Read Online The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen - Free Book Online

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    â€œWe’ll split up,” Carroll announced. “They won’t be a large company, and we have to hope they can’t track us all in force. Go in any direction you please, so long as you don’t go together. We regroup on the Keep Lawn.”
    He turned to Pen. “Pen, you’ll trade horses with the Queen as well. If we’re fortunate, they’ll put all their energy into tracking the mare.”
    Kelsea swayed slightly as Mhurn settled a breastplate against her shoulders. It was flat, made for a man, and her breasts throbbed painfully as he began to buckle it in the back.
    â€œWho goes with the Queen?” asked Dyer, looking as though he prayed it was anyone else.
    â€œLazarus does.”
    Kelsea looked up at Mace, who stood behind Carroll at the edge of the group. His expression was as disinterested as ever; Carroll might as well have instructed him to guard a particularly important tree. Some of Kelsea’s doubt must have shown in her face, for Mace raised his eyebrows, clearly daring her to argue.
    She didn’t.
    Carroll smiled bravely at the group of men, but his face was haunted; Kelsea felt death on him, could almost see it as a black shadow that waited over his shoulder. “This errand is our last together, but the most important. The Queen must reach the Keep, even if we fall seeing it done.”
    He made a sign of dismissal, and the men turned to leave. Kelsea summoned as much force as she could. “Hold!”
    â€œLady?” Carroll turned back, and the rest stopped on their way to their horses. Kelsea looked around at them all, their faces hard and resolved in the ashlight of morning, some of them hating her, she knew, deep down where their honor wouldn’t allow them to admit it.
    â€œI know that none of you chose this errand, but I thank you for it. I would welcome any of you in my guard, but either way, your families will be taken care of. I swear . . . for what it’s worth.”
    She turned back to Carroll, who was watching her with an expression she couldn’t read. “We can go now, Captain.”
    â€œLady.” He nodded, and the men began to mount their horses. “Lazarus, a word!”
    Mace stomped up to the two of them. “You’ll not take my horse, Captain.”
    â€œI wouldn’t dare.” A small smile creased Carroll’s face. “Stay with the Queen, Lazarus, but distant enough that you’ll not be tracked as a pair. I would make for the Caddell and then follow it to the city. The tide will cover your tracks.”
    Mace nodded, but Kelsea had an odd flash of intuition: he’d already evaluated and rejected Carroll’s advice in a heartbeat, choosing his own direction instead.
    â€œYou’ve no time for stories, Lady, but our Lazarus is a renowned escape artist. If we’re lucky, he may perform his greatest trick.”
    Kelsea’s armory was complete. Pen shrugged her green cloak over his shoulders, where it sat tightly. “Godspeed, Lady,” he murmured, then was gone.
    â€œCaptain.” Kelsea thought of Carlin and Barty standing in the doorway of the cottage, their dreadful false optimism. “I’ll see you shortly in front of my throne.”
    â€œNo, Lady, you won’t. I’ve seen my own death on this journey. Enough for me that you sit there.” Carroll mounted his horse, his face drawn with a terrible and hopeless purpose. Mace reached up a hand, and he grasped it. “See her safe, Lazarus.”
    He spurred his horse into a trot and vanished into the forest.
    Kelsea and Mace were left standing alone. Their horses’ breath steamed the air, and Kelsea realized anew how cold it was. She picked up Pen’s grey cloak, found a pocket inside the breast, and shoved the second necklace deep inside before putting the cloak on. The camp around them seemed very empty, nothing but a pile of dead leaves, the wisps of smoke from the fire, and the