We barely pulled Ezra’s battered body out of the river and made our way to the shore. Ethan spoke to the knights gathered by the riverbank.

“Let’s head back, to Graydon Palace.”

As we moved to join Harrison and the others, Nikolai had been keeping his distance from us ever since he climbed up from the river. He had been lingering behind, taking his time.

“Nikolai, what are you doing? Hurry up and get it together. We’ve gone through enough hell, don’t you think you should get some rest now?”

Ethan urged Nikolai, but he remained at the back of the procession, his face set in a hard expression.

“Why is he acting like that?”

Ethan and I both tilted our heads in confusion, but soon, we let it go as we focused on taking care of Ezra.