“We’ve called a truce.”
Zoya saw Tolya with his big brow furrowed, Tamar biting her lip, Nadia with her goggles around her neck, Leoni holding tight to Adrik’s arm, Genya with a hand pressed to her mouth. Relief flooded through her and she wanted to pull them all close. Instead she said, “We’ll get no help from Fjerda’s crown prince. Nina seems to have overestimated her influence.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Tamar mused. “An entire battlefield just declared you a Saint.”
“Actually, the Darkling declared you a Saint,” Nikolai corrected.
“Turning into a dragon probably helped,” added Tolya.
“Did you know you could do this?” Genya asked. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”
Zoya shook her head. She felt impossibly cold, as if now that the dragon’s fire had banked inside her, she would never be warm until it was kindled again.
“There were khergud on the battlefield,” she said, remembering. They’d flown beside Nikolai’s demon.
“It’s all right,” Tolya said, squatting down. “They fought on our side. But they had to disappear for a while. They couldn’t risk questions.”
“They don’t exist,” said Tamar. “At least according to the Shu queen.”
“You’re back,” Zoya said.
Tamar winked. “You think I’d miss a fight?” She offered Zoya her hand and helped her to her feet.
Nikolai’s eyes widened. “You are wearing the most extraordinary armor.”
Zoya looked down at herself. Her roughspun peasant clothes were gone. Her body was covered in a snug tunic and breeches made of metallic black scales that shimmered blue in the sun. She recog nized this armor. It was what Juris had worn in human form, and it fit like a second skin. Her vanity didn’t mind the effect, but she’d bloody well better be able to take it off.
Leoni cocked her head to one side. “Is it comfortable?”
“It’s heavy,” Zoya said, offering up her arm so the Fabrikator could feel the metal.
“It will make quite the impression in Os Kervo,” said Nikolai. “Fjerda has called for talks.”
“Vadik Demidov is in Os Kervo too,” said Tolya. “The Fjerdans are in retreat for now, but they’ve switched tactics.”
Tamar grunted in disgust. “They couldn’t beat us on the field, so they’re pushing the issue of succession. They’ve called for an assembly of Ravka’s highest-ranking nobles.”
Zoya couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Our nobles? They have no right to command our people.”
“We can stop them,” said Genya. “We’ll block the assembly.”
Nikolai tugged on a pair of calf-leather gloves. In the time since the battle, he’d changed into an immaculate field uniform. “On the contrary,” he said. “I’ve ordered airships sent for them. They’ll be here in a few hours.”
“For Saints’ sake, why?” asked Zoya. If the man could make something more difficult, he would.
“Because the longer we give them to plot and scheme, the worse it will be. Right now, West Ravka is grateful to us and angry with Fjerda for their betrayal. Genya, I’ll need you to see to my cut-up lip and make me look less the rogue and more the respectable monarch. Bastard or not, if I have any hope of keeping the throne, this is it.”
An uncomfortable silence followed.
Tamar broke it with a click of her tongue. “Bastardy is the least of your worries.”
“They know what you are now,” said Zoya. She left for a few days and everything went to hell. He’d released his monster onto the field. He’d shown all of Ravka the demon king.
“True,” said Nikolai. “But they know what you are too, Sankta Zoya.”
“Do not call me that.”
“It has a nice ring to it,” said Tamar.
“Our Lady of Dragonfire?” suggested Nadia.
“Sweet scaly vengeance?” said Genya.
Zoya turned her back on all of them and strode toward the tents. “I’m going to go live in a cave.”
44
NINA
WITH EACH STEP NINA took on the naval base, she wondered if she’d hear a voice telling her to halt. She flinched at every shout, sure she was about to feel the sting of a drüskelle whip around her arms or that a squad of the Apparat’s men would rush at her.
But the Fjerdans only had eyes for the dragon soaring above them.
“It’s back!” someone shouted. “Take cover!”
Nina had to remind herself to duck down and find shelter behind a grounded flyer. “What is that thing?” she asked the pilot staring up at the sky.
“I don’t know,” he said, voice shaking. “I saw it before. It destroyed the eastern tower and then just flew away.”
“Maybe it wasn’t hungry then,” Nina offered helpfully.
The pilot whimpered and curled more tightly to the side of the flyer.
She made her way back to the Brums’ cabin slowly, taking in the tumult around her, and giving herself time to concoct a story. The naval base had moved north to join in supporting the battle at Arkesk. Now Fjerdan medical units were being deployed to attend to soldiers and to bring bodies back from the front. Nina could sense the change that had come over these men. They had entered one battle but had been forced to fight another. Even those who had considered the possibility of defeat hadn’t thought it would come this way—courtesy of a dragon and a squadron of flying Shu warriors. No one could have imagined Fjerdan soldiers kneeling before a Grisha. If Nina’s thoughts still felt like a slippery plate of dumplings, she couldn’t begin to guess at what the people around her must feel.
Assuming no one had gotten a clear view of her during the battle, she only had to account for where she’d been over the last few hours. She would say that she’d needed time to recover from what she’d seen during the sea invasion, that she’d been more disturbed by it than she’d realized, and that once the base had joined the northern assault, she’d simply tried to stay out of the way.
And if the Apparat had managed to survive and attempted to expose her? She didn’t know what proof the priest might have of her true identity, but she doubted it would matter. The Fjerdans would throw her in a cell and ask questions later. Nina was not going to let that happen. The Apparat’s men had taken the bones from her sleeves. That might have left her vulnerable, but there was death all around, corpses on shore and on base, all of whom could become her soldiers. She just needed to find Hanne and get them both out of here.
But the Brums’ quarters were empty. There was no sign of Ylva or Hanne to be found.
Nina changed out of her soaked clothes and into the rose wool dress she’d worn the previous day. She rebraided her hair and headed out onto the deck. Could Hanne still be with the prince in the western tower?
She was only a few yards from the command center when she heard a woman sobbing. It sounded like Hanne. Nina broke into a run and saw a group of soldiers gathered around someone or something. Jarl Brum stood off to the side, arguing with a group of royal guards. He had dirt on his face, the muck and blood of battle staining his uniform. She pushed through the circle of soldiers and sailors, fighting to get closer, and then stopped dead.