The Deceiver's Heart by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Author:Jennifer A. Nielsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2018-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

I crumpled the note and tossed it into the weeds, watching Trina’s shoulders deflate as I did.

“Simon—”

“Now I know why you offered to stay behind. You must have been bouncing on your toes in anticipation of watching me read it.”

She pointed at Gabe as Huge lifted him to the ground. “I stayed to treat him. And I need your help.”

“Let Basil do it, I won’t—”

“Gabe is your best friend, Simon, or he was. Help me!”

Numb to anything else happening around me, I dug through our saddlebags for the supplies Trina listed and passed them to Basil, who carried them over to her. Then I held Gabe while she wrapped the visible wounds.

“I’m sure his worst injuries are internal,” Trina said. “We should wait here a few hours and see how he’s doing. If he’s better, Huge will take him to Loelle.”

“I’ll take him now.” She knew full well why I was offering.

But Trina shook her head. “We have other orders. We’re going to the Hiplands.”

Of course we were. With a scowl, I asked, “Do you know why he wants me to be king? It’s because he can’t manipulate Commander Mindall. But he believes he can control me!”

She sighed, obviously tired of arguing. “If you’ve proven anything over the past couple of weeks, it’s that no one can control you. Take the throne or don’t, but either way, that’s where the Dominion is headed and we both know their plans for the Halderians. We have to help them.”

She was right about that much. War was certainly coming to Reddengrad, and the quickest route to their capital was straight through the Hiplands.

I heard the crackle of paper and looked over to see Basil holding the note from Tenger. When he’d read it, he frowned up at me. “Trina’s right. The Hiplands have to be our priority now.”

I snatched the note from his hands and stuffed it into the pocket of my coat. “You’re comfortable, then, abandoning Kestra to go to the Hiplands?”

“Of course not,” he replied. “But defending the Halderians must be our priority. Of all people, you should agree with me.”

Of all people.

I snorted and marched back to my horse to tend to its needs. Except that wasn’t really why I was there. I needed some way to get Kestra out of my mind, maybe forever. For all my efforts to save her from Tenger, he had won in the end. He had ripped her away from me and written that letter to gloat over his victory.

Trina said, “You should all get some sleep while you can. I slept earlier, so I’ll keep watch for a few hours.”

Huge offered to rest at the far end of camp and to keep one eye open for trouble as he slept. I had no doubt he meant that literally. I laid out my bedroll to guard the opposite end of camp, then groaned when Basil laid his nearby.

I closed my eyes, rolled away from him, and pretended to sleep.

“I do care for her,” Basil said.

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