The Winner's Kiss (The Winner's Trilogy, #3)(68)

“Aren’t you pleased?” Roshar said.

Arin immediately left, dropping the flap of the tent’s opening behind him.

Kestrel found him by his fire at the edge of the camp. It had grown late. He’d pitched his tent on the outskirts. She realized that, at each day’s end, he’d been setting his tent farther from every one else.

He fed the fire. She crouched beside him, the leather armor creaking. He flinched at the sound. “I’m sorry,” he said finally. “It’s hard to look at you like that.”

“I’m still me,” she said, and was surprised at herself for trying to convince him that no matter how she seemed to change, she remained the same person. This wasn’t her usual line of argument. As she thought about how she looked in Valorian armor, and whether she looked like herself or not, a germ of an idea began to grow.

“Promise me you’ll stay out of harm’s way,” he said. “I don’t want you on the battlefield.”

“It’s not fair of you to ask that when you’d never do the same.”

“The risk is different for you and me.”

She became angry. “Why, because you’re god-touched? Because you’re good with a sword and I’m not?”

“That’s part of it.”

“That matters less than you think. People who are good at fighting die in war all the time, and people who aren’t can find ways to win.” Her idea—the armor, the Valorian scout, a plan—took shape. Kestrel’s anger carved its details and made it perfect.

“Yes,” Arin said, “but even so, the risk for you is still different—”

“Stop saying that.”

“It is.” His face was unhappy. “There is a difference between you and me. If I die, you’ll survive. If you die, it will destroy me.”

Her shoulders sagged. She couldn’t bear his hollow expression. The anger drained from her.

“Please,” he said. “Promise me. You’ll still play a role. Tell Roshar and me what to do, and we’ll listen. But not the battlefield. You’re to stay safe.”

Slowly, she nodded.

“Swear.”

“I won’t be part of the battle. I give you my word.”

She moved to leave. She’d not gone two paces before he stood directly in her path. His eyes were narrow. “A trick.”

She spread her open hands. “You asked. I swore. We’re done.”

“You swore very specifically. I need for you to promise. You’ll stay off the battlefield and be safe. Say it. I beg you.”

“I’ll make no promises to you that you won’t make to me.”

She pushed past him.





Chapter 23

She entered Roshar’s tent. “I need your help.”

Blinking, he propped himself up on his bed. He said groggily, “And I need a real door. With a lock.”

“I have an idea.”

“I don’t know you all that well, and still hearing you say that makes me very, very worried.”

“Listen to me.”

“If I do, can I go back to sleep? Being a fearless leader is exhausting.”

“It’s about the Valorian scout.”

“You said she was useless.”

“In terms of what she can tell us. But if we play things right, her capture will be to our advantage.”

Roshar was fully awake now. “Go on.”

“The general is in his position with his troops at the estate they captured. A scout station is set between his position and a target. An officer remains at that station with message hawks. Meanwhile, scouts run from the station to evaluate the enemy, then report back to the station. The officer sends a coded message by hawk to the general, so if a scout’s captured, she can’t share much with the enemy, and since scouts get close to the target, they can’t launch a hawk. Too visible to us. We might shoot it down, then track and capture the scout. That Valorian you caught spying on us can’t tell us any codes, and won’t be able to say much about the general’s forces. But she will know the location of the relay station and to whom she reports.”

“You want us to hunt down and extract information from the officer?”

She shook her head. “Something better.”

“Pray tell, little ghost.”

“Send me in her place.”

He stared.

Kestrel said, “I’ll pretend to be her.”

“Please understand. When I look at you as if you’re crazy, it’s not that I judge you for your insanity.”

“I fit in her armor. I’m her size. I’m Valorian.”

“You don’t look like her. Just because you’re Valorian doesn’t mean the officer at the relay station won’t notice that you’re a completely different person.”

“It’s night. I can report to the officer while keeping my distance.”

“I’m going back to sleep. Wake me when you’re sane.”

Impatiently, Kestrel said, “What color is her hair?”

“Different.”

“How different?”

“Brownish. All right, maybe not that different from yours in the dark, but—”