One final, fierce look, before her nails tear free, her words clipped and sharp. “Good.”
And then she’s gone. I lower my gaze, keeping it on the floor as a murmur passes between them, and the door closes behind her.
The only goodbye we’re likely to get.
The boots stop in front of me. “Soldier.”
“Commander.” I wait to see if he’ll release me from my standing position. Sometimes he does.
Today isn’t one of those times, it seems.
“You’ve been informed that you're leaving tomorrow?”
“Yes, sir.”
A finger lifts my chin, digging into already broken skin. Commander Vaelion scans my face, his features similar to Reena’s – to my own – but colder. So much colder. “You’re not ready.”
“I will not disappoint you.” I stay where I am as his hand drops and he begins to circle me. I can feel his irritation in every step of his usual inspection. He has always made it clear that he finds me lacking.
His huff sounds against the back of my neck. “You have always been a disappointment. But the High Solar is insistent that the time to act is now.”
“I am ready.”
The blow hits the side of my face, whipping it to the side as I suck in a breath. “It is not foryouto decide if you’re ready.”
“I apologize.”
You fool, Lyra. You know better.
Reena’s visit has shaken me. I fight to stop my fingers trembling. He’ll see it. There’s nothing he doesn’t see. No weakness he won’t pick up on and punish.
Vaelion’s voice lowers. “I have many children, you know.”
“I know, Commander.”
I also know that I’m not on the list of his recognized progeny. My name has never left my father’s lips. Has never been acknowledged, not even as a by-blow. Reena is the only sibling that has ever even known the truth of my existence, and only due to her position in the Lightbringer hierarchy. The other formal heirs, two brothers, one sister, all died during my childhood, lost to Darkwielder shadow on the battlefield and leaving Reena as Vaelion’s only heir. But there are other children, all of them formally recognized in the scribed Lightbringer family records. All of them are given roles and responsibilities.
I have those too, but my name does not appear on any family record.
As far as Solvandyr is concerned, I am not Commander Vaelion’s daughter.
I am nobody. My father has spent my entire life making sure I know it.
“What are you?” Cold, socold. As cold as the Darkwielder moon, I’d wager, and yet he wields Lightbringer rays with such finesse that he’s held our position in the war for more than thirtyyears. He’s held the Darkwielders at bay, his gifts revered and feared even by our own soldiers.
But I am his tipping point.
“A weapon,” I whisper.
“Good. Should you forget your purpose, remember that Reena can be replaced easily enough.”
I blink as the words filter through. Once. Again. And ice steals over my chest, the room dimming as I fight to keep my breathing steady.
Of course.
We had thought we were so clever. So careful. That we had hidden it well enough, that he believed she visited occasionally only to assess my capabilities in her eagerness to impress the male whose blood flows through both of our veins.
Highborn Lightbringer blood. Our veins are filled with it, so much so that we bleedlight.
