The Drowning City - Amanda Downum [106]
“We’ve been betrayed.” She raised a hand to forestall questions. “Not to the Khas, I think, but the Tigers will know what’s coming.”
Mutters rippled and died and witches exchanged glances. “Do we change the plan?” asked Phailin.
“No. If the Kurun Tam gets wind of it, we won’t get another chance so easily.”
“Do you think they’ll try to stop us?” someone else asked, a boy barely old enough to wear a kris. “The Tigers, I mean.”
“If they do, be merciless. They’ve had opportunity enough to join us, to hear the truth. We can’t let their weakness stop us now.”
The boy’s throat bobbed as he nodded.
Chapter 19
Zhirin marked the wards on the Tigers’ maps, but after that she was useless as they prepared for battle. She wasn’t as helpless in a fight as she’d once thought, but she had no gift for strategy. Isyllt stayed with the council, leaving Zhirin to retreat to their room, where she rubbed her mother’s ring till her fingers ached and watched the light change as it slipped down the wall.
Jabbor came later in the afternoon, and now his face held all the pity and concern she’d feared. He eased the door shut and sat beside her, not quite touching. His warmth and familiar wood-sweet scent would have been comforting, had he not obviously had something to say, something that left him awkward and nervous.
“What is it?” she asked, after a few moments of listening to him draw breath but not speak.
“I—” He swallowed. She’d never seen him so nervous. “I know how hard a time this is for you. I’m sorry.”
She swallowed an unkind reply—his parents had died when he was young. Maybe he did know.
“Thank you,” she said instead. “And thank you for taking us in.”
He shrugged it aside and took her hand, his broad palm engulfing hers. “Zhir, I know this isn’t the best time, but…”
“You want help from Cay Laii? I’ll do whatever I can, but I need to talk to Mau—”
“No, no.” He cut her off as her chest began to tighten at the thought. “I mean, yes, we’d welcome any help Laii can offer, but that’s not what I want to ask.” His hand tightened on hers, and the heron ring dug into both their flesh. “Zhir, would you marry me?”
She opened her mouth, closed it again, and turned to stare at him. A lattice of light fell over his face, caught splinters of gold in his eyes. “Are you—You’re serious.”
“Yes. When this is over. If I don’t get killed by the Dai Tranh or the Khas.” His lips twisted. “Not the best marriage offer, I know, but will you consider it?”
Would she? Dizzying, to realize that the choice was hers alone. She’d always assumed her mother would make a match for her when she finished her apprenticeship, had considered it as inevitable as the tide. But now she had no mother, no master. And now that the Khas knew her loyalties, she had no one to hide from anymore.
Jabbor watched her, brow creasing as her silence stretched. A month ago his proposal would have left her giddy.
“I will,” she said at last. “I mean, yes, I’ll marry you. But I need time, Jabbor. First Vasilios, and now my mother, and I don’t know what Clan Laii will say—”
“Of course, of course. I don’t want to rush you. I just wanted you to know how I feel, before—”
She nodded and leaned in to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her and she sank into his warmth. But the cold, hollow feeling in her chest wouldn’t go away.
The Ki Dai left Cay Lin before dusk, changing their route in case the Tigers were waiting. The gibbous moon had already risen, a milky ghost through the clouds. Xinai and Phailin had spent the day making charms, weaving owl and night-heron feathers with night-vision spells. They’d turned to nightjars when they ran out of larger birds, but every witch and warrior with them could see in the dark now. Safer than smuggler’s lanterns, though they carried those as well.
They could never reach all the wards in one night, but hopefully they wouldn’t need to. If they could destroy enough of them, the circuit would be sufficiently weakened for Selei’s invocation at the