Cindral doesn’t answer. But he nods. There’s movement behind me, and I turn—
The first dart pierces my right arm, above my elbow.
The second, my left thigh.
The third, my neck.
I stumble back, yanking the one from my arm and staring at it even as my vision wavers. My swords fade from view, and I can’t call them back.
I cannot cast. “What…”
Fuckingdimmers. Or nulldusk quills, but either way, they’re not Lightbringer weapons. I’ve never known our side to carry the long, thin black darts that can dampen our ability to cast. Only Darkwielders use them in battle, and sparingly. “The fuck is this?”
Cindral doesn’t even meet my gaze. “This is the plan. Don’t fight it.”
They rush me as one. Five of them grab for me, Iliria among them, forcing my twisting body down to the ground as my legs kick out desperately. Managing to pull my arm free, I swing my fist into her face, the satisfying crunch almost as good as her enraged scream when her nose breaks beneath my punch.
More of them join in. Hands grip my legs, my arms, forcing me down against the cold ground until I’m well and truly pinned. Cindral leans over me, and I attempt to spit at him. He ducks it. “Spies tell us the Umbraxis healer is rumored to have a softer heart. He’s part of the team heading this way. He’s going to find an injured Lightbringer traitor and take her back for healing. This way will get you in, and you’ll do what needs to be done. Vaelion assures me you know the price of failure.”
Reena.
“Assuming you live that long.” Iliria hisses behind him. Light forms in her palms, flowing to hold me in place against the icy ground as the rest get to their feet. “Kin-killer.”
Kin-killer. Murderer.
I’ve spent my whole life preparing to take a life. Now that it’s finally happened—even if it isn’t the life I planned to take—I find it almost curious that I feel nothing at all. Or perhaps it’sthe effect of the dimmers, Nulldusk poison coursing through my bloodstream for however long before it wears off. “And if I don’t survive?”
Cindral’s eyes look black in the light. “You’re not his only plan. He’s never set much faith in the old ways. You think he would risk the outcome of this war onyourshoulders alone? Then you don’t know him.”
Truth. My father has never been patient with the temple, with the endless ceremonies and superstitions and prophecies. And yet he still raised me as the High Solar instructed. Tutored me and pushed me and punished me in a thousand different ways, my entire life built around this moment. Perhaps, even in his aversion, he was still wary of offending one of the many Solvandyr gods by refusing the High Solar.
But in the end, I’m just a single thread amongst many. I mean even less to him than I thought. “How exactly do you plan to cause this injury?”
Cindral doesn’t smile. “You know the punishment for treason.”
I do.
When they return with the stakes, hastily carved, I swallow. “He won’t be pleased if I die before this healer reaches me.”
It’s still a waste of resources. Of his time.
Cindral kneels beside me. I twist as his hand strokes over my hair, his words barely a whisper above the crackling of the fire. “How would he know?”
Voice raising, he addresses those around us. “Prepare to move out. Leave nothing behind.”
I look to the sky above our heads as the ground shifts around me, the unit following orders and leaving me with him. “I didn’t agree with killing children. That doesn’t make me a traitor.”
And yet the rest followed Cindral without question.
Obedience, loyalty, respect above all.
Perhaps I’m not a real Lightbringer after all.
His next words are a whisper for my ears alone as he reaches for my palm, and my body grows colder still. “You should have said yes, you know. I would have gone easier on you.”
To him. To his offer to keep me in his home and breed me like one of the horses he keeps. This time, my spit doesn’t miss. It hits Cindral square in the face.
The backhand he gives me in response splits my lip, snapping my head to the side. I grin at him as blood trickles down my chin. The faint glow it creates illuminates his face. “So much for keeping my skin unscathed.”
