Clanless (Nameless #2)(61)

She nearly wept as she knelt next to the little plant that held within its veins great power. Just like Tess. She silently laughed as she clipped the precious stems. She’d almost forgotten Ikatou was there until he pulled her up by the elbow and dragged her toward the camp.

“We have to hurry,” he said.

Zo juggled her kit and freshly cut herbs, fighting not to drop so much as a leaf in their flight back to Boar.

“Can they defeat the Ram? It seems impossible,” said Ikatou under his breath.

Zo thought of the Allied Camp filled with people like herself. People who had lost homes, loved ones, and pride, or who simply didn’t want to stand by and wait for it to happen. “If anyone can lead a group against Barnabas, it’s Commander Laden.”

“I heard you tell Boar about your little sister,” he grunted as they moved. The camp was in sight, but the men shepherding them from behind were still far enough away to allow whispered conversation. “Do you swear upon her head that your Commander will help free the rest of the Nameless? Would you swear it in your own blood?”

Zo had never lived among the Kodiak Clan, but most people had heard rumors about the clan’s archaic customs, especially when it came to keeping promises. If a Kodiak promised something and didn’t deliver, he was expected to make a drastic sacrifice—like chopping off a body part or roasting a hand over a hot fire. The bigger the grievance, the more drastic the consequence.

Zo had a feeling Ikatou would hold her to her word.

Will you swear it in your own blood? What did that mean to him exactly?

Time was up. The sun was setting. In a bold move Zo blurted, “I swear, and if you help me escape, I’ll take you to him. You will see your families again.”

Ikatou nodded and their pact was sealed. Zo hugged the flowers to her chest and walked into camp, directly to her former place by Boar’s fire.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” the Clanless leader grunted, the thread of his stitches lost in the bulge of his swollen skin.

Zo nodded. “Yes, I believe so.”





Chapter 24





Gryphon drank from the stream but couldn’t slow his breathing enough to suck in the water. The ice-cold liquid numbed his chin. Blood rushed to his head as he leaned forward, causing his heart to beat in his temples.

“Be honest,” Joshua said. “How much am I slowing you down?”

Gryphon choked out a laugh and grabbed his cramped side. “I don’t know if I’ve ever covered so much ground in so little time. Even when I ran with the Raven.”

Joshua gave him a pointed look.

“Really, kid. At this rate we might actually catch them before sundown.” Gryphon hoped he wasn’t being too optimistic. He hated the idea of Zo spending one more night alone with those animals.

After drinking all their stomachs could handle, they set off at a slow jog to give the water time to settle. They covered another mile before Joshua broke the silence.

“What are you going to say to Zo when we find her?”

Until now, Gryphon hadn’t thought about anything beyond just getting her back. “I’ll think of something,” he mumbled, suddenly consumed with thought.

What would he say to her? How would she react to seeing him after all they’d survived over the past few weeks? He knew she cared for him to some degree. Joshua and Tess said she’d missed him and mourned him, but he didn’t even want to consider the possibility that she still might have feelings for Gabe.

“What about a song?” Joshua snickered.

Gryphon stopped running. “Not funny. Ram don’t sing, kid.”

Joshua continued at his usual pace down the trail. Gryphon had to stretch his legs to catch up to the boy. “I’ve heard you humming when you think no one is listening. Zo has too.”

“She has?” Gryphon’s heart beat faster. “When did she hear me?”

Gryphon could almost sense the cocky smile plastered to Joshua’s smug face. “She told me you used to sing in the Medica when I was asleep and you thought you were alone.” They ran another hundred yards before he added, “She said you have a soothing tone.”

Gryphon chewed on the inside of his lip. A song. The unsung melodies that had so often flitted through his mind—taking shape on the tip of his tongue—had disappeared of late. It was as though Zo’s presumed death had killed that part of him. Even now, with her life in so much in peril, the music existed just beyond his mental grasp.

It didn’t matter. Sharing his music with Zo seemed grossly embarrassing and entirely too honest. He’d look the fool while exposing his most naked thoughts. Never.

“It was just a suggestion,” said Joshua. “Relax.”





Zo spent the night using the sharp end of a rock to slice the monkshood into a pulpy mound. When finished, she coaxed the liquid into a bottle and firmly secured the wooden stopper.

Her fingers tingled with numbness from the residue of the plant as she rose to her feet.

Boar fell fast asleep after dinner, but his men watched her every movement—some watched in a way that made her uncomfortable. When Zo stood to rinse her hands in the nearby river, a man in Boar’s inner circle asked, “What are you doing?” He carried himself like a Ram and Zo had to wonder if he had been banished from the city-dwelling warriors like Boar.