Page 173 of Grave Situation

“Nobody will reach you if I can help it,”she says, her voice clear as a bell in my head. I suck in a breath. I expected this, but… I’ve been avoiding being alone with her because I didn’t want to deal with it.

I’ve accessed his memories.

I’ve played with his powers.

But this… this, more than anything, confirms that IamWasianth.

“Of course you are,”she scoffs, stepping sideways to knock me off-balance.“I wouldn’t let just any idiot ride me.”

Apparently, Wasianth had an affinity for smart-mouthed friends of all species.

“Which explains why he chose to be incarnated as you.”

This conversation is going nowhere.

“One thing,”I can’t resist asking.“Were you really trying to matchmake between me and Jaimin?”

Her big brown eyes roll.“You were moving too slow. That man is exceptional, and somebody else was going to snap him up. One of the Lenlese soldiers tried, but I stepped on his foot and knocked him over.”

One of the Lenlese soldiers was flirting with Jaimin? I thought they all liked me! The betrayal!“Thanks for having my back, even when I was too stupid to know I needed it.”

She nickers and rubs her nose against my arm, and we catch up to the others, who are using Leicht as a windbreak. Coryn is petting him and murmuring some nonsense about what a good dragon he is.

“Now what?” Peiris asks, competently stroking their new horse, who seems very fond of them already.

I point west, away from the beach. “There’s a road a few hundred yards inland that will take us north to the fishing village that belongs to the estate. From there, there’s another road that will take us right through the home farm to the manor house. If we keep our heads down and Leicht stays high, there’s a chance nobody will notice us.”

“Is the village likely to be full of zombies?” Arimen worries at his lip with his teeth, but I shake my head.

“I call it a village out of habit, but it’s actually a decent-sized market town that gets a lot of traffic from passing boats, including naval ones. Someone would have noticed if the population had all been infected and reported it to the queen.” I hope. “But the turnoff is before we’d need to enter the village, anyway.”

We mount our horses, Leicht launches into the air, and what I really hope will be the last part of this quest begins.

The road is right where I remember it being—thankfully—and reasonably busy, though not as much as it should be for this time of year. Nobody will notice one more small group of travelers among the many strung out along the road. We’re even able to canter, so it takes no time at all to reach the place outside the village where a smaller road branches off. It’s surrounded by dense woods for the first few hundred yards, an attempt by one of my ancestors to discourage villagers from roaming aroundon the estate proper. In reality, it gave them somewhere new to hunt for small game.

For a moment, I hesitate. Maybe we should keep following the road, see if we can judge the situation in the vi?—

“Really?”Sweetie asks.“This close and you want to run away?”

Gritting my teeth, I turn toward the farm road. “It’s this way. Keep alert, and be ready—I’ll let you know if the dragons pass along any warnings.” There are three of them up there, including Leicht, watching everything.

“I’ll take the lead,” Coryn announces in the commanding voice he uses in these situations. “Peiris, can you bring up the rear?”

Peiris puts a hand on their sword and inclines their head. “Of course.”

“Arimen, what’s your job?”

“Stay close to Jaimin, follow orders, and yell if I need help,” he recites. His freckles stand out against the paleness of his face, and I wish I had somewhere safe to leave him.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Even though I’m basically a god now and don’t need Coryn to protect me anymore, I let him lead. He needs this—all he’s ever wanted to do is take care of people. I won’t let him get hurt.

I won’t let any of them get hurt, not if I have to raze the world to the ground.

On cue, I hear two sighs in my head. Seriously? It’s not enough that I have to be scolded by both Leicht and Sweetie—now they’re giving me nonverbal attitude as well?

Coryn sets the pace at a brisk walk. We don’t know what we’re looking for. I assume my uncle and his pet priests are in the manor house, but it’s possible they’ve set up their headquarters elsewhere and the house will be a trap. The thought hurts, but I push my feelings aside and?—

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