“And how many will go on foot versus horseback?” I asked.

“We managed to procure around ten thousand more horses, Halálhívó. Our mounted units will swell some, though with the added size of our army, many had to be diverted to pull supplies. Especially since we will need to haul water with us.”

The numbers didn’t surprise me. On our retreat some months before, we’d nearly run out, not having stored enough to make the crossing through the Paks Desert. To be fair, we hadn’t had much time to fill the barrels. On our return, however, we’d be pushing through with double the numbers, and that had to be accounted for.

“Ensure that we have an additional wagon filled with water. We always drink more than we assume we will,” I told him. With the size of the new army, moving swiftly wasn’t an option unless we split into waves. It was an approach I had considered, and depending on the reports from Trol, I might shift into it as we approached Ustlyak, where he currently held his ground against the Angel advance.

“Aye, Halálhívó.” He dipped his head in acceptance of his task.

“No reports from Hadvezér Trol, I assume?” I asked the room.

“Not since his raven two days ago,” Rapp said, toying with the stones clustered around Ustlyak. The unit I’d sent out a week before should be closing in quickly to aid him, and we would be behind them shortly, albeit at a much slower clip. “I already sent a message this morning to inform him of our impending departure.”

I nodded, attention lingering on the map. This plan was going to work. The certainty solidified in my bones. The Weaver offered me another chance to push all the way to the tip of Keleti and around, down into the Eső Forest and to Sivy. Kiira had seen me strolling the streets with a head fisted in each hand and a smile on my face. This advance would be the one that solidified her vision.

If the Reaper didn’t curse me into doing something foolish with Assyria.

“Rouse your males, and let’s start moving,” I pronounced, straightening and leveling a hard look on each of the Parancsok. Then with a sigh, I grumbled, “And if someone can find a chestnut stallion named Blaeze, bring him to me.”

OceanofPDF.com

34

For three days, I’d endured the stares of every male in the army. Riding at the front with Rokath ensured their eyes burned into my backside at all hours of the day, while at night, I was secreted away either in the command center or in Rokath’s tent. Not like he slept there with me. No, he chose to sleep in the adjacent one with Rapp.

I was glad for the space from him, even if he had found Blaeze for me.

All the kindness between us had been because we had both orgasmed, nothing more.

Grem and Zeec lounged on the end of the bed while I sprawled in the middle of it, staring up at the ceiling after another day of riding. At least Rokath had found me some pants to wear beneath my dresses. After the first day, sore because of his huge fucking dick and my bare legs rubbing against the rough leather saddle, I could barely walk, and apparently my ankles showing beneath my hiked up skirts displeased him greatly.

Should have asked Kiira to buy me pants and tunics instead.

At least then, I might blend in a little more. The lack of veil didn’t help, though I wasn’t budging on that point. Rokath had conceded, and I would wave my victory to the world because it was the only battle I had won so far.

A soft woof slipped from Zeec’s muzzle, and his tail thumped against my calf. I picked my head up. Rapp entered the tent, carrying two bowls of food.

“Hungry?” he asked me, ignoring the dogs who were focused on the slightest movement from him as if they would leap from the bed and snatch a meal from his hands.

My stomach rumbled a response for me. With a groan, I pushed myself to sitting and swung my legs over the side of the bed.

“Stay,” I told them, and they glanced at me with the biggest, most pleading eyes they could muster as Rapp approached the dining table. I shook my head and met him there.

Rokath’s tent was massive, as Jaku’s had been when I traveled with the Lovak Squad, and fully furnished. Besides the bed and table, a basin and small mirror took up space. Rokath used it to shave his head every few days, and I was grateful to have a place to wash the grime from my skin at night, unlike when I’d traveled from Stryi.

At least Rokath was good for some things.

My mate had other business to attend to this evening, leaving me alone with Rapp to guard me. Not that I minded. I liked the Hadvezér tremendously better than I liked Rokath. I didn’t even like Rokath. My feelings toward him rested firmly in the arms of abhorrence.

“So guess what I heard?” Rapp said, an almost childlike excitement in his tone.

“What?” I laughed, picking up the spoon and blowing on the hot broth.

Rapp had taken to sharing the latest camp gossip to keep me entertained. I couldn’t tell if he pitied me or found the whole situation with Rokath hilarious, but I was lonely. Rapp also treated me like a normal person, almost like Izgath had after he’d uncovered my true identity. To him, I wasn’t lesser than because of my sex. I assumed he too benefited from the lack of rules, like Rokath, Xannirin, and Kiira.

“The Százados of the Madar Squad have been accused of stealing a trinket from the Százados of the Lovak Squad. A gold ring with a small garnet.” Rapp wriggled his eyebrows, making the studs in them flash.

My stomach flipped. Jaku must have found my mother’s ring after the incident with Izgath. Tears pricked my eyes, and I set the spoon down without taking a sip of the soup. Rapp’s playful smile slipped into a concerned frown. “What’s wrong?”

A watery laugh slipped out of me, and I shook my head. “Nothing.”

“What’s wrong?” Rokath shot into my mind like an arrow.

“Fuck off.”

Ever since we coupled, Rokath had been hypersensitive to my changes in mood, and I was already annoyed by it.

Huffing, I built a mental barrier between Rokath and me, and then said, “In my bag–Vagach’s bag–there was a coin purse with a ring that is just as you described.” Fuck Rokath, he didn’t get to hear this. I swallowed down my sorrow. “It was my mother’s. It’s all I have left of her. With everything that happened that night, I forgot about it until the following day. When I realized I’d left it behind, I was crushed. Now I feel like an awful daughter.”

Rapp set down his spoon. “How did she die?” he asked gently.

“The plague. Along with the rest of my family.” A lone tear spilled over and dropped onto the table.

Sympathy played out across Rapp’s expression, but then his eyes brightened. “Want to get it back?”

I shot him a skeptical look. “Me? How? I will not ask Rokath to intervene on my behalf.” I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest.

Rapp laughed and shook his head. “No, we can get it back together. I have an idea.”

“Why do I get the feeling Rokath isn’t going to like it?” I grinned, dropping my arms and leaning in conspiratorially. Checking the barrier, I ensured it was firmly in place.

“Because he won’t. But you’ll be with me, so you will be safe.” Looking around and dropping his voice, he said, “Here’s what we will do. If you don’t mind using your magic, we’ll join their card game this evening and win it back.”

“But I don’t know how to play cards,” I replied, deflating a little.

“Oh, but I do,” Rapp chuckled, smoothing a hand over the slick hair on the crown of his head. “No one will play kazat with Xannirin because he always wins, but no one will play cards with me because I always win.”

I picked up my spoon and took a bite of the food. “So how will you play then?”