Nerys and placed a single finger over his lips. Nerys froze. Was he going to kill the woman? Though…the grin he had on his face as he crept toward the roll belied any foul intention—unless he had a merry sadistic side. Which wouldn’t have been surprising.

Then, just as Idris reached the roll, the woman suddenly sprung up like a startled cat, wrapped Idris in a headlock, and tugged him to the ground. He flipped and landed on his back with a loud thunk, like a sack of flour that was tossed out of the window. Nerys smiled.

“Idri, what are you doing?” the woman yelled, letting Idris go. She stood and brushed herself off.

Idris laid on the ground, rubbing his neck. “Testing you” ?he coughed? “you passed.”

“Of course, I passed. What are you doing here, I wasn’t expecting you…” the woman’s voice fell off when she noticed Nerys, standing near the trees. The woman’s eyes narrowed. “Who’s this?”

Idris beckoned to Nerys with an idle flick of his wrist, not getting off the ground. “This is Nerys. She’s—ah—our way out of this mess.” His voice now fully that of the lyrical Cerdorani accent—there was no mistaking him as Ca’mailian now.

The woman whipped her attention to Idris. Was she going to attack him again? Hopefully. Who was this woman? A lover? Relative? Whoever she was, Idris knew her well. “We talked about this,” the woman said. “We didn’t agree—”

“No. But we considered. A lot. And the opportunity walked in front of me. Literally.”

“And she agreed?” The woman gave Nerys a skeptical glance.

“Yes.”

No. Nerys agreed to listen . But sometimes it was best to see where a conversation went before leaping in like a frog on a skillet.

“Really? That’s a surprise.” The woman focused on Nerys once more, looking her over like she was inspecting blemished fruit. Nerys squirmed, aware of how filthy she was. At least Idris wasn’t glaring at her. “You think she’ll work?” the woman asked. “I mean…look at her.”

Idris sat up and brushed the dirt off his clothes. “It’ll be fine.”

“And she really knows what we want of her? All of it?”

“Enough. I may have not had a chance to tell her certain details.”

“What about the woman from—”

“She is better.”

The woman rubbed her eyes. “Idris. Fuck. We have months. At most. Not years.”

“It’ll be fine.”

The woman didn’t look like she believed him.

Fair—neither did Nerys. Idris said that she was to go to court to “kill the king.” Well, Nerys couldn’t even say “R?ll” without betraying her peasant origins, so there were some obstacles.

And these “certain details”? Good thing she was leaving at the earliest opportunity, or she’d have been worried.

“Nerys,” Idris said, now fully upright, “come here. Fina won’t bite.”

Fina’s teeth weren’t the issue. Fina scowled, about as welcoming as a freshly branded bull. Though, Fina did seem to put up with Idris…

“This is Fina, my half-sister,” Idris said once Nerys approached. “Her name is Hefinigula, but no one calls her that.” Nerys decided to keep to herself that she understood why.

The two women exchanged polite—if hesitant—greetings, before Fina asked Idris, “Are we leaving now? We better be.”

“No. I need rest. And food.” He nodded towards Nerys. “And she needs it doubly so.”

“Idris, it wasn’t safe for you to be here to begin with—”

“And we have several hours of a head start—the army isn’t going to come this far after one man this fast.”

“How are you sure no one followed? That no one saw? They pursue deserters.”

“We’re fine, Fina. They don’t know what I look like.”

The two of them stared at each other, until Fina huffed and shook her head. “As you command, Idris.”

That was bizarre—Nerys would have never used the phrase “as you command” and “Adilette” in the same sentence. Just who was this Idris? Who would talk to their sibling like that?

The two of them didn’t seem to find the exchange odd. Matter apparently settled, Idris asked, “What do you think we should do with her? ”

“That’s your concern.”

“I mean her clothes.” Idris nodded in Nerys’s direction. “She isn’t dressed like us—obviously a peasant. She won’t pass as our servant. And I’m not staying in uniform.” He shrugged off the signature Ca’mailian coat. “I’ll be leaving this here once I change.”

Fina’s nostrils flared. “You’re asking me?

This was your idea, you—” Like a spark on dry wool, an argument erupted on how best to disguise Nerys.

There was nothing better for her to wear in her knapsack, even if she hadn’t been forced to leave it at the camp.

Nerys took a look at Fina’s finely woven shirt and breeches.

Whoever these people were, they were wealthy.

Meanwhile, Nerys’s clothes were mostly intact.

That was really the best that could be said about them.

The argument showed no signs of abating as Fina’s voice took on a higher and higher pitch and Idris stomped grass into mush. Nerys took the chance to stop listening and inspect the two of them—not like they were going to ask her opinion anyway.

Fina seemed to be near Nerys’s age. Dressed in breeches, sleeping alone in the woods…

Fina likely had a different life experience than Nerys—the last week excepted.

If Fina had been in Raven’s Crest, Cefin wouldn’t have looked at Nerys twice.

33 Nerys had no false modesty, and thus was aware she was pretty enough, but compared to Fina she was a peasant girl indeed.

Where Fina’s skin was clear and even, Nerys’s was sun kissed and freckled with her hands calloused.

Where Fina’s hair was a brilliant blond, Nerys’s was a mere light brown, dancing on the edges of blond.

Only regarding her nose did Nerys decide she had better features—to Nerys’s critical eye, Fina’s was too sharp. 34

Fina snapped her fingers. “Are you listening, Nerys?” Fina gave Idris a concerned glance. “You really want her to do this? Her ? Does she have the sight, at least?”

“Of course not, and that’s hardly an issue. The Kor’yitz herself doesn’t have it.”

“Idri—”

“She has the stone eyes, that’s all that matters. Let’s talk once we get to the house.”

“House?” Nerys asked, looking between the two siblings. Oh, shit…she now had two people to evade in order to escape. And a sinking suspicion that they would kill her rather than le t her leave.

“Since you apparently cannot focus on anything longer than a breeze, I’ll repeat—we’re going on a ride,” Idris said. “Fina” ?Fina scowled? “has agreed you’re to borrow one of her dresses for the travel. It won’t be a perfect fit, but it will have to do.”

“Can’t you just illusion me?”

Fina erupted in laughter. Nerys reddened while Idris sighed and raised his eyes to the heavens. “Dammit, Fina, sometimes you’re worse than me.” To Nerys, Idris said, “Covering other people is difficult. We’d maybe be able to do it for a couple minutes, at most.”

“Oh. That’s why you made me run into the woods.”

“Exactly.”

Fina’s laughter finally died down and she walked away to inspect the horses. Too bad Fina couldn’t have walked away from this location sooner. Like last week.

“In the off-chance anyone stops us and asks,” Idris said, “you’re a family friend.”

“Fine. Of what family?”

“Hafenthri.”

Nerys raised an eyebrow. “That’s a real family.”

“And our friends.”

“Careful, Idri,” Fina said, patting a horse’s muzzle. “Let’s get her back to the house before we start sharing secrets.”

“She’s one of us now.”

“That remains to be seen,” Fina said. Nerys kept her face blank and inclined to agree with Fina, despite Idris’s obvious attempt to win her over.

“We’re leaving?” Nerys asked. She’d deal with Idris’s “one of us” comment later. “What about getting some rest?”

Idris wore a pained expression. “Yes. That’s the only part of the argument I lost.”

“For now,” Fina said, lips curling into a self-satisfied smirk. “The day’s just getting started.”