Death Sworn(67)

They were actors and liars, every single person in these caves. She had to remember that.

“Why did they attack us?” she asked.

“My guess,” Arkim said, “is that we got the attention of the imperial sorcerers.” He smiled at her, as if the two of them were part of the same we. “The master chooses his targets well, as always. The Empire can feel us closing in. They’re afraid.”

His hand was still out. Ileni took it and let him pull her to her feet, then swayed for a few seconds before holding herself steady. “What will we do?”

“The master will know what to do. But I suspect he’ll say there’s no need to do anything. The wards held and will continue to hold. The Empire might send soldiers next, but that’s a losing gambit—these caves can withstand a siege for years, and the mountains are full of perfect ambush points.” He let go of her hand. “This is your room, yes?”

Ileni looked at the thick wooden door. “Yes.”

“I can’t open it,” Arkim said patiently. “You’ll have to do that.”

Of course. Because of the wards. The wards . . . Ileni spun away from the door, and winced as the corridor tilted. “I have to check the wards! Around the caves—”

“You have to sleep first. Then you’ll do your part.”

She turned again and pushed the door open. Arkim waited in the doorway until she had lowered herself onto her bed.

“Make sure to close the door all the way,” she said. But she couldn’t keep her eyes open to make sure he had done it.

Her part, he had said. Her part. Because she was one of them, a piece of the master’s plan, helping to bring the Empire down.

To destroy it.

Despite the pain ricocheting through her head, she was smiling when she fell asleep.



Ileni woke a long time later—how long, she didn’t know, but her mind felt clear and she was starving. The back of her head was still tender, and she winced when she touched it, but her fingers came away dry.

She had no trouble finding the dining cavern and was relieved to discover that it was time for breakfast. She had never been so happy to see porridge in her life.

The cavern was full, but Sorin’s seat was empty. So was Irun’s. Still finding out what the master wanted them to do?

When she walked into her class, she was faintly surprised to see the rest of her students sitting in their usual neat rows, backs ramrod straight. Shouldn’t the Empire’s attack change everything? Instead of going through their usual routine, they should be preparing for war.

But of course, that was exactly what they were doing. What they were always doing.

For the first time, she felt guilty as she led her students through a series of pointless meditations. They were fighting for something, these young men she trained day after day. They were hurting the Empire. And instead of helping them, she was holding them back.

And meanwhile, all her people did was sit around recounting stories of cruelty and singing sad songs about martyrs.

We are preparing to take them on. She had known that since she was a child, had the Empire’s destruction as her focus all her life. But suddenly that promise seemed distant and hollow. Someday we will be free was the ending chant of every Renegai class, but nobody ever seemed to question when someday would become now.

For these boys, burning bright and fierce, someday was now. They would make the Empire pay with blood and anguish, and they would do it while the Renegai practiced wards and healing spells for the millionth time.

When the lesson was over, she held up a hand to stop the students from rising. “Where are Sorin and Irun?”

No one answered. She focused on one of the weaker students, a tall boy with curly black hair. “Do you know?”

“No,” he said.

A chill ran through her. “Were they . . . are they on missions?”

“We. Don’t. Know,” he said patiently.

But Ileni did know. She turned away quickly, before her students could see her expression.

I’m sure he has a response already planned. And the assassins had only one response. People would die, out in the Empire, to punish them for this attack.

And Sorin would be one of the assassins administering the punishment.

He was gone.





Chapter 16

Ileni ate barely two bites of her lunch—the porridge from breakfast felt like rocks lodged in her stomach—before she made her way to the knife-training cavern. Some small part of her hoped, idiotically, that Sorin would be there waiting. But of course he wasn’t. She had slept for half a day and a night. He was long gone by now.