“I don’t think Navi would survive the trip. If we can get to the port of Skoszia without someone seeing us and killing us on the spot, I can send a message to Camille from a place there, but it will take time.”
“That’s time we don’t have.”
“We left him.” Remy shifted to look up at Eliana. “We left him to die with Rahzavel.”
“Yes, we did,” said Eliana, refusing to meet his eyes. “He would have wanted us to.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“Hey, you know what?” She slid her arm around Remy’s shoulders. “I have something to tell you. I wish I could show you, but I can’t. You too, Hob.”
Hob raised an eyebrow. “Don’t talk to me like I’m a child.”
“I met a friend,” Eliana said, “in the laboratories where they held me and Navi. Her name is Zahra, and…she’s here with us. Right now.”
Some of the sadness left Remy’s face. “Really? How? Where?”
Hob was staring at her. “Have you lost your mind?”
“This is no joke, Hob,” said Zahra.
Hob’s arm shot out to shield both Eliana and Remy. “Who’s there? Who said that?”
“Who are you?” Remy looked around wonderingly. “Can you show me what you look like?”
“My name is Zahra, little one.” Zahra swooped down to Remy’s eye level, her chin in her hands. “What a darling thing you are. Your mind is as wide open as the sky.”
Remy cautiously waved his hand around. “You’re very close, aren’t you?”
“Indeed.”
“Eliana,” Hob muttered, “what is this?”
Remy hugged his knees to his chest. “Are you a wraith?”
Zahra blinked in surprise. “What is this child, who knows so much of the world?” Her expression turned tender. “Oh, sweet one. You are a dreamer, a teller of tales. I see that now. You ache for magic and for all those golden giants of the past.”
Remy flushed with pleasure. “Before the invasion,” he said eagerly, “people stole books from the temples, so they wouldn’t be destroyed. I buy them whenever I can and read them all.”
“Hang on.” Eliana pulled back to frown at him. “You mean you used to sneak around Orline buying books in the underground market?”
“Do you think I learned everything I know just from rolling dough at the bakery?”
“Well, I—” She shook her head, astonished.
“Oh, I do like you.” Zahra draped an arm across Remy’s shoulders with a smile. “A curious mind and a pure heart both in one.”
Hob flung his gloves to the ground. “Can someone tell me what a wraith is?”
“Don’t move,” a male voice warned from the shadows before them. “Or I’ll tell my archers to let their arrows fly.”
Eliana froze as shapes shifted in the undergrowth—five soldiers, ten, gathering close with bows raised and arrows nocked.
Zahra shot up to her full height, dark eyes flashing. “Eliana, forgive me. I was distracted; I didn’t hear them!”
One of the archers jerked their arrow to the side, seeking Zahra—and of course finding nothing.
“You’ve a fifth in your party?” asked the first man. He approached Eliana, no bow in his hand but a long curved sword at his hip. His hood hid his face from view.
“Do you see five people here?” Eliana glared up at him. “Your eyes fail you, I’m afraid.”
“But my ears do not.” The man stopped, considering Navi’s shorn head. “You escaped from Fidelia.”
Eliana tensed. “Perhaps.”
“Malik?” Navi moaned, struggling to push herself up. “Is that you?”
“Navi?” The man flung off his hood and fell to his knees at her feet. “Sweet saints.” He gathered Navi against his chest before Eliana could stop him, pressed a tender kiss to her head. “Simon said you were alive, but I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t let myself.”
Navi clung to him, her gaunt face free of pain for the first time since they’d escaped the laboratories. “Eliana,” she murmured, “please don’t be afraid. We’re safe now.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Eliana moved in front of Remy and reached under her singed jacket for Arabeth. “Who are you?”
Malik turned, his brown cheeks wet with tears, his eyes large and dark, his jaw strong. The resemblance, now that Eliana knew to look for it, was obvious.