Clanless (Nameless #2)(5)

Gabe’s lips pressed into a hard line. “After Ajax spared you, I knew I could trust him to help us. I confronted him before he rejoined his unit. He told me he’d give Gryphon the key to his manacles. Together we created a diversion to help Gryphon escape.” Gabe stared off into the distance as if lost to the memory. “I owed Gryphon as much after he spared my life and helped us leave the Gate.”

“So he’s alive?” She held her breath and hope in her chest. “Please, Gabe. Tell me he made it. That he escaped.” She looked around, almost expecting him to pop out from behind a tree to surprise her.

Gabe frowned. He didn’t answer for several moments, as if debating his answer.

“Gabe!”

“I tried to help him,” he blurted. “Gryphon was outnumbered, and Ram spears never miss their mark.”

Zo held up a hand to silence him. She bit into her lip and shook her head, forcing herself not to fall apart.

“I did everything I could,” said Gabe. For some reason he wouldn’t look at her. Why wouldn’t he look at her! “I had to think about the Raven. I can’t warn them about the Ram invasion with a spear through my gut.”

She wanted to say, “Forget the Raven!” But that wasn’t right. As much as she cared for Gryphon, as indebted to him as she was, it wasn’t reasonable to risk the chance of Gabe getting caught when so many lives hung in the balance. She placed a hand to her stomach and staggered backward. An ache grew inside her, a void expanding, a candle that once provided warmth and light, snuffed out.

Gabe gathered her to him.

“You arm,” she whispered into his shoulder.

“It’s fine, Zo.”

Reluctant, but needing the contact of another person, she returned his embrace. Her arms fell a fraction of a second before his. She stood on clumsy feet, afraid she might topple over if she couldn’t center her equilibrium. Falling, and proving her illness, her emptiness, would be disastrous. Knowing Gabe, he wouldn’t leave her behind—even to save the Raven—if he thought she wasn’t well.

Gabe gathered his pack and weapons. “Are you sure you can get back to the Allies? You don’t look so good.” His bright blue eyes seemed deeper than normal in the low light.

Healthy or not, Zo didn’t have the option to remain on Ram soil. Too many people depended on her.

So much responsibility …

“As soon as Joshua is ready to travel, we’ll follow the Nameless tracks. You know as well as I do that they won’t survive long without the Allies’ protection.”

“Be careful. You know the dangers … ” Gabe trailed off, possibly thinking of all of the ways this might end badly. Wild animals and wild men called Clanless roamed the mountainside, and there was also the added possibility of Ram troops tracking the Nameless.

Gabe reached out and took her blistered hands in his. “Go to Commander Laden and the Allies, and I’ll meet you there as soon as I can. After this is over, I’m taking you away from this war. It’s the only way we can be together.”

Zo’s head spun again. This time it was only partly due to the vertigo. She hadn’t planned on surviving her time as a spy inside Ram’s Gate. For so long there had been nothing beyond the need to avenge her parents’ death. She never considered that Gabe would expect them to be together if she lived. She had to admit the arrangement made sense. They’d known each other all their lives, even before the raids began. And now they both worked for the Allies. Gabe already acted like an older brother to Tess. He was handsome with his fair features and easy smile. There was no question they could find happiness together.

Why did she feel so empty?

The image of Gryphon came to mind, his scruffy dark hair and the kindness in his eyes that turned to liquid fire when he was angry. She put a hand on her aching stomach and bit down on her tongue to keep from falling apart.

Gryphon was gone. She had to let him go.

Gabe bent down and kissed her frozen lips. Zo startled at the touch. Thunder rolled. With all their history together, Gabe had never tried to kiss her. His lips pressed into hers as rainwater trickled down her forehead and cheeks. Her stomach ached.

Gabe left her standing with her arms hanging helplessly at her sides and the betrayal of his kiss on her lips. The same lips that, only that morning, had belonged to Gryphon.





Chapter 3





Wet boots.

Dripping cloak.

One small dagger that would hardly scratch a rabbit.

It didn’t take long to inventory Gryphon’s gear as he trudged through the night. The list of things he didn’t have was much longer and—though it did him no good—occupied the majority of his thoughts.

Light.

Food.

Bedroll.

Shield and spear.

Joshua’s million questions.

A map to the Raven Nest

A home.

A clan.

With every step away from the Gate, his spirits drooped lower and lower until he wasn’t sure if his footsteps carried him toward his goal or away from it. He’d never traveled outside the Gate without a mess unit. His whole life until now was spent advancing in the hierarchy of his clan. Every goal that once drove him to improve, every day spent training to become the warrior he was today, meant nothing now.

If he wasn’t a Ram, what was he? What was a man without a clan?