Arielle's POV
On the fourth night we pulled back to a secondary camp two kilometers from the main border position.
Not retreating. Regrouping. The northern alliance had suffered enough in the second engagement that they would not press again for at least twenty-four hours, and Lucien needed those hours whether he would admit it or not.
The secondary camp was smaller. Six of us: Lucien, Kael, Vasha, Dessa, Wren — who had come as a runner and supply handler, not a fighter, a compromise I had negotiated with Lucien before we left — and me.
Wren made dinner. He had picked up the skill somewhere between the forest and Nightshade, absorbed it the way he absorbed everything, with quiet observation and then sudden competence. The food was simple but it was hot and it was good, and watching him
