“I don’t trust him,” Asher says. “Kill them both.”

“Don’t hurt Rune, please,” Reed begs, eyes glossy as he watches his injured falcon squirm. I think he might actually cry for the creature, and compassion is something he almost showed me once, too. It nearly makes me pause. But then I think of the Prime’s story, how Reed was the one who caught her people trying to destroy Bedrock’s black powder. How he’s the reason the Prime lost an eye.

“Will she recover?” I ask Reed.

“Was she bleeding from the head at all? Can she move her neck?” He cranes his, trying to get a better look.

“It’s just her wing,” I say. “Broken, I think.”

Reed gasps in relief, brings his bound hands to his mouth. “She should be all right then. She’ll heal.”

“That’s what I feared,” I say, and I end the bird with one quick slash of my blade.

“No!” Reed shouts as the blood spills. A tear breaks loose, trailing down his cheek. “She wasn’t a threat. She couldn’t even fly. Why would you do that?”

“I didn’t make it this far to go soft,” I say through gritted teeth. “I can’t risk her recovering and you sending word to the General. Forgive me for not being sympathetic to a Loyalist who serves a monster. You killed my mother. I killed your bird.” I take my boot off the creature, now limp, and approach Reed. I put my blade beneath his chin. “Now, you wanted to explain something? Go ahead. Explain before I slit your throat, too.”

Reed’s still staring beyond me, toward Rune, his eyes impossibly wide.

I twist the blade minimally against his neck and a bead of his blood wells up.

“I came to help,” he grits out. “When the Reaper turned us away at Powder Town, I sent the Loyalists home and said I’d wait behind. Told them to tell the General that I didn’t expect you to sit still long, not with your pack’s lives on the line, and that I would bring you in as soon as you ran. But clearly, I didn’t. I followed you. I was going to reveal myself this morning, but Rune got antsy and took off flying, and then you spotted her before I could explain myself, and it all rusted up.”

I bark out a laugh. “You expect me to believe that?”

His brow furrows. “It’s the truth.”

“You’re here to help? You didn’t help when the General murdered my mother. You didn’t help my pack stay off sleeping ilk. You didn’t even quit chasing me to Powder Town until the Reaper threatened to cancel Bedrock’s trade agreement!”

“I was always being watched then. I had to play a part.”

I shake my head.