Page 28 of The Second Death of Locke
The supply pack hit Grey in the arm. Kier jumped back. Grey grabbed the pack, flipped through it and nodded. “Thanks,” she said to Leonie, sliding down from the exam table as the other woman came back into the room.
“Can I have a moment with you, Hand?” Leonie asked. “I have a med kit for your travels, things to run through. Attis sent a brief—you’ll be the healer?”
“You know more than me,” Kier said.
“Go on,” Grey said. “I’ll be along.”
He looked at her for a second, and she remembered that he’d been in the middle of saying something—possibly something important. But he didn’t protest. He took his cloak back, pushing hers toward her. “I’ll start packing up,” he said.
Leonie didn’t move until they were alone. When Kier was gone and enough time had passed that he was safely out of earshot, she leaned her good hip against the exam table.
“It’s not a reassignment, is it?” she asked. She set the healer’s bag on the table and opened it. Grey took a cursory glance, taking in thesachets of herbs, the tiny jars of salve.
“I can’t say.”
Leonie made a small noise in her throat. “They had me check the prisoner for injuries.”
That caught Grey’s attention. “And? Is she in good health?”
“Yes, mostly. A few cuts and bruises, and her shoulder was dislocated when she arrived—whatever Luthar did to her, they didn’t do it kindly. She has had dental work done. Looks like it was performed on the continent.”
“The continent?”
“Mm. They use different materials. It’s easy to see, if you know what to look for.”
Grey turned this over. It wouldn’t be unexpected for the lost daughter of Locke to seek refuge in the continent—it just wasn’t what happened.
“A few other inconsistencies. I left you notes.”
She chewed her lip. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because we’re friends,” Leonie said, with no hint of irony. She hesitated, looking up at Grey with a solemn expression. “And I hope, someday, if you have need of me—”
“Leonie…”
But Leonie only raised a hand to Grey’s cheek. “You’re not a normal well either, Hand Captain.”
Six years of serving Kier across nearly a dozen assignments, and no one had discovered her—yet in this camp, it felt everyone was suspicious. What had changed? What had slipped? Or was it only that she’d let her guard down, that she’d let others get close to her?
Grey smiled sadly, catching Leonie’s hand. “I’m obviously far better-looking.”
Leonie rolled her eyes, the moment broken. “You spend too much time with the captain. Now, stop your flirting, and come here and say goodbye.”
It was not often appropriate, in the army, to depart with a hug. But Grey so rarely found others on assignments that she cared for, that sheliked. So when Leonie opened her arms, Grey didn’t hesitate to tuck herself against the other woman, to let herself be embraced.
“Write to me, if you can,” Leonie said.
“If I can,” Grey said instead of a smart-ass retort, which she thought was very noble of her.
“And be safe,” Leonie added against her hair. Grey did not bother to respond to that, because on this mission, safety was very much outside of her control.
Sorry it’s taken me so long to write. You know how things are. Kier is fine, and I am fine, and there’s nothing to report that I wouldn’t have to redact later. You probably know too much already because Kier tells you/Lo/Pia everything anyway. So I guess this is me saying that we are still, unfortunately, alive and at war.
Letter from Hand Captain Grey Flynn to Imarta Flynn, 15 yearsPD
nine
THEY SET OUT ANhour later, moving quietly out of the far side of camp, heading north. It was the only instruction Attis had given them, besidesStay alive and deliver the girl: north first, to put distance between them and the encampment; then east, toward the mountains and the sea. Anything else, she told them stiffly, was up to Kier.
