Lady Smoke (Ash Princess Trilogy #2)(121)

His frown deepens as his eyes scan the horizon, but it’s Blaise who finally lifts a finger to point east.

“There,” he says, voice a hoarse whisper.

My eyes follow to where he points and my stomach plummets. There, snaking through the mountain ranges, is another army all dressed in Kalovaxian red.

“It doesn’t make sense,” I say, more to myself than to them.

S?ren’s jaw clenches.

“King Etristo got word to my father,” he says. “It’s the only explanation I can think of. He put the pieces together and figured out where we were going and sent word ahead. We took our time getting here—a single, fast ship could have made it to the capital in half the time.”

My gut sinks lower as I stare at the incoming troops. A seemingly endless red ribbon of soldiers weaving its way through the mountains.

“How many, do you think?” I ask S?ren.

He looks at me, his gaze unflinching. “Too many.”

I nod. I expected as much, but hearing it makes me feel sick all over again.

“We have to retreat,” I say. “We freed the slaves, that’s enough. It’s still a victory and there’s no other option. If we stay, we’ll be slaughtered.”

S?ren nods, but Blaise is faster, hurrying around to the opposite side of the cliff, overlooking the sea. He shades his eyes against the sun.

“Wait a minute,” he says. “There are ships coming from this direction, too.”

My stomach sinks lower. “Kalovaxian ships?” I ask, struggling to stay calm. If they’re surrounding us on all sides, we are done for. We haven’t just lost a battle, we will have lost everything.

“No,” Blaise says after a moment that seems to last forever. His voice lifts. “No, those are Gorakian flags.”

Erik. I send thanks to all of my gods and I make a mental note to ask Erik about his gods so I can thank them as well.

“And…,” Blaise says, peering in another direction. “And there are more. A few of the ships have Vecturian flags and, Theo, I…I think I see Dragonsbane as well.”

My knees give out beneath me and I would fall to the ground entirely if S?ren didn’t steady me with his hand on my shoulder. It takes me a moment to realize I’m laughing. Delirious, hysterical laughter, but laughter all the same.

“Will it be enough?” I ask S?ren.

“Two camps will give us another four thousand or thereabouts, plus the warriors we still have, plus the slaves we just freed, plus a couple hundred Vecturians, plus Dragonsbane’s crew,” he says, tallying up the numbers in his head. After a moment, he nods. “It just might be.”

“We can still run,” Blaise says. “All of us can, then regroup and attack another mine.”

I shake my head. “That’s what the Kaiser will expect us to do,” I say. “He’ll expect us to run from him—he’s used to people running from him. He’ll make sure we don’t get another chance to embarrass him like this. It’s now or never.”

Blaise nods, eyes somber. “I’ll get word to our army, update them on what’s happening, tell them to get the freed slaves armed or to safety as soon as we can.”

I open my mouth to protest, but I know it’s the best choice. I can’t very well go myself, and if S?ren shows up looking like a Kalovaxian, he’ll likely wind up dead before my army realizes he’s not an enemy.

“Come back quickly,” I say instead.

Blaise stares long and hard at the battle below.

“No,” he says, the word quiet and clear, though he won’t look at me. It feels like it echoes in the distance between us, but I think that’s only in my head.

No. No. No. It occurs to me suddenly that Blaise has never said that to me. He’s disagreed with me often enough and argued his point until I came around to his way of thinking, but he’s never outright refused me.

“Blaise,” I say, taking a step toward him. “After what we just saw—”

“After what we just saw, I know more than ever where I need to be.” He says it quietly, but there’s steel in his voice. “I’ll stay close to Artemisia. If it looks like I’m losing control, I trust her to make the judgment call—kill me or let me kill as many of them as I can.”

I take a step closer to him, placing a hand on either side of his face and forcing him to look at me. “Blaise, you can’t. You won’t. I’ll order you—I’m ordering you to stay here. As your Queen, I’m ordering you.”

I don’t sound like anyone’s queen, I realize that as I say the words, but in this moment I’m not. I’m just a frightened girl begging a boy she loves not to leave her. I hate it, but I can’t stop.

Blaise swallows, his eyes heavy on mine. “No.” It seems to kill him to say the word.

Tears sting at my eyes and I blink them away furiously. He won’t see me cry over him.

“I’ll never forgive you if you do this,” I say, biting the words out.

He glances away from me.

“I know,” he says softly, looking at S?ren over my shoulder. “You know what to do if it looks like we’re going to lose—even if there’s the slightest chance.”

S?ren’s voice is strained. “I’ll get her back to the ship,” he promises.