Tovian catches me around the waist. “Congratulations on leading a successful mission, Sunshine.”
“I had help.”
“It was your brainchild. All the planning and intelligence gathering that went into it came from you.”
I lean into his embrace, a glow of pride flickering in my chest. I hate to admit how often I felt outshone by Zosia and Lorcan. I was the secondary princess, the backup, the useful friend. They were the stars. Now, a small part of me is happy they’re out of the picture so I can prove I’m capable. Worthy.
Still, I pray their absence is a temporary arrangement.I miss my friends.
Tovian senses the shift in me. “You okay, Sunshine?”
“Worried about my friends.”
Emotion flickers over his face. “You do that a lot.”
“Yes. Doesn’t everyone?”
He makes a noncommittal gesture. “I need to get back—”
My phone’s blaring ringtone cuts him off.
“I’m sorry, Tovian, it’s my father. I have to answer this.”
He nods curtly and steps back.
“Hi, Papa,” I plug my finger into my free ear. “Any news about Lorcan?”
“I spoke with Saskaya Covari yesterday. No improvement.”
My heart sinks. It was late May when we left him. It’s now early July. Weeks of unresponsiveness does not bode well for an eventual recovery.
“Nothing?”
“She says his reflexes work. Occasionally, he makes a sound as if he’s in pain.”
I rub my temples. It’s nothing Sas hasn’t told me before, but I’ve been a little distracted here in Oceanside.
Zosia wanted him to live. What if he wakes up, and he’s not the man he was before? Brain injuries are weird. A relatively minor one can cause long-lasting changes; or, a person can make a full recovery from what seems like a devastating injury. Personality changes aren’t uncommon.
Will he forgive me for saving his life when he wakes up?
Protecting the last Auralian princess was his life’s work. If she’s gone…
“Any word from Zosia?” I ask, dreading the answer.
“Nothing, Raina. Not a word. I spoke with Keryn of The Mountain Folk. They haven’t seen Bashir, either.”
Something about the fact that they’re both missing bothers me. I know perfectly well that many people have gone missing since the invasion—ambushed and killed, left to rot where they fell.
But Bashir…he was one of our inner group. Trusted. He had a thing for me, not that I returned his feelings, and the night when we crash-landed in our newly war-torn country, I kissed him before he went off on what everyone expected to be a suicide mission.
In all likelihood, that’s what happened to him. We can’t start identifying and burying the dead properly until we can take control of the country again. Our small accomplishment in blowing up a bridge makes life harder for the invaders, but it’s not going to stop them. They already have a lot of supplies and fighters in the north. At best, we can hope to cut them off from receiving more supplies and try to keep them burning through ammunition and fuel until the tide turns in our favor.
“What about Rohan?”
A heavy sigh. “I fear the worst, Raina.”
“Don’t say that, Papa.”
