Page 48 of No Greater Sorrow

“I need to save my strength,” Nicolas replied. “Orla, ride with Val. Kill him if he does anything suspicious. Aleja, you’re with me. Violet, you did well on the Avisai so you ride on your own. The Umbramares will follow their leader. Just do your best to hold on.”

“Oh, goodie. I’ve always wanted a hell pony,” Violet muttered, and Aleja had to suppress a smile.

When Aleja touched the Umbramare, warm magic filled her again, but this time, it felt familiar. It was the magic of the Hiding Place, so tied to the Knowing One that she could feelhimin it. “What happens if they’re killed?” she asked.

“Then we get to save Nic’s ass and gloat about it later. The gap in the wards will close soon. We need to hurry,” Orla said.

Val tutted as Orla pointed him to the nearest Umbramare. “You won’t actually stab me, will you?” he asked, looking at the gold-hilted dagger at Orla’s hip.

“Iabsolutelywill stab you; I want to make that clear. Let’s go.”

Aleja felt a twinge of jealousy as Violet mounted her horse with ease. Horses had always made her nervous. She didn’t like putting her life in the hands of something that could happily buck her off at any slight. But before she could ask how she was supposed to ride something that didn’t have a saddle or reins, Nicolas mounted and reached out a hand to haul her up.

“Wrap your arms around my waist. Keep your inner thighs tight,” he whispered.

“Flirting with me, Knowing One?” Aleja whispered back.

“After last night, certainly. You make me want tobeg.”

Suddenly, they were in motion, and she pressed her cheek against his back to hide her flush. Aleja sensed the moment they left the boundaries of the Hiding Place. With the quickness of a lightning strike, the ever-reddish sky turned dark blue. The landscape changed to one of rolling hills dotted with fig trees. Aleja was reminded of the statues of snakes coiled around their branches, present in both the Hiding Place and the homes of the Knowing One’s human devotees alike. The serpent and the fig. The Otherlanders and the Astraelis.

We were one people, a long time ago, Orla had said.

More interesting than the landscape was the tremulous feeling of magic in the air. The magic of the Otherlanders was that of shadows, night, and death. But she could sense something bright about the magic here—it was in the crispness of the air and in the silver tinge at the edge of night-gray clouds.

“You’re feeling the influence of the First,” Nicolas said. The wind nearly swept away his voice, but Aleja could feel it rumbling from his chest as she pressed against him. Garm ran at their side, bounding through the tall grass.

“It’s nice,” she said, wondering if Nicolas would take offense.

“It is. We have no issues with the First.”

“Why can’tshestop the Astraelis?”

“The First grants life. Like any mother, she can’t control what her children do once they’re grown.”

“But the Second interferes. The Second makes rules for us,” Aleja said. Her words were bitter, but Nicolas had said worse about the Second himself.

“The Second has become more protective after the last war.”

“Hellhound’s fury, six hundred years later and you two still can’t stop gabbing,” Orla said, pulling her Umbramare beside them.

“We’re about three miles from the camp. The Astraelis usually send scouts to patrol within that radius. We should dismount on the other side of that ridge and continue on foot,” Val told them. He sounded breathless as if he couldn’t inhale the air rushing past as the Umbramares tore across the landscape.

“You know a lot about their tactics,” Orla told him.

“I’m the son of their High Commandeer. She tried—unsuccessfully—to recruit me into the military until realizing I would put no effort into the pursuit. But understanding how she ran her troops was essential in deciding where and how to plant misinformation before I left.”

“Hmph. We’ll see,” Orla answered.

The Astraelis had a well-organized military, Aleja noted. It was so different from the rag-tag volunteers that occupied the Hiding Place. No wonder the Second had been eager to let her retake the Trials despite her transgressions.

They dismounted where Val indicated. Aleja wondered if they were going to leave the Umbramares there, but before she could ask, Nicolas’s hands traced a pattern in the air. The Umbramares neighed, sounding displeased as they shrank, folding in on themselves like jet-black origami until all that remained where they’d stood were three dark stones. Nicolas handed one each to Orla, Violet, and Aleja.

“If we are separated and you need to flee, throw it hard at the ground and your Umbramare will be summoned again. If I’m not dead, that is,” he said.

Garm sniffed the dirt where the Umbramares had disappeared and then looked up. “What about me, boss? I can help. I’m no longer bound to this body anymore.”

“A fact that we’ll revisit if you can be good until the war is over,” Nicolas said. “Your job is to guard Val and Violet.”

---