SEVEN
WREN
NITTA SLEPT PAST NOON THE FOLLOWING DAY.
Wren stayed with her all night, alternating between sitting in a chair by the bed and pacing the windows, hoping to see her father and their army returning. Lova had insisted on keeping her company. The Amala General sat on the floor, cleaning her cutlass or turning it in slow swishes to catch the lantern light.
At the ring of the bells signaling lunchtime, Wren got to her feet. “I’m going to check on the clan. I’ll have some food brought up for us. Keep an eye on her.”
In the dining hall, Wren moved between the tables, talking with her father’s councilors and various leaders of their allied clans, answering questions and receiving updates. Merrin was still being kept under guard. She ordered some food and water to be sent to him.
“No poison,” she said, only half jokingly.
On her way back upstairs, a pair of maids trailed her, delicious scents wafting from the trays they carried. Wren was nearing Nitta’s room when she heard voices drifting from the crack in the doorway.
They were low, secretive. She held up a hand, stopping still. The maids followed suit.
“We never told her—”
“I know that! Do you think she’d still be talking to me if she knew? I know she doesn’t know, cub. What I don’t understand is why.”
“If you still don’t understand, Lova, you never will.”
“You owe me no allegiance, Nitta. Neither you nor Bo. You could have told Wren right away what I’d done.”
Nitta sounded hurt. “Do you think we ever stopped being Amala? You exiled us, Lova. But it didn’t stop us from loving you. From loving our family—”
A sneeze broke the quiet.
One of the maids was wobbling, desperately resetting her balance after almost spilling the bowls of goji soup on her tray.
The door to Nitta’s room slid back. Lova stepped out. “We didn’t hear you coming,” she said, before adding, “Nitta’s awake.”
Wren was too tired to try and make sense of what she’d overhead—clan squabbling was the least of her concerns. And anyway, the moment she saw Nitta sitting up in bed, a weak grin on her sweet face, the conversation flew from her mind.
Nitta was here, and she was awake, and she was smiling.
“Miss me?” she asked as Wren sat next to her.
For what felt like the first time in years, Wren smiled. Not a smirk or wry curl of her lip, or a fleeting, amused twist. A real smile. It was small but true.
“Yes,” she replied. “Oh, Nitta, yes.”
Their hands found each other’s.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see any of you again,” Nitta said, her large emerald eyes imploring. “Lova told me you’re holding Merrin prisoner. Wren, you have to listen to his story. I’d be dead if it weren’t for him.”
“You almost died because of him,” Wren said. “All of us did. And Lei—”
She cut off. She couldn’t talk about what she’d learned last night about Lei’s whereabouts. Not yet. Just thinking it was a punch to her gut.
“He made a mistake,” Nitta said. “He’s learned from it. He’s trying to redeem himself.” As Lova made a scoffing sound in the corner of the room where the maids were setting up the table, Nitta added patiently, “He lost someone he loved, and it obscured his judgment. That’s something all of us can relate to.”
Wren thought of the bloodied jackal-boy in a room nearby. Her gaze lowered to where her fingers were entwined with Nitta’s. For an instant, it was Lei’s hand she saw, shorter and paler and un-furred. She ached to feel them again, so soft and warm against her skin.
Nitta squeezed her hand. “We’ve all done things we’re not proud of,” she said. Her eyes moved to Lova. “We’ve all betrayed those we love in some way or other. Merrin did a horrible thing, but he has a good heart. He deserves our forgiveness.”
“Lei is…” Wren forced the words out. “Lei is back in the Hidden Palace. How could I ever forgive him for that?”
“Because,” Nitta replied, “he wants to help get her out.”
With a growl, Lova immediately shooed the maids from the room. She watched from the doorway until they were out of earshot, then slid it shut. “What do you mean?” she snarled, rounding on Nitta. “He’s found a safe way in?”
“Well, no,” Nitta admitted, making Lova toss her arms up in frustration. “But he’s a bird demon. He’s willing to try, if that’s what we want. Why don’t we talk to him?”
“I will kill that Bird if I have to spend one more second in his undeserving presence!” Lova erupted. She prowled forward, face hovering an inch from Nitta’s. “Have you forgotten what he did to you? What he took from you? What he made you?”
It was a topic Wren had been waiting for Nitta to bring up herself. Of course, Lova wasn’t quite as sensitive.
Nitta lifted her chin, staring Lova straight in the eyes. “Yes, I am paralyzed from the waist down. But that doesn’t make me any less than I was before. I am still a warrior. I am still myself.”
Lova lurched away, a disbelieving sound in her throat.
“My back was already broken at the battlefield,” Nitta declared calmly. “I’d have been trampled to death if Merrin hadn’t gotten me out of there. That’s why he took us away—to protect us. Lei asked him to take me somewhere safe. And he took her because he wanted her to be safe, too. Merrin hadn’t been able to go after her later because he couldn’t leave me alone in my state. I begged him to find her. But he wouldn’t leave me.”
“Coward,” Lova scoffed.
Nitta ignored her. “I kept passing out from the pain. Every time I came to, we were somewhere new. I could tell it was still Jana, still the desert. Then mountains appeared in the distance. The next time I woke, the color of the sand was this rusty red and Merrin was pulling me in some cart he must have found. The next time, I woke inside the healer’s hut. She told me about my injuries. That I’d never walk again. But she managed to save feeling from my waist up, and I would live—”
Nitta stopped abruptly. Her eyes were glassy. She scrubbed a hand over her face. She looked between them, then let out a burst of laughter that made Wren flinch.
“I’m crying because I’m happy, you idiots!” she exclaimed, grinning her crooked smile, so like her brother’s. “Because I’m alive! Merrin saved my life, then the Red Sand healer saved what she could of my body. It took a long time to be in a stable-enough condition to travel, but we’re here and we’re ready to work.” She grasped Wren’s fingers. “Come on. Don’t you want to save our girl?”
Wren stood, turning her back to the bed.
Nitta snorted. “Sweet Samsi. You two are so dramatic.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you.” Lova sniffed.