Page 52 of Heart of Defiance

Landric’s stance tenses as he straightens his posture. “I’ll approach their camp after the rest of you have had a chance to make it to Feldan. Around the first light of the morning? We were worried they’d notice our disappearance and send just a smaller force to track us down, and our efforts wouldn’t injure very many of them. I can tell them that I saw my old neighbors and their new comrades heading toward Feldan, and they boasted about how they have many more allies who’ll be coming to meet them there shortly.”

Understanding unfurls inside me. “So they’ll see us as a greater threat.”

“Exactly. Hopefully I can convince them without outright saying it that they should wait to march on you until the rest of the army has joined them so they’ll have the benefit of full numbers, and then we can take them all downtogether. And that should give you more time to carry out the plan.”

It could help. It could help quite a bit, if he plays the part well.

But Jostein puts the concern that’s constricted my chest into words. “They might cutyoudown simply for carrying the message. They’re not going to let you walk off after you give your report.”

Landric lifts his shoulders in another shrug, though this one looks stiffer than the first. “It is what it is. I won’t be able to contribute much to the plan otherwise. You’re all risking your lives—why shouldn’t I?”

I swallow hard. “It’s not the same. We’ll be together. You shouldn’t have to go off alone.”

His gaze catches mine. The sudden sadness there steals my breath. “How much time did you have to spend on your own with no one to depend on? At least I know I have friends to come back to if I can escape.”

Jostein makes a rough sound. “We can increase your chances quite a bit. We still have a few horses here. If you’re riding, it’ll be easier for you to evade capture. Tell them you don’t want to get any more involved and ride off in a different direction from the town at first so they won’t see you circle back toward us. That’ll make it easier for you to approach them as if you weren’t with us too.”

Landric blinks at him. “You’d give me one of the horses…”

A tense smile that still holds some warmth curves Jostein’s mouth. “I’ll give youmyhorse. Come on, let’s get you ready. You’ll want to be well away from the mountain when you prepare to make your approach.”

He brushes his hand across my arm in a fleeting farewell, his quick smile to me a promise that he’ll take care of theman I still haven’t decided how to feel about. They walk off into the darkness.

I take a few steadying breaths, not wanting to admit to myself how conflicted Landric’s offer makes me. Why shouldn’t he put himself in danger? Like he said, we all are.

Part of me aches at the thought of him falling into the Darium soldiers’ hands, though.

I rouse myself from my uneasy reverie and move across the mountainside. After offering a few words of encouragement to comrades waiting to make the trek to Feldan, I reach Iko.

He’s hunkered down on one of the flatter rocks, fiddling with a few bits and pieces I can’t make out that he’s balanced on his lap. I know he’s spent the better part of the night working his gift, trying to use its inspiration to construct some kind of device that’ll support our plan.

As I come over, he looks up. A smile that's only a thin shade of his usual grin flickers across his face. A strain I don't think is only from fatigue tightens his roguishly handsome features.

I'm not sure I've ever seen Iko really under stress before. I crouch next to him. "How's the inventing coming along?"

He sputters a hoarse laugh and adjusts the materials he's assembled: a canteen, some twigs he's whittled smooth and curved into circles, a few arrowheads, a chunk of lumpy vegetation. "Estera is making me really work for this one. I can picture how it could be once it's finished, but getting it there and actually moving..."

"You'll figure it out," I tell him with full confidence. "You always have."

"Hmm. Maybe a little extra inspiration from my spitfire will help."

He reaches out to me, and I tip forward to meet him.The kiss he claims is more lingering than his usual playfully passionate embraces but equally sweet.

When he draws back, his smile has gone crooked. He hesitates. "You dowantit to be like this, don't you? Being with both of us? If you'd rather stick with Jostein—Great God knows that'd be simpler for you?—"

I cut him off with another kiss before he can go any farther. Who would have thought wryly confident Iko would be shaken by insecurities?

He twines his fingers in my hair, leaving them there when I pull back just far enough to speak, our foreheads still grazing.

"You and he are very different," I admit, "but I think that's why it's so hard for me to imagine my life going forward without both of you in it. Who else could make me laugh in the middle of the most terrifying mission I've ever taken on?"

A glimmer of Iko’s typical slyness returns. "So I'm the jester in our trio, am I?"

I do laugh then, stroking my hand over his cheek. It's somehow reassuring that I'm not the only one who sometimes wonders if I could really be worthy of this much affection.

"The most handsome, clever, and charming jester a woman could ever ask for," I reply, and earn myself another kiss.

"Good," he says after. "I know I can be a little... forward. It's never intended to be pushiness."

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