The Bloodsworn by Erin Lindsey Page A

the territory. “I can give you the basics, though.”
    â€œTell me,” she crooned in her priestess voice, that soothing cadence that thrummed along Rig’s spine. “You’ll feel better.”
    Rig doubted that, but he had reasons of his own for telling her. “Alix is planning to infiltrate Andithyri, she and the two knights she came with.”
    Vel drew back, eyes round with surprise. She knew better than anyone just how dangerous that could be, having done it herself only a month ago. “Why?”
    â€œThat’s the part I can’t tell you.” He brushed a lock of dark hair behind her ear, an affectionate gesture to soften the blow. “But it’s important, obviously.”
    â€œI thought your sister was the king’s bodyguard?”
    He needed to be careful here; Vel was too clever to overlook even small clues. “She is,” he said, “but she’s also the stealthiest scout we’ve got.” He smiled, in spite of himself. “If it calls for sneaking, you can’t do better than Alix Black. That’s been so since she was small. A born thief, that one.”
    â€œI’d forgotten. You raised her, didn’t you?”
    â€œSince she was eleven. A royal pain in the ass, she was. Still is, I suppose. Headstrong as an old mule. A true child of Ardin.”
    â€œHow could she be otherwise, raised by you?”
    â€œYou’re hardly one to talk, my dear.”
    Vel feigned indignation, withdrawing to retrieve her wine. “Being passionate is one thing, being stubborn entirely another. Ardin has no domain over obstinacy; that belongs to Destan.”
    â€œWhichever Holy Virtue it belongs to, the Black family has never lacked for it,” Rig said, accepting a cup of wine. “And neither do you.”
    She regarded him shrewdly from under long, dark lashes. “I may be stubborn, but I am also an ordained priestess of Eldora. When it counts, I am guided foremost by prudence, which is what allowed me to steal across enemy lines and contact the Resistance without being caught. But you already know all that.” She sighed, her gaze dropping to her wine. “Which is why you’re going to ask me to go with her.”
    Rig should have known she’d guess it. Too clever by half, this one. He took her wine and set it aside, covered her hands in his. Her fingers looked tiny and delicate in his grasp, like the pinions of a bird trapped in the paws of a beast. “Alix will never find what she’s looking for on her own. She’ll need help from the locals.”
    â€œBy which you mean the Resistance. And you want me to act as go-between.”
    â€œI would never ask it of you if it weren’t a matter of life and death. Not just my sister’s, but . . .” He stopped himself, recalibrated. “There’s a lot at stake, Vel. More than I can tell you.”
    â€œYet you would ask me to lay down my life for it.” He couldn’t read her expression; it was too smooth, too penetrating.
    â€œIt’s unfair of me, I know.”
    â€œBut you know perfectly well that I’ll do it.” She pulled away. “And you know perfectly well why.”
    He did. Just as she knew that he couldn’t return those feelings, at least not right now. Apparently, though, he wasn’t above using her love as leverage. He hated himself for that, but . . . “This is war, Vel.”
    â€œYes, it is.” She drew herself up and met his gaze. Candlelightburnished her features, painting her in flaming defiance, a portrait of such fervid beauty that it took Rig’s breath away. “And you needn’t worry, General. I’ll not be a bystander in this chapter any more than I was in the last.”
    Pride flared in Rig’s blood. He took her face in his hands and kissed her, hard. Dimly, some part of him registered that it might have been wrong of him, but if Vel felt