Jace
We made camp off the road in a hollow between two dry hills.
The southern country was new to me — the pale grass, the stunted, twisted trees, the heat that stayed in the ground long after the sun went down.
We had made good time for two days, going well past the point where I had originally ambushed Kaida’s bridal carriage. The men were tired and the horses needed rest.
Ben had said, without looking at anyone in particular, that tired men made mistakes and we could not afford mistakes.
Despite his walking-stick physique, he carried an aura of alpha authority. He didn’t give orders so much as state facts, and the facts had a quality to them that made argument feel beside the point. He was just correct.
Riley didn’t seem to know what to do with his brother. He had told me quietly
