Vi didn’t have to force or fake her smile. She could enlist in the army and be near Aldrik. Moreover, she could fight along Jax and Raylynn. The idea of continuing to protect them both was appealing.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes, just remind me I was when the sun is up. Nights like this have a tendency to be forgotten.” Jax laughed.
“I will.”
“See you in the morning then—” Jax paused, holding out his hand.
“Gwen,” Vi said, filling in the blank. “My name is Gwen.”
“‘Soldier Gwen’ has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?” Jax clasped her hand and they shook on both their second introduction and a deal.
“It does,” she agreed. “Almost like it was fated to be.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Vi,Taavin, and Deneya enlisted under Raylynn. Since Vi was the only person among them who could conjure her magic in the elemental ways of the Dark Isle, it was too much of a risk for them to try and join the sorcerer-warriors of the Black Legion.
Instead, they were foot soldiers—part of the nameless, faceless masses that exercised the will of the Emperor in his thirst for conquest.
Part of her thrived in the anonymity. It guarded her heart from seeing the Northern peoples she’d once considered friends and kin put to the sword. Being no one allowed her to move without raising attention or suspicion.
The other part of her clung to her identity. That was what motivated her to look after Jax and Raylynn, intervening on their behalf in more than one battle. Her small acts had no bearings on the outcome of the world’s fate, but protecting them both honored memories of people she’d cared for.
“Thank you for today,” Vi said to Deneya as she sat heavily around their campfire. The smell of burning bodies and ash was still thick on her from earlier in the day. “You really helped with Raylynn.”
The very woman leaned against a tree some distance away, hair slicked to her neck with sweat, talking with Baldair. With every turn in the conversation, Baldair took a half-step closer. He never missed an opportunity to be by her side.
Their unspoken love was obvious to everyone but them.
“We’ll have to leave her side, soon.” Taavin didn’t mince words. “Aldrik will sustain his injury soon.”
“Yes, the one that brings him to Vhalla. Because nothing says ‘fall for me’ like being wounded and helpless,” Deneya said dryly.
“You’ve been saying he’ll sustain his injury ‘soon’ for months.” Vi glanced at Taavin.
“Things aren’t happening exactly when we expected.”
“The world is changing. We’re getting closer to the end of the vortex.” Vi poked at their campfire with a stick, watching the flames dance.
“It’s just variation,” Taavin insisted. Vi shared a look with Deneya. The man wasn’t going to admit they were on their final course until they were extinguishing the flame of Yargen. Vi had accepted that much.
Vi stood. “I’ll be back. Off to the latrine.”
“You know where to find us.”
She always did. The campsites were mostly the same—only the terrain changed. The three of them set up their tents together, maintained their own campfire, and kept to themselves. The moment someone made a passing attempt to befriend them, Vi or Taavin would say or do something extremely off-putting.
They were the odd ones—odd, but effective. Too weird for anyone to want to spend much time with, too valuable to discharge.
“Do you think he’s really going to do it?”
“Of course he won’t. He’s mourning, not suicidal. Well… I don’tthinkhe would.”
Two men murmured by a campfire. Their backs were to her and neither seemed to realize Vi was there. She shifted her weight onto her back foot and floated her front foot forward before shifting her weight. The need for silence seemed suddenly paramount.
“You don’t have me convinced… Listen, I’m worried. We should go after him. The attack today was hard on him.”
