Page 130 of The Iron Flower

The idea is so bizarre that it makes me laugh. Me. An Amaz warrior.

But the thought is also surprisingly appealing.

“Icouldteach you,” she insists.

“Goat herding, too?” I wryly ask.

Valasca grins. “Of course.”

I smile back. “I’ll keep it in mind, then.”

A wave of nausea sweeps through me, and suddenly I want nothing more than to be lying flat so that the world will stop tilting so disconcertingly.

Valasca lets out a long sigh and catches me before I fall clear over. “C’mon, Gardnerian,” she says, wrapping her arm around my shoulder to steady me. “I’ll help you get back. You and I need to sleep this off.”

* * *

“You smell terrible,” Diana tells me as I crawl—literally crawl, as I can’t walk a straight line—to my bedroll. Marina and Ni Vin are asleep, or are at least pretending to be, and Valasca has returned to her own lodging.

I fall back on the felted material, the room spinning. “Valasca gave me spirits.” I bring one hand to my forehead, which is pounding uncomfortably. “We both drank way too much of it. She tried to warn me not to.”

“You should have listened.”

I glower at her. “Oh, don’t tell me. You Lupines, perfect as you are, never partake of spirits.”

She gives me a baffled look, as if this should be obvious. “Of course not. Maiya disapproves of anything that dulls the senses.”

“Well, don’t judge me. My situation is pretty complicated right now.”

Diana cocks an eyebrow at me. “So is mine. I’m in love with a Gardnerian.”

“Who never wanted to be a Gardnerian,” I irritably counter. “Who spends all his free time running around in the woods hunting.”

Diana’s amber gaze is calm and unflinching, which makes me feel like a jangling mess in contrast. I sigh and turn over to face her, the room tilting nauseatingly as I do so. “Diana?”

“Yes?”

I hesitate for a moment. “I think I have the White Wand. TheactualWhite Wand. I think it’s real. Not just a story.” To my surprise, her unflappable expression doesn’t waver. “Do your people believe in anything like this?”

Diana nods. “The Branch of Maiya—the last surviving branch of the three Origin Trees.”

“What do your people think about this...Branch?”

“It is a tool of goodness and hope. As the other Branches were. It aids those who are oppressed.”

I consider this. “In my religion, it does that as well, but it only aids the First Children.”

She shakes her head, emphatic. “Not in ours. Maiya sends the Branch to anyone who is oppressed. Lupine or not.”

“So...maybe the Wand wants to help the Selkies.”

She doesn’t even pause to consider this. “Yes.”

“But if my Wand is really this Branch...then why would it come tome, Diana? I’ve no power. And...the Wand doesn’t, either. Not at the moment anyway. Trystan thinks it’s gone dead. Or dormant, at least.”

“Perhaps it’s conserving its power. Perhaps there’s a bigger fight yet to come.” She eyes me significantly. “Or perhaps hope has its own power.”

I shoot her a jaded look. “So, here we are, hoping the Amaz will help the Selkies.”

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