THEY FLED WEST INTO JADE Forest, going as far and as fast as the horses and their injuries would allow. Kate rode without speaking, without thinking. Finally, with night descending, they made camp in a gorge at the base of the Cobalt Mountains. A narrow passage, barely wide enough for two horses abreast, led into the gorge, making it easily defensible should the golds or Edwin’s forces find them. Kate doubted they would. Despite what she’d said, she didn’t think the soldiers were likely to wake soon. The thought turned her insides cold, reminding her how close she had come to killing them all, as she had Maestra Vikas.
It had been so easy. The power of a god. No wonder Rendborne desires it so much, she thought, remembering the envy she had sensed in him. The gods were merciful to deny him the power of sway. With it, he would be even more unstoppable than he already was. But what does it make me?
A monster, a voice whispered in her mind, over and over again. She had used her magic to kill, and the sense of power it had given her had made her want to do it again, seductive as it was. Now, with the feeling gone, it didn’t matter that Vikas deserved it. Didn’t matter that it was righteous vengeance. The act left her hollowed out—and changed forever. She wondered if the others could sense the change in her, too, and she couldn’t look at any of them as they rode. Especially Corwin. She had seen his hesitation afterward, how he had feared touching her.
Once inside the gorge, they made camp beneath the cliff at its base, a wide, circular outcropping. The sandy ground would make for soft bedding, and despite the steady fall of water from the stream above, it remained dry and warm. Raith and two of his blues hurriedly set the wardstone barrier while the rest gathered firewood and began tending the injured.
Kate threw herself into the work, despite her exhaustion. It was better than facing Corwin or Signe or Bonner. Better than facing herself. She tended the horses, unsaddling them, checking for injuries, then rubbing them down. She lingered longest with Firedancer, savoring the comfort of the horse’s mind against her own. The fact that Corwin had brought the horse for her out of Norgard seemed to ease her fear a little. He cared for her, she knew. But how long could that care last now that he knew what she could do? Now that they both did.
He has magic, too, though, she tried to tell herself, remembering the way he’d protected them with his uror mark. She didn’t understand how it had worked, what he’d done exactly, but she was glad for it. He had been the shield to protect them all. His is only for good.
Yes, and you chose for the good, a voice argued in her mind, that is the same.
Corwin, too, kept busy, doing what he could to help the magists work their healing magic before nightfall and helping to build additional shelters for the weak and the children who were with them. Most had been spared from the fighting, ordered to tend the horses during the battle. Most, but not all. One of the wilder boys had lost an eye in the fight. Kate spotted him lying on a bedroll near the fire, his head wrapped in a torn strip of cloth. They needed fresh supplies and to find permanent shelter. But where? They were all outlaws now.
Once she finished with the horses, Kate wandered through the camp, searching for other ways to be useful. She felt eyes watching her as she moved, and she couldn’t help the guilt twisting in her gut. It was her fault these people were here. Only the more she looked into those faces, the more her guilt became anger. Yes, she’d contributed to the golds finding out about the Rising’s headquarters, but that wasn’t what had made these people a target in the first place. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done. We are hunted because of who we are.
A hard resolve rose up in Kate. It needed to end. The hatred, the suspicion. The wilders had allowed it to go on for too long. We all allowed it by our hiding. By living in secret, they had let the world perceive them as it wanted to and not as they were. The Rising, which she had blamed for the oppression of people like her, wasn’t even fully real. It was a ruse, conjured to keep the people of Rime—wilder or no—afraid.
I am done with hiding, Kate thought. No matter what the others think. This, at least, she could be sure of.
Realizing there wasn’t any work left to do, Kate headed to the stream to clean up. She soaked her hands, scrubbing away at the dirt. Then she washed her face. She undid her plait, combed her fingers through it, then redid the braid. At last she stood and ran her hands down her clothes, trying to smooth out the wrinkles. Feeling something in her pocket, she reached inside it and withdrew the blood crystal. She examined it for several minutes, unsure what to do with it. Then, finally, she tied it around her neck. The crystal warmed against her chest. It was strange, almost perverse, knowing her father’s blood resided inside it, and yet, it was right, too. Here he was, protecting her once more as he’d always done before. I will give it to Kiran, she silently swore. Once I find him.
Kate made her way to Signe, lying on a bedroll in front of a fire with her injured foot propped up on a saddle. Kate sat down beside her. Signe reached over and took her hand, squeezing her fingers.
“You did well,” Signe said. “In the end, you saved us all.”
Kate bit her lip, uncertain how to reply. She knew better than to deny it, not to Signe, but she didn’t want to accept the praise either.
“How about you? Are you going to be okay?”
Signe nodded, meeting her gaze with no hesitation. She raised a hand to the scar on her face. “Does it make me look a fierce warrior?”
Kate smiled. “The fiercest of fierce.”
“Good. It’s nice that my outsides finally match my insides. Now whenever I tell people about how I am a slayer of giants and a tormentor of hobgoblins, they will know it’s true.”
“We already knew, Sig. No one could ever doubt.” Kate slid an arm around her shoulder and hugged her tight for a moment.
“Careful now,” Dal said, walking up to them and sitting on Signe’s other side. “Or you’ll make me jealous.”
Grinning, he reached up and removed the magestone in his ear. The left side of his face went blurry for a moment as the spell dissipated. Once it was clear, Kate saw the scars, a mountain ridge of divots running from his brow to his chin. He tossed the magestone into the stream without comment.
Bonner joined them next, sitting beside Kate. He sat close, his shoulder pressing against hers. She leaned into him, drawing comfort by his nearness, his quiet acceptance.
Soon others joined them, making a large circle around the fire. To Kate’s surprise, several of the wilders thanked her for what she’d done by putting Edwin and the soldiers to sleep. She accepted the thanks with a single nod, her lips pressed together.
Kate searched the gorge for Corwin, finally spying him across the way talking privately with Raith and Francis. In moments they stopped speaking and the three of them walked over to the fire. All eyes turned to them. It was as if the entire camp held its breath.
Raith raised his hands in an unneeded call for silence. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Tomorrow we journey to Carden to join the wilder forces there. Before we left Norgard, I sent out missives to our contacts in each of the twelve cities. The time for the Rising to move is finally here.”
Applause broke out at this, and Kate cut her eyes to Corwin, shocked that he would condone this course of action. His gaze was fixed on the ground before him, his arms crossed over his chest.
“But the fight ahead isn’t one we ever planned,” Raith continued once the applause died down. “While the Inquisition and its supporters remain our enemy, the biggest threat is Seva. The Godking Magnar Fane, with the help of Rendborne—the Nameless One—has imprisoned our friends and loved ones. We must see them free. Prince Corwin has volunteered to lead the search party into Seva to find where the wilders are being kept. He will leave as soon as he is able.”
Kate stared at him, wondering at his motivations. The Godking in possession of wilders was an undeniable threat, but Dal had told her everything that had happened while she was imprisoned in the Hellgate. Corwin knew about Kiran. He knows everything about me now.
Corwin stepped up next to Raith. Then he ran his eyes over the crowd, meeting each face. Even Kate’s. His eyes lingered on her longer than the others, and when he moved on, she became aware of the ragged beat of her heart beneath her breastbone.
“I swear on my title, on my blood, and on my honor that I will do whatever I can to free the wilders and to defeat the Nameless One. But even more than that, I swear that we will reclaim Rime as a land for both wilder and magist and everyone in between. All of us together are what make Rime great. When we are done, all will live in peace and live as they are without hiding or fear.”
Tears pricked Kate’s eyes as she listened, and when the others applauded she joined in, mouth closed to keep her emotions from spilling out from her.
Raith raised his hands for silence again, and this time it was necessary. “Prince Corwin will need help. The trip to Seva will be perilous at every turn. He will need the best of us to aid him.”
“I will go,” Dal said at once. He shot Corwin a glare, one made fiercer by the scars on his face. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me already.”
Corwin shrugged, a smile teasing his lips. “I know better than to speak for you, my friend.”
“I’m going, too,” Bonner said, rising to his feet.
Kate glanced up at him, feeling a wave of fear for him. He wasn’t made for war. He was meant to create, not destroy. But there was a hardness to him now that had never been there before. Perhaps it would be enough to see him safely through.
Kate stood up beside him and said, “Me as well. I will go.” There was no question about it. It was already her plan, to find Kiran and Vianne.
She turned her gaze on Corwin, their eyes locking. As always, something moved between them, a force like lightning and thunder.
When the meeting ended, Corwin approached Kate. Wordlessly, he took her by the hand and led her to where a small band of trees grew on the side of the gorge. It offered the only privacy there was to find in the camp.
Corwin stopped and faced her. “I’m sorry for all the things I didn’t do, Kate,” he began. She opened her mouth in protest, but he placed a gentle finger against her mouth. “Please, let me finish. Then you can scream at me all you want. I will stand here and savor every minute of the abuse.”
With a blush heating her face, Kate pressed her lips together and waited.
“You were right. I should’ve done everything I could to let your father go into exile. I should’ve believed you when you said he was innocent. I was blinded by the idea that to be king was to obey. That the laws were some fixed, holy thing, unchangeable, irrefutable in their wisdom. But they aren’t. The world changes, the wheel spins, and so we must change as well. That is what it means to lead—finding the wisdom to bring change when it’s needed and to hold fast when it’s not. Thank you for helping me learn this truth.”
The world is black and white and all the shades of gray in between, Kate thought. She held her breath, his confession sliding over her like stepping into a warm pool of water, soothing and welcome. She remembered that moment when he begged her not to use her power to kill Edwin and the others, how close she’d come. But he pulled her back despite his doubt and fear. He lifted her up. Or maybe we lifted each other.
“You never answered my question, though,” Corwin said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
“What question?” she asked, breathless.
“Whether or not you’ll have me.” He stepped closer, their bodies nearly touching. “I love you, Kate Brighton. I always have. I’m yours however you want. As prince or pauper, husband or paramour. That power belongs to you and only you.”
Kate stared up at him, her mouth falling open. She could see he meant every word. And there was a deeper meaning behind his words, one she sensed as clearly as if he’d spoken them aloud: that he accepted her in the same way—as she was, without question. Traitor, wilder, woman.
Kate. Just Kate.
With no words to offer him in return, she answered him the only way she knew how.
With a kiss.
The first of many, as long as their perilous future would allow.