Page 2 of An Honored Vow

I pulled the stalk of a thin weed the color of seafoam. The earth swelled around its roots as I lifted the hidden fruit from the dirt. The thrashing power of my magic swelled forward, and water pooled from the air to wash the dirt away. Underneath was a thick, round ball the size of my fist.

I hit the hard skin against the trunk of the birch tree. The sound echoed, and something in the darkness snarled.

I ignored it. I was still the scariest thing in this wood.

The tough, green skin of the fruit gave way to bright pink flesh. My stomach rumbled at the sweet aroma. The flight had exhausted me more than I thought, and I hadn’t packed any sustenance. Nikolai was the one who always made sure to pack extra food.

I set one half of the fruit on the ground and bit into the other. It was one of the plants that had gone temporarily extinct without magic. I knew it was edible because I had watched Darythir pluck one from the ground to feast on, but I had no idea what it was called.

I groaned as I took the first bite. It was deliciously fresh. So much so that I barely looked up when the watery veil between the two Elder birches swirled with auric light.

“You make more mess than a horse.” Gerarda’s lip curled above her teeth in feigned disgust. She looked shorter than normal standing between two tall horses. The top of her short hair was pulled back into a small bun, not long enough for a braid. Her eyes darted in every direction as she scanned the trail.

Gerarda didn’t have it in her to trust my magic to defend us.

She let go of my horse’s reins as it gracefully licked at the fruit before swallowing it whole.

Gerarda might have had a point.

Fyrel and Gwyn slipped through the portal side by side, their horses trailing after them. Fyrel was mid-whisper when her gaze landed on me. “Morning, Keera.” My name came slow and rough on Fyrel’s tongue, like it still caused her pain to call me anything other than “Mistress.”

Gwyn smiled and tossed me a small bag of cured meats.

I launched a piece into my mouth. “I knew there was a reason I let you come on this mission.”

Gwyn’s crimson curls fanned out as her head snapped back to me. “Letme?” She turned to Gerarda. “You said I earned this.”

Gerarda planted herself right next to the portal. “You have.”

I stuck another piece of meat in my mouth so I didn’t say something foolish. Gerarda and I had been arguing about letting Gwyn accompany us for two days. She was certain that Gwyn’s sword work and combat skills were well past an initiate. I couldn’t denyGwyn’s skill with a blade, but there was something familiar about her unearned confidence. She was impatient and overzealous just like I had been. Just like Brenna had been.

And that had gotten her killed.

A small smile played at Gerarda’s lips as the veil of water shimmered once more. I didn’t need to see Elaran step through the portal to know it was her. There was only one person on the entire continent who could make Gerarda focus on anything other than a mission.

Elaran slipped off her horse, her big curls loose but pushed back with a golden headband.

I stared at the portal. “Syrra? Vrail?”

Gerarda laced her hand through Elaran’s and shook her head. “Syrra refuses to leave the crypt, and Vrail locked us out of the library before we could ask her.”

“And you didn’t break down the door?”

Gerarda looked at the ground with a guilty expression on her face.

“Feron fixed it,” Elaran said through her laugh. She rested her arm on Gerarda’s shoulder. “Though he insisted Gerrie leave Vrail to her books.”

“Andyoudidn’t try?”

Elaran’s face softened with pity. It made my back tense. “She’s not coming, Keera. We’ll try again next time.”

Next time. What if Vrail never went on another mission? What if losing Nikolai changed her forever and she never held a sword again? I thumbed the scar along my forearm through my tunic. Losing Brenna had changed me. In so many ways—some I was only beginning to understand.

“Did you find Riven at least?” There was a desperate breathiness in my voice that only made me angrier. Riven had left Aralinthhours after we returned from breaking the last seal. All I had gotten was a notebook with aI’m searching for Nikolaiscribbled onto the first page.

I hadn’t written him back.

Elaran shook her head. “The four of us are more than capable of handling an extraction.”

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