Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns, #4)(88)

Pietyr tugs on the armor, testing the fit. ‘You seem to be prattling on this morning. More so than usual. Are you afraid?’

Billy shrugs. He can feel every drop of blood racing inside his skin and every heartbeat that tries to keep up with it. He is afraid. And he knows that Pietyr is as well, no matter how he tries to mask it with disdain.

‘I suppose I am,’ he says, and feels some of that fear drain away with the admission. ‘But not so much as I’m angry. Today I avenge my father’s murder and the murder of my friends. Today my strange time on Fennbirn comes to an end.’

‘You mean to go up against Rho Murtra,’ says Pietyr. ‘You are a fool.’

‘Maybe. Or maybe she’ll be weighed down by all that fancy queensguard armor and I’ll land a lucky strike.’

Pietyr says nothing. He shakes his head and picks up his sword, and Billy follows him out to the horses.

When Arsinoe gets to Jules’s tent, she makes sure to loudly clear her throat and allow plenty of time before entering, in case she is walking into something private. But inside, Jules and Emilia are already awake, seated on the ground with Camden lying in between them. Across the camp, the morning has started to turn blue, showing the capital city to the south and the towers of the Volroy, which Arsinoe could feel staring down at her even through the blackness.

‘Thank the Goddess,’ says Jules, and smiles. ‘I thought you weren’t going to make it.’

‘You know me.’ Arsinoe ducks inside. ‘Always cut it close. Always make an entrance.’

‘So you’ve done it,’ Emilia says. ‘You have her?’ She peers around Arsinoe in the dim.

‘Even if I did, she wouldn’t be with me. Why does everyone always think I have everything in my pocket?’ She frowns. ‘But I don’t. She wasn’t there. The cave was empty.’

‘But that was our best hope,’ says Jules.

‘No it wasn’t.’ Emilia gets to her feet. ‘It was desperation. A move made out of fear. But we never needed the help of a dead queen. We are not like Katharine.’

She sounds certain. She sounds like a leader. Not for the first time, Arsinoe wonders how it is that they have gotten here, laying siege to Indrid Down. It was not so long ago that she and Mirabella were at Billy’s brick row house on the mainland or that she was in Wolf Spring, drinking ale at the Lion’s Head.

The tent flap opens again; it is Mathilde, come to rouse them.

‘Katharine’s army is moving.’

‘Did you see it in a vision?’ asks Jules.

‘I saw it with my eyes,’ Mathilde replies.

‘Raise the call,’ Emilia orders. ‘Form the lines. We will join you at the front.’

Mathilde disappears behind the falling tent flap. The sound of the low horns and the responding rush of movement send a chill down Arsinoe’s back.

Jules stands and stretches alongside her cougar as Emilia gathers their weapons. Both are already in their armor. Camden will wear armor, too, specially crafted to fit her. Arsinoe wants to throw herself across the cat’s lean, furry body at the thought of the arrows and wielded blades.

‘Do you think I should have brought Braddock?’

‘I think a great brown bear is worth a regiment of cavalry,’ Emilia says. ‘He would have taken down dozens of queensguard, and drawn their fire. And I think he is your pet, and your friend. And you did the right thing by leaving him.’

Arsinoe blinks at her in surprise.

‘Focus.’ She slaps Arsinoe’s shoulder as she helps her into light silver armor. ‘Your whole mind must be in the fight if you are to survive it.’

‘My whole mind is on Katharine,’ says Arsinoe. ‘On where she is and where I’ll be.’

‘She may start the battle at the head. But do not be surprised if they keep her to the back. It may be difficult to reach her.’

‘I don’t care.’ She feels the armor tightening, the buckles secured. Part of her wants to shrug it off. It will only slow her down.

Jules slips knives into her boots and belt. She straps a sword across her chest. Watching her, Arsinoe cannot help thinking how she and Katharine are both so small, yet both so fearsome. When she faces Arsinoe, Jules’s blue and green eyes blaze.

Emilia checks a blade and sheaths it hard. ‘I have to see to the soldiers. I will find you at the horses.’

After she goes, Jules takes up Camden’s armor.

‘How in the world am I supposed to get her into this?’ she asks, and Camden whaps her tail against the ground. ‘Arsinoe, will you hold her?’

‘Oh no.’ Arsinoe steps back. ‘She’s your familiar; you armor her.’

Jules chuckles. ‘I helped you with your bear.’

‘That was forever ago. My bear’s not here now. And besides, I actually need to go after Emilia. I need to talk to her about something.’

‘Emilia? What could you and she have to talk about?’ Arsinoe shrugs and steps through the tent flap. ‘Something. Just something.’

Outside, the camp has come alive, everyone moving and in a hurry. From the high ground of Jules’s tent, everything is visible, and the rebels appear as a multicolored swarm, disorganized, arguing amongst themselves, but generally moving in the direction of the capital. By contrast, what little bit of Katharine’s army is within view is all uniform black and silver, even most of the horses. And they move together like a school of fish.