But at least Rhea didn’t have anyone to stitch this time. At least not until Mason and Synové showed up. If they showed up.
And finally, late the next morning, they did.
Like everyone else, as soon as they came in, they asked about Kazi. Synové dropped a bag she was carrying and ran to her. Mason dropped his launcher and followed.
Gunner walked over to the bag Synové dropped and looked inside. His brows shot up. “Ammo,” he said. “A lot of it. It looks like at least twenty loads.”
When Mason and Synové returned, the questions started.
“Where have you been?” Priya demanded first.
Mason glanced at Synové, then back at Priya. “We had to lie low for a while.”
“We found a ruin to hunker down in. There were soldiers everywhere, you know? Luckily it was nice and cozy while we waited them out.”
Nice and cozy? I eyed Mason. “What about the loads? Where’d you get them?”
Mason rubbed his head. “She had this crazy idea that we could get some out of the icehouse before we blew it up. She wouldn’t let up.”
Synové’s brows pulled down defensively. “When opportunity knocks, you don’t go punching it in the face.”
They told us that they had been hiding in position for hours waiting for the hanging to begin. They could hear the crowds gathering a few streets away, but everything where they were was quiet as a graveyard. The soldier guarding the icehouse from the roof with a launcher ambled over to the other side, they guessed so he could catch a glimpse of the hanging.
“And those soldiers on the ground around the icehouse?” Synové said. “Pffft! All they had were a few measly swords and halberds.”
Mason’s mouth pulled in a smirk. “Turns out her aim with knives is as good as it is with arrows.”
Wren’s hands slapped the table. “Imara’s knives!”
“Yes!” Synové answered, and the two began excitedly chattering about their qualities, forgetting about the rest of us. They drew Imara into their conversation.
Mason looked at me, bits of straw stuck in the thick ropes of his hair—maybe from lying low in the ruin. “I know it wasn’t in the plan, but—”
“When opportunity knocks, you get nice and cozy with it, right?”
Mason grimaced. “It’s not what you think—”
“Come on, brother,” I said and put my hand on his shoulder. “Sit down. What you did was smart. Well, I assume most if it was, anyway. We need every—”
“Patrei?” It was Judith. She stood in the doorway. “It’s Kazi. She’s stirring. Talking in her sleep. I think she’s coming to.”
It didn’t matter that Judith had only come for me. Everyone followed me through the door.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
KAZI
I could feel my fingers again. My toes. And they didn’t burn. Was I dead, or had they given me more medicine for the pain? What did Montegue want to know now? I opened my eyes. I was in a tiny dark room I didn’t recognize. There were no windows. Had I been thrown into another cell? My head still swam, ached, but I felt my strength returning, my muscles becoming my own again. Dear gods, no. Did I confess something? Did they give me the antidote because I gave them information? I blinked, trying to flush the haze from my eyes. And then I heard footsteps. A rush of them. They were coming back. I closed my eyes, trying to think what to do.
One of them stepped closer and hovered over me. I felt his warmth as he leaned close.
“Kazi, can you hear me? It’s Jase. I’m here. Everything’s going to be all right.”
Montegue’s face loomed behind my eyes. His tricks. His manipulations.
You’re going to be all right, but I need your help. Lydia and Nash are dead.
Hope and terror knifed through me. My fingers curled around something cold and hard at my side. But the voice. It was—