Johnis suddenly felt desperate to be gone, into the desert, to the Horde city. He ran for his horse, still tied to a tree at the clearing’s edge.

“Where are you going?” Jackov asked. “Is this a yes?”

“Yes, Johnis, where are you going?” Silvie demanded. “You can’t seriously think you’re going with him.”

He spun back. “You don’t trust me?”

“Should I?” she asked.

It wasn’t the first time these last two days she’d asked the question. The last time he’d answered immediately: yes. Now a beat passed before he responded.

“No. No, you shouldn’t come with us. But you should also realize that I have no choice.”

“Of course you do! He’s doing this for his honor, not yours.”

Jackov stepped up. “Would I do it if I wasn’t certain? The desert’s a dangerous place.”

“And how do you know where she’s being held?” Silvie demanded. “So you take us to this Horde city, which only leads us into a trap!”

The fact that she’d included herself wasn’t lost on Johnis. A pang of guilt rode his spine. She, like he, surely knew there was more to this whole business than what Thomas or the Guard could possibly know. He was playing the fool, but in the absence of a better way, he would follow his heart—the stakes were much higher than any of them knew.

This was about more than his mother. It was about the forests’ survival. He deserved the severest punishment. Or was it a hero’s welcome yet? Silvie seemed to know even more than he did. Why else would she stay by him after how he’d treated her?

“Then don’t take me up on it!” he challenged. “But she is there, and she is alive, and she is a Scab. And I will take you at least that far; that’s what I’m offering. Nothing more.”

“Silvie . . .” Johnis covered the ground between them quickly and took her by the arm, turning her away from Jackov. He whispered so that the thug couldn’t hear. “It’s the books, Silvie. We have to go after the books!”

“This isn’t about the books. It’s about your mother.”

“No, it’s about both. Do I have a choice?”

She liked it when I moved close to her, he thought. So he pressed even closer, shielding her from Jackov. “If I go to the Council now, they’ll have my head. Will that serve our mission to find the books? You know it won’t!”

“This is crazy, Johnis! We just had our backsides handed to us!”

“Then they won’t be expecting us. I have to do this.”

For a long moment she considered their options, staring back at Jackov, then into Johnis’s eyes. “Billos and Darsal?”

“No, we can’t involve them.”

She nodded slowly. “I still don’t trust him.”