“Take a good look!” he commands them. “Remember this well, ’cause every shittin’ ass in this camp owes me ten Skrain heads fer erry one they sent us tonight! Do you hear me? I want ye to dump ’em at my feet when we hit that border! Ten Skrain heads fer erry one of ours!”

A thousand voices answer him in unison, crying out their promise to deliver those enemy skulls.

Evie keeps her breath steady and even, attempting to steel herself and maintain a composure that matches Lariat’s angry resolve. Staring at those heads, however, is forcing her to confront the end result of her choices. Evie knows she can’t afford to question those choices now. They have all come too far and are risking too much. There is no going back. That doesn’t stop her from feeling a twisting in her guts as she witnesses what her decisions have wrought.

She thinks of Brio in that moment. She remembers questioning her own motivations in leaving her life behind a second time because of him. Looking back from where she now stands, Evie considers the possibility she chose her mission to rescue Brio precisely because it was hers to choose. She wasn’t given a choice when Gen Stalbraid turned her away as a girl. Evie wonders if that lingering part of her came here to show Brio she was stronger than that now, to exercise some power she felt she’d lost. Perhaps it was her way of trying to take back control of her life all these years later, as absurd as that seemed to her.

Whatever brought her to this point, Evie knows she has to take control of this situation, if she can. There is only one way she can see to do that without getting them all killed.

Evie slips beside Sirach, whispering in the woman’s ear. “There’s one head they didn’t think to take, and it may be a head that can help us.”

Sirach looks at her with the same curious expression she wore as they stared at each other from the ground after Evie unseated Sirach from her horse.

“Whatever’s churning in those eyes of yours frightens and thrills me,” she says.

“Wait until you hear my plan,” Evie warns.

“Is that what you have? A plan?”

“I have an idea that may sprout a plan.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“It is, but don’t worry, I’m the only one it’ll kill. Unless it succeeds, of course.”

Evie’s expression in that moment is unreadable, and though she can see Sirach has several questions already springing to mind, Evie can only hope Sirach believes her.

SEEK NOT THE EAVES AT MIDNIGHT