Midnight Jewel (The Glittering Court #2)(127)

I didn’t even think as I pulled back and released. The bolt sprang from the crossbow with a thwack, and I momentarily lost sight of it as it sped through the air. A second later, I saw it again. Sticking out of Warren’s leg.

He shrieked and collapsed, and Grant was on him in seconds. Confusion and terror doubled in the crowd. Heads turned, trying to figure out what had just happened. More people ran. The Icori looked a little confused at seeing their dramatic confrontation upstaged. Adelaide’s eyes scanned the area and rested on me. Her face filled with shock, and then slowly, she began to smile.

I jumped down and wound my way past the lingering militia. Moments later, I was up the platform stairs and in Adelaide’s arms. Cedric, smiling, watched us from nearby, and I pulled him into the hug.

“I’m so glad you’re all right,” I said. I couldn’t keep the emotion in. Tears pricked my eyes. “Both of you. You’re safe now.”

At those words, Cedric and Adelaide turned. Farther down the platform, a flabbergasted Governor Doyle stood with Grant. Warren lay between them, tied up. “Who are you? Why do you think you have any right to seize my son?”

“Because we have a mountain of evidence indicting him for treason. We’ve been collecting it for months.”

“What ‘we’ are you talking about?” demanded the governor.

“The McGraw Agency. I work for them.” Grant didn’t falter or lose that collected air. His face was still hard and tough. But I saw something fade in his eyes, the destruction of a dream he’d fought for for such a long time. My heart broke for him.

Grant had been made.

I took a hesitant step toward him, and then Adelaide exclaimed, “Tamsin!”

Spinning around, I saw Tamsin climbing up the rickety stairs. I immediately ran toward her. Adelaide was right with me, and we practically knocked Tamsin over the platform’s edge with our hugs.

“What happened?” cried Adelaide.

I clutched at Tamsin’s sleeve and couldn’t stop the tears now. “I thought we’d lost you again.”

“No,” she told me. “But I’m never getting in a blasted boat again.” Tears of her own brimmed in her brown eyes. She was a wonder to look at in all that bright tartan, with her shining hair wound into elaborate plaits.

We talked over each other, laughing and asking questions and simply marveling that we were there at all. Silas’s sharp voice jolted us from the bubble of our reunion. “Thorn. A word.”

I looked up and saw that both Warren and Grant were gone now. Silas stood near Governor Doyle, who was speaking with a commander from the fort. Several other soldiers had arrived and were spread in a loose but watchful ring around the Icori. Cedric separated from us, Adelaide right behind him.

Tamsin and I held hands and watched as the three of them spoke in hushed tones. “What’s going on?” she asked. “I didn’t expect to come back to this. Whatever it is.”

“It’s a long story,” I said.

“And that?” She nodded at the crossbow tucked under my arm.

“Also a long story. Probably not as long as yours.”

Adelaide’s face was alight when she returned. “Mister Garrett said there’s enough shift in the evidence to rescind the verdict! There’s still a lot to go over before Cedric’s entirely clear, but for now—”

“Mira!”

I looked over the platform’s edge and saw Aiana standing below, her face somber. “I’ll be right back,” I told my friends. I darted down the stairs.

“You have to find Grant,” Aiana immediately said.

I glanced quizzically up at the platform. “I thought he must’ve taken Warren away when Silas showed up.”

“Yes, but once he has, I’m worried he’ll disappear. If he hasn’t already.”

All that earlier joy drained from me. “Disappear how?”

“It was his backup plan—if the mission didn’t work out or if his identity was discovered. Get out of Cape Triumph immediately before he’s easily remembered. Take on another name in another place, get work in some trading company in the hopes of eventually going up there with a party granted access to the border or even just over the border.”

I gaped. Grant had never discussed a contingency. “That would get him in?”

“Maybe. It could take a long time. And there’s no certainty of traders getting through, which is why he wanted to avoid this. If he was reckless enough, he could sneak in and try bribing his way to amnesty for the illegal crossing, but that could just as easily get him killed.” She rested her hand on my shoulder. “Look, that’s for later. Right now, you need to talk him out of it before we lose him. I think you’re the only one who can.”

I thought back to our parting. Grant had balked when I told him I loved him, but he’d also sworn to me he’d save my friends at any cost. That cost had been his cover and nearly his life. The look in his eyes when he’d announced himself haunted me.

“I don’t know if I can talk him into anything.”

“You have to try, Banle,” Aiana insisted. She handed me a key. “Hurry. If you’re lucky, he stopped by his place to pack.”

I bit my lip and glanced around. Adelaide still stood above me with Cedric, but Tamsin had come down and now spoke with a mixed group of Icori and soldiers. I’m worried he’ll disappear.