“And walk into my village as refugees, not raiders. I’ll vouch for you. But I’ll need Marrow’s word that she can heal our blacksmith’s daughter. She’s had a fever for a week, and our healer is old and blind.”

“Give me the crossbow. And the axe.”

Kaelen sat in silence for a long moment. Then he did something no scout in Verveil had ever done.

That evening, Kaelen led three unarmed, exhausted people into Verveil. The captain was furious. The villagers were afraid. But when Marrow, with nothing but wild garlic, honey, and a cool cloth, broke the blacksmith’s daughter’s fever before midnight, fear began to soften.

The young man’s eyes widened. “And die unarmed?”

“Don’t,” Marrow said, not even looking up from grinding herbs. “He’s not here to fight. Look at his hands.”