I understood why Nyssa was the safest city in the Ward.

  Not only was she one of the strongest Gods, but she was also a God hunter. If any of the other Gods tried to send one of their personal guards to the city, Nyssa would be able to wipe them out without much effort. If another Tier Eight God went there themselves, then Nyssa would be fighting on her home turf, which would give her an advantage. Combining that with her God hunting skills and I wouldn’t be surprised if she wouldn’t be able to repel a Tier Nine God that attacked her city.

  Miel looked floored.

  “You knew that she was related to the Hunter?” The ivory woman coughed. “That’s where we’re going?”

  “It makes sense.” Justia turned the passenger’s seat around to look at us. “She is the Goddess of Hunters.”

  “The Hunters of Gods!” Miel glared at my priestess. “Even though she’s one of the youngest Gods in the world, she’s one of the highest-level. Mom thinks she’s working with the Primus because of how many Gods she’s helped Desolate!”

  “She…” My father shook his head. “She isn’t working with them to further their goals, but to find out who they are.”

  “It doesn’t change the fact that she has worked with them!” Miel leaned forward. “And you’re taking us to her city?”

  “We will be perfectly safe.” Trent closed his eyes. “I knew her father and met her a few times before she got her Mantle.” He motioned with his hand. “It’s going to be fine.”

  “And you told Mom this?” Miel shook her head. “I don’t see how she would have agreed—”

  “Nyssa doesn’t hunt those without cities.” Trent opened his eyes to glare at the other woman. “Yes, she has worked with the Primus, but most of what we know about who the Primus are has come from her.” He raised his voice a little. “And who would you rather get the experience? An ally or a member of the Primus that we’ll have to fight down the road?”

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  “So why keep Mom in the dark?” Miel leaned back in her seat. “There’s no way that she wouldn’t have told me if she knew.”

  “Nyssa wasn’t one of my agents, nor has she ever worked directly for me.” Trent shrugged. “All the information that she’s gathered has reached me through Tres, so if you have a problem with the lack of information being shared, then you can take it up with him.”

  “Fine…” Miel shivered. “Wait, she’s one of Tres’s agents? Doesn’t that mean that he’s violating the independent rule?”

  “That’s his problem.” Trent smirked. “One of the bonuses to not having a city is that I don’t have to weigh in on those dilemmas.”

  “It could turn into your problem real fast if the Primus of one of the Quorums finds out that he’s got a satellite city in another Ward while we’re in the city.” Miel pounded her finger into her leg to emphasize the last few words.

  “They only find out if someone here tells them, which none of you can do.” Trent shrugged and settled against the wall. “We’ve got two hours on this bridge, so I suggest you settle in and try to calm down.” He nodded at Miel. “We don’t want you losing any more blood than you already have. Ether might be able to give you a transfusion if you need one, but that will weaken both of you.”

  “What can we do to help?” I looked over at my priestess. “Justia, do you think you could bandage Miel’s arm better?”

  “I’ve got some bandages in my CB.” The green woman touched the crystal on her wrist.

  “You’re not going to be able to bind the wound closed.” Miel grumbled as her red eyes fixated on my father. “And he’ll break it if he tries to tighten your Mundane bandages.”

  “I’ve got gauze as well.” Justia got up and walked over to the pale woman. She peeled back the poorly wrapped cloth to reveal a deep gash. “Don’t you have potions?”

  “I’ve got some T5s, but I’ve not had a chance to raise my Alchemy high enough to make T6 or seven potions.” Trent tilted his head. “And someone decided that they didn’t need to bring potions for someone of her level.”

  “I thought you had a healing spell!” Miel flinched as Justia poured disinfectant on the wound. “That burns.”

  “It’s going to…” The green woman turned to look at my father. “Whatever healing you did to it helped it to scab, but taking off…” She held the dirty white rag with two fingers. “Whatever this is has sloughed some of the scabs and caused it to bleed again.” She laid gauze over the wound, then began wrapping it. “This will help it heal and keep it clean, but the faster we can get you to a Healer on your Tier, the better.”

  “Iver’s Priestess can handle that.” Trent stroked his chin. “As long as it’ll hold for a day, we’ll be fine.”

  “It should do that…” Justia glanced at the open window to Aelin’s left. “As long as she doesn’t have to fight again.”

  The threat of impending danger weighed on all of us. Now that we were on a bridge, if we were attacked, there wouldn’t be anywhere to go but forward or back. My eyes felt heavy, but my body didn’t want to sleep. I chuckled as I glanced over at Ether, who was sleeping soundly. At least one of us was going to be rested in the morning.

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