Inkmistress (Of Fire and Stars 0.5)(86)

“It’s Ina. The baby is coming and she asked for you,” he said.





CHAPTER 32


I STARED AT HIM AND CROSSED MY ARMS AS THOUGH I might be able to hold back the feelings of hurt and confusion that swam in my breast. How could he be the one to fetch me, and how could Ina possibly be asking for me to help her?

“This feels like a trap,” I said. There was no upside for me in this situation. If Hal was back on their side, they were surely using him to lead me straight to Nismae. She’d drain the rest of my blood to keep me from helping the king. And if Ina’s baby was about to be born, that meant my time to find the Fatestone was dwindling.

“It’s not a trap.” He looked at me with troubled eyes, a mirror of everything I felt.

“I know what your word is worth,” I said. A stab of guilt followed.

He looked at me as though I’d struck him, then took a slow breath and tried to pull himself together.

“This isn’t about me and you,” Hal said. “There’s a baby about to be born, and nobody down there knows what to do.”

Unbelievable.

“Nismae couldn’t possibly find a competent midwife in the entire city of Corovja?” I gestured broadly. “She couldn’t just let nature run its course and leave me out of it?”

“Nismae wants what Ina wants, and Ina wants you.” He held out a pair of objects that glinted in the moonlight.

Nismae’s cuffs.

“She gave me these to lend you as a promise of her intent,” he said. “Without them, she’s as vulnerable as any other mortal. You’re more powerful than her and you know it.”

“And what about Ina? How do I know she’s not waiting for me in dragon form, ready to tear off my head because I refused to join her?” I challenged him.

“She gave me this,” he said, pulling the dragon charm from my wrap bracelet from his pocket.

I took a sharp breath. She’d saved it. Why? Because it was from Garen, or because she’d given it to me? My resolve faltered the slightest bit. Maybe they really did need help. What if I turned my back on them and something terrible happened to the baby? It would certainly make things easier for the king if something befell Ina, but I couldn’t handle being the one responsible for it.

“Then what about you?” I couldn’t follow him anywhere with things like this between us. Hurt sparked between us the same way love once had.

“I’m still sorry for everything,” he said. “I know you can’t forgive me right now, and that’s all right. For what it’s worth, I haven’t forgiven myself yet, either.”

He was right. I couldn’t forgive him, not now.

He waited for my answer, not pushing.

I still loved that about him, even though I didn’t want to feel anything but anger.

Resigned, I held out my hand for the cuffs and the charm. “Show me the way.”

We raced down the mountain through alleyways and staircases, shortcuts and back roads, until we reached an old mining area where the Nightswifts had apparently set up camp. Lights winked amidst the trees, and when the wind shifted, I smelled cook fires.

As we drew closer, I pulled my knife from my belt with my uninjured hand. Nismae needed to know that I wasn’t going to be toyed with, regardless of any supposed promises she’d made. With my injured hand, I drew my cloak of shadows more tightly around my shoulders, ready to disappear at the slightest provocation.

Nismae broke through the tree line to greet us, alone. It was strange to see her without her cuffs—I’d come to think of them as a part of her, as much as her strong stature and the keen intelligence in her hazel-brown eyes.

I held up my knife.

“I still don’t trust you,” I said.

She nodded, accepting that without argument. “You don’t have to. Ina just needs your help. We may be on opposite sides of the battle to come, but that doesn’t have to matter tonight.”

“How do I know you aren’t just trying to get more of my blood?” I asked.

“Because I swear on my own blood and life that all we need is help delivering this baby,” she said.

I edged closer, trying to get a better look at her expression. She held herself as proudly as usual, but I could sense the fatigue in her now that the bracelets weren’t muddying her aura in my Sight.

“Promise me,” I said. “Promise me that you will not hurt me, that I will be free to go as soon as the baby is born. Promise me you won’t reach out to me after this or send Hal for me like some kind of errand boy.”

Hal looked at the ground, not meeting either of our eyes.

“I promise,” she said. “Please help us.”

I hesitated a moment longer, but it was the please that broke me. Nismae didn’t seem like the kind of person who used that word often.

“All right. Show me where Ina is. I don’t want to spend any longer with you than I have to.”

“Thank you,” Nismae said. “Come this way.” She turned and led us toward the Nightswifts’ camp.

Hal followed us, wisely keeping his mouth shut.

Nismae led us through the camp to a cave. Warmth enveloped me when we stepped in; it must have originally been a bathhouse for miners. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lantern light as Ina let out an agonized—and quite human—moan from the back. As I’d warned her, she had to labor in human form. Poe crouched near the fire, anxiously folding and refolding blankets and minding a kettle of boiling water.