Page 16 of Down Comes the Night

A gust of wind off the river chilled Wren to the bone. She stopped dead in her tracks. “She’s giving up on them?”

Una’s face twisted with sorrow. “Yes.”

If Wren let her eyes go hazy, she could still imagine Byers beside her with his ridiculous shock of blond hair, the cherry-red end of his cigarette. How could someone so vibrant just be gone? “Butyoucan’t.”

“I don’t have the luxury of following my heart. If you want your position back, I have to follow her orders.”

Wren couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Seven soldiers from Danu and Vesria altogether had vanished, including Hal Cavendish. And if each side was determined to blame the other… “Then it’s only a matter of time before the armistice ends. We’ll go to war over this, won’t we?”

“It seems that way, yes.” Una snatched the newspaper from her, curling her lip as she scanned the headline. “I find it all too convenient. Seven soldiers are missing. The grand magistrate accuses Danu, the queen accuses Vesria, and a war will break out because neither of them can see past the end of their own nose.”

“You really believe that?” Wren asked. “You don’t think they did it?”

“Absolutely not. I refuse to believe it’s this simple,” Una said sharply, but her anger was directed elsewhere. “I think it’s more likely that we have a common enemy. But the queen won’t admit her advisors, and she certainly won’t listen to my counsel.”

Wren detected the note of hurt in Una’s voice. On paper, Una had no business offering her counsel. What was a mid-ranked military officer to a queen? But Isabel had taken a liking to her over the years. Sometimes, Wren felt blindsided by their similarities. Their ruthlessness, their righteousness, their uncompromising ideals. In many ways, Una was as close to a daughter as Isabel would ever have.

“You know as well as I do that she’ll never rest until she defeats them,” Wren said. “She wants a war.”

“Then Parliament is spineless if they concede.” Parliament had demanded the ceasefire for the well-being of the country, but an outraged populace and the papers’ claim of an outright act of warfare would make it difficult to uphold. “I despise Vesria as much as anyone, but we’re all doomed the moment we replace common sense with emotion. There’s something else going on here.”

The silence between them buzzed like tinnitus.

Wren didn’t know what she believed. But if not Vesria, there were no other logical suspects. The entire world had distanced themselves from the Danu-Vesrian wars, and their nearest neighbor was Cernos. That boy with the broken arm possessed magic—she had felt it crackle in the air when he struck her—and Cernosians, as a rule, did not. Besides, just as Heloise said, Cernos kept to itself. Ruled by an oligarchy of dukes, it was a largely atheistic nation and refused to bloody its hands with religious squabbles and land disputes. When it came to magic, all the technology and wealth in the world could not guarantee a casualty-free intervention.

“Who else would it be?” Wren asked tentatively.

“I don’t know.” Wren couldn’t ignore the doubt coloring her voice. Una was nothing if not unwavering, but before she couldpush, Una continued. “But my primary concern is my new assignment. Now that Cavendish has been reported missing, the queen hopes to find him alive and use him as leverage. If I’m the one to capture him, I’ll get back into her good graces.”

“A solid course of action.” Wren’s throat felt dry, but she managed to keep her tone positive. “And a dangerous one.”

“Don’t you start worrying about me again.”

“How can I not when you clearly have a death wish?” She grabbed her by the sleeve and tugged her closer. “No one has faced Cavendish and lived.”

“I don’t need to look at him to strike him down.”

Wren huffed in frustration. “Your pride isn’t worth your life. You can’t take this mission.”

Una yanked her arm back. “I can, and I will.”

“Una,please.” Desperation crept into her voice. “Do you know how hard this has been for me? Every day, I open the paper and pray I don’t see your name. I worry enough about you going missing. Now you’re telling me I have to worry about you getting killed by the Reaper?”

“Wren.” Her voice was hard, unyielding. “I don’t have a choice.”

“Don’t you?”

“No,” Una said, so firmly she startled them both. “This isn’t about my pride. It’s about you.”

“Me?”

“I told you before. I need you by my side.”

Something aching and fearful and familiar flashed in her eyes, so faint Wren wondered if she’d imagined it. But no, she hadn’t. She had never imagined that look. Not even on that one morning, when Una had told hernever againas though the words were broken glass in her mouth. But then, as if realizing she’d slipped, Una blinked a cold edge back into her gaze.

Again the soldier. Again the girl with no weaknesses.

Wren knew Una loved her. Una’s love was glimpses of vulnerability. It was raising her sword against anyone who dared threaten Wren. It was a cup of chamomile tea, and it was lying to thequeen. But she also knew Una could only ever love her at a distance.