The Gembound: The Price of Keeping Chapter 89: Volume 4: Chapter 82 — Preparations

Read chapter 89 of The Gembound: The Price of Keeping by Taliorn on NovelPedia.

Volume 4: Chapter 82 — Preparations The war room thinned to wood and breath. Maps slept in their tubes. Salt worked the stone from underneath. Yara stayed. She traced a river with one finger until it met the crown-shaped walls and stopped. The finger didn’t tremble. The candle did. Eat the road, the Gem murmured, pleased. Eat the city at the end. Leave the plate shining. She let the voice pass like a wave that wasn’t hers. Soft claws clicked once in the hall. Petra lay down in the doorway, head on paws, metal-thread coat catching a strip of light. The wolf didn’t look at Yara; she looked near her, the way sentries look at the idea of danger. Deeper in the corridor, two more wolves settled, new to the pack, nameless still, learning the building’s echoes. The door eased open. Eliza entered with a ledger hugged to her ribs and a cup that steamed like a patient trying to be brave. Mint and iron, the clerics’ mix. She set it down within reach and did not push it closer. “You didn’t eat,” Eliza said. “Not yet.” “Bodies don’t run on decisions.” “Mine runs on them longer than most.” Eliza tilted her head. “That’s the Gem talking. It pays you when you move. When you stop, it withholds wages.” Yara picked up the cup and didn’t drink. “So I won’t stop.” “Good,” Eliza said. “But you won’t do it alone.” Yara’s gaze edged up. “You’re bound. You weren’t going to leave regardless.” “I’m not reciting a bond,” Eliza said. “I’m choosing a road. I’m coming north.” “Saltwhistle needs you.” “Saltwhistle needs Ilan and routine,” Eliza said. “You need someone who knows when to make you put the Gem down.” Petra’s ears flicked once. Outside, a gull tried a cry and thought better of it. Yara let the cup warm her knuckles. “You think I don’t know my limits.” “I think you keep moving the fence.” Eliza’s voice didn’t harden; it clarified. “I wasn’t here, and you emptied four men. Four men who were bleeding out. One wolf wrecked. You chose Petra. Enhancing the men without the proper sacrifice, the gem ate their memories in exchange.” “I know they can still learn and grow, but I know. “Still learn , ” Eliza said, just as even, “but hollowed out because we bought their lives with memory instead of meaning. Every time Petra looks at you, she reminds you of what you spent to get a clean bind. She doesn’t speak, but she says it.” Petra breathed once, deep; the chainmail along her shoulder made a slight, rain-on-tin sound. Yara took a sip. The mint bit. The iron settled. “You think I regret saving her.” “I think you don’t sleep after counting the cost,” Eliza said. “And I think the Gem has started offering to cover the bill if you’ll just let it eat faster.” Let me, the Gem purred, indulgent. I like expensive meals. Yara set the cup down with care. “If you come, you’re not a nurse.” “I know.” Eliza rested a hip against the table, steady as a tide. “Quartermasters, pay, ration math for Enhanced and wolves, and whoever else we decide to turn into a problem that solves other problems. And when the noise gets too loud, I’ll tell you which thoughts are yours.” Yara almost smiled. “You’re certain you’ll hear the difference.” “I already do. It’s the beat between your sentences when the Gem wants the next one.” Silence hung, thick as ropes that had known too much salt. From the hall, the nameless pair shifted in the mirror, learning Petra’s patience by watching her breathe. Yara’s eyes went to them and away again; they would have names when the work gave them one. “When we reach the Capital,” Yara said, “it won’t be a siege. It’ll be appetites.” “Then bring someone who cooks,” Eliza said. “Hunger works for whoever sets the table.” Yara nodded once. “Pack for ten weeks. After that, I won’t promise anyone home.” “I packed before the meeting,” Eliza said. “You say ten. I hear twelve.” Petra stood in silence and stepped aside from the doorway so Eliza could pass without breaking the line. Eliza paused with a hand above the wolf’s head, then left it there in the air and let i