Hope, after so many days of despair, lifted her spirits.
“I will grant your request. It is nobly done and makes sense for my aims and my kingdom.”
“Oh, thank you!” She managed to stop herself from jumping out of her chair, but only just.
He dismissed her with a wave of his hand and a sip of his ale, staring once again into the dancing flames.
She’d done it! She’d actually done it. Her brother’s future was secured. He could live his life, and she could sacrifice hers, just as she’d planned. His ruin wouldn’t be on her head. She should feel elated, positively joyful.
So why, as she followed Cormac back out of the solar complex, did Eva feel so empty?
Chapter Thirty-Three
Cormac led Evajust outside the keep’s palisade to the base of the hill, where eleven tents stood in orderly rows. Smoke rose from the small fire ring, dancing in the warm evening breeze, blissfully unaware of the gravity of the night. Three men sat around the fire, Dallan among them.
As Eva and Cormac approached, he looked up and stood to meet them, his face unreadable.
Eva stood several paces from her brother, just staring at him. He had always been there for her, from her earliest memories to the day she became a hostage. Dallan had never stopped protecting her.
This time, she could protect him instead.
“You don’t have to go,” she whispered. “I’ve spoken with Brian, and he has agreed to uphold the original hostage agreement made by Sitric.”
Dallan’s fists tightened, his arms crossing his chest. “He didn’t,” Dallan countered. “He wouldn’t go back on his word.”
“If I may,” Cormac interrupted, “Eva is correct. He will uphold the original bargain, thereby not going back on his word to Sitric.”
“Eva,” her brother’s voice broke with emotion, “why will you not let me protect you? Why must you be so difficult?”
“I won’t have anyone risking their life for me. By death or by imprisonment, it does not matter. I chose to act as Sitric’s hostage, and I will see it through. Now please, I beg you, leave before the battle. Live the life that was meant for you.”
Dallan walked within arms’ reach, his voice quiet, his gaze unwavering. “Thisis the life that was meant for me. To fight on behalf of a king until I become one myself, should I be so unlucky. I will not abandon them now, on the eve of a battle when I am needed most.”
A lump formed in Eva’s chest, making it difficult to think straight. All her begging, all her efforts with Brian, and she still might lose her brother tomorrow. “Is there naught I can say to sway you?”
“My mind is made.” He shifted his weight uncomfortably. “And, as I may not return, we should probably speak of Finn and your future.”
“Aye,” Eva agreed, steeling herself for battle of a different sort, “we should.”
Dallan opened his mouth to begin the discussion, but Eva cut him off.
“You need not worry over it any longer. I will not be marrying him,” she choked out the words, ignoring the stinging in her eyes. “I will not be marrying anyone.”
“Eva,” he warned, “as much as I dislike Finn, you cannot throw away your life over fear of one man.”
Her resolve wavered at the mention of Baeth, bile rising from deep in her belly. But she would not put Finn at risk. Instead, she would do what she could to mend his friendship with Dallan before the morn. “Just as you cannot throw away your friendship over one slight.”
“That’s not the same at all,” he grumbled.
“It is,” Eva pressed. “You will never forgive yourself if you march into battle and lose him tomorrow without making peace.”
Dallan’s pained expression told her his answer before he spoke a word. “I cannot,” he sighed. “I yet feel the sting of his betrayal.”
“You won’t forever,” Eva warned. “And when one day, maybe years from now, you realize how small his offense truly was, you will forever regret losing such a dear friend over it.”
“Then that is a sin I shall have to live with.”
Eva shook her head, huffing at her brother’s obstinance. “Finn helped you when you asked it of him. He followed you here without question, ready to walk into danger if necessary. The only misstep he took was listening to me instead of you, when I begged him to keep our feelings for one another secret. Finn wanted to tell you from the beginning.Iconvinced him to wait. Do not blame him for my poor judgment.”
