Bonesmith (House of the Dead, #1)(106)

“You won’t be alone. You’ll have me.”

He smiled then, wide and true, before glancing toward the house. “What about him?”

Julian. Maybe she was every bit as selfish as Julian had suggested, wanting to drag him there when there was no benefit for him at all. More than that, it was dangerous.

“I’ll speak up for him if I can,” Leo said, “but he attacked the Wall. His people killed ours. I don’t think he’ll walk away from this. Just being an ironsmith will be enough to condemn him, never mind the fact that he’s Julian Knight, heir to their house.”

Wren knew he was right. Julian would certainly be imprisoned. Questioned. Punished, maybe. And then what? Wren and Leo could argue for him all they wanted, but while the prince’s word would certainly carry weight, Wren’s was decidedly less important. Depending on who you asked, her support might just make things worse for Julian.

She couldn’t subject him to that.

But things were equally dangerous for him here, weren’t they? His own uncle had ordered his death. Julian might think his mother’s estate was safe… but was it? And what could he really do? Hole up there alone, indefinitely?

But he didn’t want to go alone, did he? He wanted Wren and Leo to go with him.

Wren had her uses, especially with her newfound abilities, and Leo was Julian’s only scrap of leverage. He needed to wrest control from his uncle, and even if he didn’t intend to ransom Leo himself, it was in his best interest to ensure that the regent didn’t do so, either.

She suspected Julian would fight tooth and nail to keep Leo away from his uncle or those who were in cahoots with him—like Galen and possibly Odile.

The way she saw it, her options were to either insist upon the Breachfort, all the while waiting for Julian to make a move and betray her… or to betray him first. At least, that’s the way he’d see it. In actuality, she’d be protecting him. But she knew he wouldn’t thank her for it.

The idea of deceiving him made her stomach twist, but it was for the best. Wren and Leo would get their answers at the fort, and Julian would retreat to the safety of his mother’s estate.

She didn’t have to hurt him or turn him over to his murderous uncle.

This can’t end well. For either of us.

She just had to leave him behind.





THIRTY-SEVEN


After they returned to the mill house, they ate in silence and settled in for a few hours of sleep.

This time Wren offered to take the first watch. She couldn’t sleep even if she wanted to.

As Julian lay down, his back facing the room, Wren and Leo stared at each other. Were they really going to do this? They had to, didn’t they? Not just for their own sakes, but for Julian’s too. He needed to get to safety, and he would find none at the fort.

Really, she was helping him—making the decision for him so he didn’t risk his life trying to keep his grip on Leo at the expense of his own well-being.

And despite what had happened between them the past few days, they were not friends. Not really. They were each other’s only life raft in a storm, but the storm was over, and they were back on solid ground. For now.

No, they weren’t friends. They weren’t anything.

So why was this one of the hardest things Wren had ever faced?

As she waited for sleep to claim him, her mind refused to settle.

Strangely, it wasn’t Julian that she found herself dwelling on, though. It was the idea of going back to the Breachfort.

It had been her goal from the start, the destination for her triumphant return—and here she was, on the brink of delivering the prince, yet the victory felt flat and hollow.

Her vision of the future—praised by her father and her house and lauded as a talented valkyr—was hazy, the image dull and lifeless compared to the thrill and danger of her recent days spent east of the Wall. Every moment here was seared into her skin, vivid and visceral.

The fact was, she was not the same person she had been when she’d left. She reached into her pocket, intending to touch the ring—but stopped herself.

Yes, she was changed magically. But also mentally.

She had been out in the real world for the first time in her life. That was why she’d wanted to be a valkyr so desperately—to actually leave Marrow Hall and travel the Dominions. To battle the undead. To challenge herself and to win.

Never in her life had she imagined a challenge quite like the Breach, and a part of her hated the idea of leaving it all behind. Unfinished, like Julian had said. There were questions that needed answering, but surely some of those answers waited for her at the fort? From Odile, certainly, and maybe, eventually, her own father.

The problem was, things were more complicated than they had ever been. When she’d left, she’d just wanted to be a valkyr, to make her family proud. To belong.

Now she feared the truth would make that impossible.

What she had to decide was if the truth was worth giving that up… and if that was something she still wanted anyway.

Wren added a new log to the fire, the stove’s door screeching in response to being opened, but Julian didn’t move.

She looked at Leo again, and he nodded.

Quietly, he stood and slipped out the door.

Wren, meanwhile, unearthed the length of rope she’d found in one of the horse’s saddlebags. She closed her eyes for a moment, bracing herself.