Benehime’s voice grew frigid. Yes, she hissed. It was paradise, but you were too spoiled to know it.
Eli squeezed his eyes shut. He was going too far. The Shepherdess was very dangerous when she got cold, but he was so sick of this. So sick of walking the line of her favor. So sick of pretending.
“I’m not going to ask for your help, Benehime,” he said, his voice as cold as hers when he opened his eyes again. “I’m not going to use any power you gave me. And I’m never coming back to you.”
The temperature in the room dropped as the Shepherdess studied him. You shouldn’t tell lies, Eliton.
Eli balled his hands to fists at his sides. “I’m not lying.”
The Shepherdess looked at him a moment longer with that cold, terrible expression, and then she turned away. We’ll see how you hold on to that arrogance once the dying starts, she said, her voice tight. I will see you soon, beloved, and when I do, it will be on your knees. She looked over her shoulder one last time. That I can promise you.
She pursed her lips in a silent kiss, and then she was gone, vanishing through a white hole in the air.
Eli stood with his fists clenched and his chest straining, holding in all the foul names he desperately wanted to fling after her. Some risks were too great even in his anger, but he didn’t hide the look of disgust as he turned away from the empty air where she had vanished and began marching toward the door.
“Eli?” Karon whispered cautiously. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think?” Eli snapped, nearly pulling the door off its hinges. “We’re going downstairs, and we’re going to help Josef win this bloody war.” And he was never going back to her. Never. Never.
Karon didn’t say another word as Eli took the stairs three at a time down to the storm wall.
Josef’s admiral was waiting for him on the vertical stair leading down the storm wall to the bay. Tesset was standing beside him. They both stepped aside to make room as Josef joined them.
“You coming out on the water with us?” Josef said, studying the Council man.
Tesset smiled politely. “Absolutely not. I don’t care for boats, and I have a feeling I’ll be more useful here.”
“Have it your way,” Josef said. “But it’ll be a boring post. Nothing’s getting to the shore.”
“Consider me as insurance,” Tesset said. “On the off chance anything should slip by your blockade.”
Josef shook his head and pushed by, slapping Tesset on the shoulder as he passed. Tesset didn’t even wobble under the blow. He just stood there, smiling as he watched Josef and the admiral head down to the beach.
“Are the boats supplied like we talked about?” Josef asked, taking the steep, treacherous steps two at a time.
“Yes, majesty,” the admiral said. “All our remaining clingfire has been loaded, though I don’t know what good it’ll do.”
“We only need a little,” Josef said. He jumped the last stair and hit the sand running. All the boats but one were already out in the water. The last and largest, the Oseran flagship, was waiting for him at the end of the dock. It was a beautiful runner, twenty feet long and narrow as a barrel with a crew of fifteen strong oarsmen as well as a high, narrow sail. The men saluted as Josef ran up the plank, jumping onto the deck with a force that rocked the ship.
“I’ve put archers on the cliffs to cover your retreat, my lord,” the admiral said from the dock. “Remember, there’s only two hours left until the tide. I’ll set the signal fire thirty minutes before. You’ll have that much time to get in.”
“More than enough,” said the flagship captain, an enormous sailor who looked like he’d spent his life on the sea. He turned to Josef, and the swordsman saw a flicker of disgust on the sailor’s face. Josef tensed. King he might be, but most of Osera still thought he was dirt. But whatever the captain’s private feelings, he hid them with the discipline that made the Oseran navy famous.
“On your word, sire,” he said with a sharp salute.
“Go,” Josef said, moving up to the prow of the ship.
The moment the word was given, the deck jerked under his feet as the oars hit the water, and the narrow ship darted into the bay. The other ships rocked to life as well, falling in behind the king’s flagship as the fleet shot out of the sheltered Rebuke and into the blue water of the open sea.
Josef stood on the prow, letting his body adjust to the wind and the pitch of the boat. He’d almost got it when the boat suddenly dipped. Josef turned as the sailors cried in alarm, and his face broke into a smile as he saw Nico stepping out of the shadows beneath the mast.