Chapter 128

Abby

Imogen had asked for the training hall at seven, and for nobody else in it.

Ryan had grumbled about that. The warriors trained at seven. He had moved them to the north field with a great deal of muttering, and posted two of his own at the doors, and told me that if anything happened he wanted to know about it before anyone else did. I had promised him he would.

The hall was cold. Somebody had opened the high windows to air it out, and the light came down through them in long gray bars across the mats. Daphne was already there when I came in, with her bag open on a bench and a folded blanket over her arm. Imogen sat cross-legged on the floor at the edge of the mats with a wooden box in her lap, and I didn’t let myself look at the box.

Sloane came in last.

She walked from the side door without the crutch, slowly, with only a slight hitch on the left. She was in a plain gray sweater and trousers, and her hair was tied back off her face, and she