Aldrick ex Gladius, one of the deadliest swordsmen in Alera, hooked a finger down into the back of the woman’s bodice and dragged her close to him, leaving his sword extended. She leaned against his pull. He didn’t seem to notice. He slid a hand around her waist, when she was close enough, and pressed her shoulders back against his mailed torso. “Odiana,” he rumbled. “Peace.”

The fey-looking woman twitched several more times, her smile widening, and subsided. “Yes, lord.”

“Little man,” Aldrick rumbled. “What’s she doing here?”

Ehren smiled up at Aldrick, standing diffidently, as though he weren’t bright enough to notice all the naked steel in the room and too innocent of the ways of violence to understand how much danger he was in. “Ah, yes. She’s here to, ah, there’s a special mission for you all, and you’re to do it.”

Amara glanced around the tent. She recognized some of the men and women in it, from long before, during her graduation exercise from the Academy. Back before her mentor had betrayed her. Back before the man she’d pledged her life to support had done the same. They were the Windwolves—mercenaries, the long-term hirelings of the Aquitaines. They were suspected in any number of dubious enterprises, and though she could not prove it, Amara was certain that they had killed any number of Alerans during their employers’ various schemes.

They were dangerous men and women one and all, strongly gifted at furycraft, known as an aerial contingent, Knights for hire.

“Hello, Aldrick,” Amara said calmly, facing the man. “This is the short version: As of now, you are working with me.”

His eyebrows climbed. His eyes went to Ehren.

The little man nodded, smiling and blinking myopically. “Yes, that’s correct. She’ll tell you what you need to know. Very important, and I’ve other messages to deliver, good hunting.”

Ehren nodded and bumbled out of the tent, muttering apologies.

Grimacing, Aldrick watched him go and eyed Amara. A moment later, he put his sword away. Only then did the others in the room lower and put away their weapons.

“All right,” he said, staring at Amara with distaste. “What’s the job?”

Odiana stared at her with what Amara could only describe as malicious glee. Her smile was unsettling.

“The usual,” Amara said, smiling as though her innards hadn’t spent the last moments shimmying and twisting in fear. “It’s a rescue.”

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 13

“You’ve barely touched the meal,” Kitai said quietly.

Tavi glanced up at her, a stab of guilt hitting him quickly in the belly. “I...” The sight of Kitai in the green gown hit him even more heavily, and he lost track of what he’d been about to say.