Page 34 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

I stood to peek at the monster again, and Navin yanked me back down before I could catch sight of it. “I told you: if we ignore it, it’ll leave us alone,” he said.

“How do you know that?”

“I just know. Trust me,” he gritted out. Maez and I exchanged suspicious glances again. “Just stop looking at it.”

“Okay, fine,” I hissed. “I’m going back into the wagon.”

Navin’s grip on my tunic tightened. “So you can peek out the back window flaps?” he asked incredulously. “Nope, you’re staying right here until we reach the aerial road.”

I folded my arms tightly across my chest. “And how long until we reach the first aerial road?”

“Four hours, more or less.”

“Gods,” Maez groaned, dropping her head into her hands. “And will this beast be following us like the worst fucking puppy all the way?”

“Maybe,” Navin said. “Or maybe it’ll get bored.”

“Bored?” Maez balked. I grimaced as she scrubbed a hand down her face.

Navin’s hand reached over and dropped onto my thigh, giving it a squeeze in acknowledgment. “We’ll hide out on the first island, Sankai-ed, for a few days. Restock our supplies. Make sure thoseSilver Wolves aren’t following us.” He shot me a sidelong glance. “Then we are coming back down, cutting out to the shoreline, and getting on the first boat back to Olmdere.”

“But King Luo,” I protested. “Our mission.”

“Our mission was fucked from the second we ran into your father,” Maez said.

“Agreed,” Navin echoed.

“No.” It took all my strength to keep my voice quiet, but the last thing I needed was for that crishenem to charge us. “I will stay hidden in the wagon, but you still need to go, Maez. You were the one Calla wanted to broker this alliance anyway. We need the Onyx Wolves. Promise Luo whatever it takes. Gold. Land. My hand in marriage—” Navin and Maez started to protest at the same time but I carried on, “My hand in marriageafterwe win the war.”

“Not happening.” Navin’s voice turned into a guttural rumble.

“You think Luo won’t see through those false promises?” Maez added. “He thinks he can have younow, Sadie. Nero has promised you to him.”

“But we have the gold,” I said. “Nero doesn’t.”

Maez snorted. “The Onyx Wolves aren’t exactly lacking in wealth.”

“Then you will have to convince him that ours is the winning side, and should he wish to remain king after this war, then he will stand with us.”

“You want me tothreatenhim?” Maez shook her head at the stars. “He’ll just throw me off the mountainside. Things have changed since we ran into your family.”

“They haven’t changed,” I seethed. “We can’t return to Olmdere without this alliance. The Golden Court depends on Luo’s armies. We could lose everything.”

Maez didn’t reply to me for a long beat before finally murmuring, “Let’s just get to Sankai-ed and we’ll come up with a new plan from there, okay?”

I knew her “new plan” was just to convince me she was right,but I relented. As long as we were moving in the same direction, I was okay to wait.

“What did Briar say about your news?”

Maez wrapped her cloak tighter around her. “I didn’t get a chance to reach her.” She fidgeted in her seat. “I’d only just shifted when I caught that beast’s scent. I was still trying to reach her when I spotted it and ran.”

“We can try again in Sankai-ed,” I said softly. I knew it was little condolence. This was not a conversation Maez was looking forward to having.

“Delightful,” she muttered.

Navin moved closer to me on the bench until his knee was pressing mine, but he didn’t say another word.

We rode for another hour in silence with no disturbance from the crishenem. My skin still rippled in gooseflesh every time I thought of it lurking behind us, but true to Navin’s word, there was no further incidence. Maybe it was just a curious beast—a giant, poison-tailed, spindle-legged, freaky kind of curious beast.

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