Lina returned from the southern pass just after dusk.
She had delivered the letter to varyn. She had found him at the edge of the tree line, exactly where he had been before—dressed in a warrior's leather, his eyes sharp and hungry. He had taken the sealed message, read it by torchlight, and nodded slowly.
"The Luna wants an attack in three days," he had said. "That's ambitious."
"Can you do it?"
"We'll see. Tell her I’ll come with reply by midnight, same place.”
Lina had left him there and walked back to the fortress with her heart in her throat. She went straight to Selene's chambers and delivered the message. The Luna had smiled—cold and satisfied—and dismissed her with a wave.
Now Lina stood in the servants' quarters, her hands still trembling from the cold. She pressed her palm
