Page 178 of The Iron Flower

“No,” Tierney shoots back. “We ask for little. We are delivering the Lupines to your military and keeping them out of Gardnerian hands. War is coming, and you know it. An army of Lupines could sway the tide in either direction.”

Commander Vin is utterly still as she scrutinizes Tierney. “Go on,” she prods.

“Tierney’s entire adopted Gardnerian family needs to go with you,” I put forth. “And a young mariner named Gareth Keeler should be docked at Saltisle Harbor—you need to find him and bring him with you, as well.”

I take a deep breath, a sudden swell of emotion overtaking me, and I stiffen my whole self against it. “Yvan Guriel and his mother need to be brought east, too.”

I can feel Yvan’s fire blast toward me from across the room, chaotic and overpowering. I can’t look at him. I just can’t.

“All of the people on Fernyllia’s list need to be evacuated,” Tierney insists. Fernyllia runs down her long list, and Commander Vin nods in agreement.

“And Fernyllia, too,” Bleddyn says emphatically, looking at the kitchen mistress. “You forgot to put yourself on this list.”

Fernyllia pauses and grows very still, and Bleddyn’s voice tightens with alarm. “Fernyllia. Why are you not on this list?”

I jerk my head toward Fernyllia, all of us looking at her in surprise. She’s quiet for a long moment, but her expression has gone stone hard. “I will be the poisoner.”

Shock races through me as Bleddyn shakes her head vehemently, outrage lighting in her eyes. “No! Absolutely not.Fernyllia, you can’t.” She lapses into what sounds like aggressive pleading in Uriskal, her hand slashing the air, as if defending Fernyllia’s life in this very moment. Iris starts to cry, her tears rapidly devolving into great, heaving sobs.

“Bleddyn Arterra and Iris Morgaine,” Fernyllia says, her voice low and hardened.“Stop.”

Bleddyn quiets, her face a tortured grimace, the cords of her neck tensing. Iris turns her head away, her eyes shut tight as she continues to cry.

“I am an old thing,” Fernyllia says, her voice softer this time, but solid and unmovable. “Bad knees. Bad back. Bad health. I could not make this journey to Noi lands. But all of youcan. And you can bring my granddaughter east, where she can have a good life. There isno lifefor her here. If you love me, you will stop your grieving, and you will bring my Fern to safety.”

Bleddyn is nodding resolutely now, tears streaking down her face. Iris is crying into her hand.

I make no move to wipe away the tears that roll down my own face. “Don’t do this,” I implore Fernyllia. I look to Commander Vin. “Surely there must be another way. There has to be a way for her to go, too. A way we haven’t thought of.”

Fernyllia puts her calloused hand on mine. Her eyes rest gently on me with maternal sadness. “Child, you don’t know what you’re dealing with. You need to trust me. I’ve been fighting this fight much longer than all of you.”

I shake my head, crying, and Fernyllia puts her arm around me. “This is what I want,” she says, her voice more insistent now. “Do you understand?”

I nod, overcome with sorrow.

“What of the Icarals?” Lucretia asks, forcing our attention back to the rushed planning. “Now that Verpacia has fallen, it’s dangerous for them to be here.”

“They’ve already left,” Tierney tells her. “With Wynter’s brother, Cael. He owns a piece of ancestral land in Alfsigroth, and he’s taking them there.”

Everyone leaving. Everyone soon to be gone—eventually only Aislinn and Uncle Edwin left behind in Gardneria with me. My chest tightens with grief at the idea of so much loss.

“And what of you?” Commander Vin asks me.

I look up to find her eyes tight on me. “I need to stay behind to care for my uncle,” I tell her, roughly wiping away my tears. “I’ve no magic or skills past medicinal, and my aunt has made it clear she won’t care for him forever. My family can’t leave him all alone, and my brothers will be in too much danger if they remain here. So...it makes sense for me to be the one to stay.”

The commander sets her implacable gaze on Tierney. “And you?”

Tierney meets her intimidating stare without flinching. “I’m staying for now. There’s a chance that the Amaz will be able to remove my glamour, and after it’s gone, I’ve a water route I can use to escape east.”

“The Gardnerians are planning to spike every body of water in the Western Realm with iron,” Commander Vin puts in flatly.

“They can try,” Tierney counters, eyes flashing. “The forest has rerouted some of the water.”

Commander Vin considers this, a shrewd gleam edging her gaze. She sits up, military straight, and faces the two of us. “Elloren Gardner and Tierney Calix,” she says gravely, “I give you my word. If you supply us with this poison, I will bring your people to Noi lands.”

Bleddyn lets out an overwhelmed gasp. Yvan’s fire reaches for me again, an intentional flare this time, but I can’t look at him.

Instead, I stare down at the table and swallow back the tears.

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