I blinked up at him. The finality in his eyes stole my voice.
“Goodbye... Kiera.” Then he was gone. Swallowed up by the other warriors preparing to depart.
My hands curled into fists, my dirty fingernails biting into my palms. I wanted to scream, to cry, to order them all to stay. But I couldn’t. These weren’t my people. They would never listen to me.
That feeling of powerlessness swept over me again, like shards of glass tearing through my skin.
My vision blurred as I watched Maz and Yarina strap axes, scythes, and huge knives to their bodies.
Maz took a step toward me, his blue eyes tight. But I couldn’t handle another goodbye. I made a strangled noise and bolted.
I was supposed to have time. Just one more day. It seemed so little, but in the face of forever, that day was suddenly invaluable.
I’d just made it to the treeline when I heard hoofbeats behind me.
“Kiera Torvaine!” someone shouted.
Shock at hearing my full name slowed my escape. I dashed the tears from my eyes before I whipped around. Nikella galloped up to me on a gray horse, her staff in one hand.
“Enough running,” she said sharply, jerking her horse to a snorting halt.
My jaw slackened. I expected a stoic goodbye or possibly even the map she owed me, not a rebuke. My mouth snapped shut.
“I’m not running,” I ground out. “I’m still going back home to rescue my siblings, as I said before.”
Nikella looked every inch the warrior Teacher as she stared down at me. “Youarerunning. You know as well as I that Renwell won’t harm your brother and sister if they are still pieces he can play. And right now, they are serving as bait to draw you back to him. Don’t give him what he wants, Kiera.”
I growled in frustration. Fucking Four, how did she do that? Take the fears that had been lurking in my mind and spin them with logic. Draining me of the last hope I had.
The horn sounded again, and I glimpsed warriors on horseback heading north—a familiar rider on a wild black horse in their midst.
“What would you have me do?” I snapped at Nikella, tearing my gaze away. “Stay here? Either way, Renwell wins.”
Her horse pranced sideways, shaking his head as if he knew they were supposed to be galloping with the others.
“Fight with us,” Nikella said. As if it were that simple.
My eyebrows arched in disbelief. “Fight with you?” I snorted. “No one wants me to fight with them. I’m a traitor, remember?”
“You’ve made mistakes. You chose honor when you admitted them. It’s time to move on.”
“To what?” Desperation edged into my voice. “A war we can’t win? You saw those ships. What can a few dozen warriors do against catapults?”
Nikella nodded. “There’s a chance we might not win.” Her dark eyes softened. “But that doesn’t mean the battle shouldn’tstill be fought. Sometimes the victory is in the fight itself, regardless of the outcome. Giving up guarantees defeat.”
Her words singed my soul like sparks of truth. I wanted to keep fighting. I wanted to win. I wanted to defeat Renwell and make my mother proud. I wanted to keep my friends safe.
“But I’d be giving up on Everett and Delysia,” I rasped.
“We will find a way to them, Kiera. But right now, there are other brothers and sisters who will be fighting for their lives and the lives of their families. Their homes. Their sacred mountain.” She sighed, her head bowed. “I learned a long time ago that my place is between monsters and the souls they try to steal.” She offered me a scarred hand. “I think your heart is also already in that fight. You just need to follow it.”
Hope and fear clashed like thunder in my chest, shaking my body. Those sparks ignited and burned. My heart beat faster as if I were back on the Temple roof, reaching for one of the bells suspended between earth and sky.
Because yes,yes,this was what I always wanted. To fight the monsters who preyed on others. To render justice where it was due.
I wasn’t the High Enforcer. I was hardly even a warrior. But Iwasa gods-damned fighter.
I took a deep breath and grasped Nikella’s hand.
