Page 156 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

A sob breaks through my words.

Rheave hustles into view in an instant, his stance poised for battle. “What did he do to you?” he snarls.

“He’s already dead,” the courtesan reminds him in a mild tone, and helps me sit up with his arm around me. “Have a drink, and then you can tell us the whole story.”

As Alek hands me the canteen, Stavros steps closer as well, the four of them forming a semi-circle around me. I gulp the cool water that has an herbal tang to it, suggesting one of them has added a little supplement that’s supposed to help me heal.

It takes a few slow breaths before I think I can get through the whole explanation. “I took down the two daimon Borys had guarding him, but he came at me too quickly, and I lost my knives. He would have killed me if Julita hadn’t intervened. I let her take over so she could put him off balance, and like I said, she jumped out of my head at him. I think her spirit had enough energy to smack him in the face.”

I lower my head and rub my face. “But I guess she couldn’t come back. She’s gone.”

The ache of loss creeps up my throat, choking me.

She was already dead too, in most of the ways that count. She told me she was ready to move on.

I can’t imagine any way she’d rather have gone than by ensuring her brother never caused any more harm.

But I didn’t even get to say thank you. I didn’t get to say good-bye.

Casimir hugs me closer, and Alek grasps my hand with a comforting squeeze.

“We’ll have a proper funeral for her,” Stavros says, sounding a little awkward. “As soon as we can. She deserves at least that much. I’m not sure what exactly we’ll tell people, but they should know she’s a hero.”

I swallow thickly. “Yes. Yes, they should.”

His remarks cut through my grief enough to remind me of the other heroics we were attempting tonight.

My pulse stutters. “The battle—the Darium soldiers and the scourge sorcerers—is the royal family safe?”

Stavros crouches down so we’re eye to eye. “It must have been as soon as you engaged with Borys—the Order of the Wild army faltered again. The remaining Darium soldiers managed to cut down a lot more of them before they retreated to their side of the channel, and the soldiers from our fort mopped up the few stragglers who hadn’t fled.”

“And they didn’t arrest you?”

Rheave lets out a disgruntled sound. “Arrest us for fixing their problems?”

Stavros casts him an amused sideways glance. “I think they wanted to, but we were able to evade capture. They were somewhat distracted by dealing with the sacrificial accomplice we pointed them to in the farmhouse, after we’d gotten you out.”

“And we got our hands on a couple more horses, since the march didn’t need them anymore,” Alek pipes up. “So we can all ride. And we’d better soon, before the soldiers decide to get more serious about hunting us again.”

Stavros’s expression turns solemn. “I don’t know where we stand after tonight’s victory or where it’d make the most sense to go.”

Casimir offers him a soft smile. “Farther from the fort does seem like a good initial idea, in any case.”

They help me to my feet. As Stavros gathers the blankets, Rheave wraps his arms around me, keeping his embrace gentle. “You shouldn’t have gone without us, Little Vine.”

“You were busy doing something just as important,” I remind him.

He gives a dismissive huff and ducks his head to claim a kiss.

My heart skips a beat with the knowledge that this is the first time my other men will have seen such an open display of our new intimacy. But when the daimon-man eases back, the three of them are simply smiling.

Casimir has led Toast over. The stallion nickers as if expressing his own concern about my injuries.

Stavros moves to my side. “I’d better help you mount.”

Before I’ve positioned myself next to the saddle, a brisk female voice blares through the woods with an unnatural resonance. “Stavros Teodorek of Florian—on behalf of King Konram, I need to speak with you and your companions.”

I flinch and then wince at the pain that sears from my bandaged wound.

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