Lu almost used her speed to break free of the smoke, butwhat would she run into? A building? A sword? It was all she could do to inhale. She staggered, turned—
A hand clamped her arm. Her chest simultaneously soothed with relief—Kari?—and vibrated in a steady hum of unease.
A face leaned through the smoke, a scarf looping across the person’s mouth and nose.
His eyes were clear. And Lu knew him.
She yanked down, hard, at the same moment she bolted away. The combination of her speed and movement broke Milo’s hold on her, and she ran with every bit of Incris in her.
He would not get her, not again—
She smacked into something. Someone.A cry, desperate hands moving through the fog until a touch on her cheek, a face through the stinging grayness.
“Adeluna?” Kari coughed into her arm. “Adeluna—what—”
A bellowing laugh broke over the stunted cries. All gunshots stopped; swords ceased to clash. The battle had paused—an effective, blinding trick by Argrid.
Lu grabbed her mother’s shoulders, horror racing through her as the laugh came again.
“Adeluna Andreu,” Milo called. He was close, too close. “Are you using magic plants in this battle? Or have you been busy in our time apart, fulfilling the Pious God’s will for you to create permanent magic?”
Kari shoved Lu behind her, bracing herself as a shield in the dense grayness. “General Ibarra,” she shouted, “stand down. Tell your king to—”
“I hardly think you are in any position to make demands, Councilmember Andreu. Or, no, it’s Senior Councilmember Andreu, isn’t it? So difficult remembering whether you or your husband is the one in charge.”
Kari’s hands tightened on Lu’s wrists. A long, aching moment, and when her voice came again, it was as piercing as ever. “If Tomás is here, I will speak with him.”
“Your husband won’t be joining us. A shame, but he had to prove his loyalty elsewhere.” Milo chuckled. His voice stayed the same distance away but circled them.
Tom wasn’t here? Was Teo? Oily dread slipped between Lu’s fingers.
A flash came from Lu’s right. The spark of Hemlight lit the fog enough for Lu to see Nayeli and Rosalia, the two of them flopping back-to-back in defense as Rhodofume pods continued to break around them.
“I admit,” Milo continued, “I am surprised it took you so long to learn the extent of your husband’s betrayal. That while he was bedding you, he was also in bed with Argrid.”
“Adeluna,” Kari whispered over her shoulder. “He’s stalling. Get to the mission.”
Lu hardened even more. “What? No—I’m not leaving you!”
A smile touched what little of Kari’s face Lu could see. “I can handle General Ibarra. Wait until his voice is in front of me. You have Hemlight, don’t you? Use it as Nayeli did—light a way, use your Incris to run to the mission. Stop Elazar. That is the goal.”
“Your husband reported every action of yours to our king,” Milo said.“But do you know everything he did? Every order he obeyed?”
“Adeluna,” Kari chastised.
Lu scrambled for Hemlight in her pouches. She found a bundle, then turned, putting her back to her mother’s.
Deep in Lu’s heart, she had wanted this since she was twelve years old. For her parents to stand against Milo for her, fight this battle for her, protect her.
Tom wouldn’t. He would put both hands on her back and push her closer to Milo—but Kari would throw herself in front of Lu, a shield of loyalty and honor.
“Do you know everything he let happen to your daughter that night the war ended?” The sneer in Milo’s voice was debilitating. Lu’s body went cold. “Your husband told us how to find the safe house, how many people would be stationed there—and that, if we did not uncover the war secrets we sought, we would find a child. My defensors were quite at a loss as to what to do with such a pretty little girl.”
The Rhodofume’s fog crept into Lu’s mind. It weighted her limbs, blurred her thoughts.
She had never told Kari what Milo had done to her. She wasn’t even sure Kari knew that Milo had been there. The truth was unbearable, and Lu had known the horror that she would see on her parents’ faces would be too potent to withstand.
Behind her, Kari was as solid and motionless as stone. She made a noise Lu had never heard from her—a sob, a cry, a growl all in one.
