So yes, hope was a dangerous thing, because gods, it could be ripped away so easily, and yet Aya held fast to it anyway, at least forthis. A single thought, a final prayer, a last desperate plea to the gods she was about to enact vengeance on.
She hoped Will would not live to see what would become of this world; ofher.
She hoped he was dead, and that when she followed, he would forgive her.
***
Watching Akeeta and Tyr was agonizing. Of course, Will would never begrudge his bonded her happiness. Even when Aya had loathed him and, by extension, the bond between their wolves, Will had not been able to bring himself to detest it.
It had given him a strange sense of peace, actually, back in those days. He’d watch Akeeta and Tyr roughhouse and think wryly of how the only times Aya couldn’t mask her hatred was when they were sparring, too.
It was there, of course. It was always there. But those were the moments he could sense the other things, too.
Seeing Tyr and Akeeta together then had given him hope.
He searched for that hope as he watched the Athatis now, Tyr grooming the fur on the back of Akeeta’s head steadily. They’d made it out of the desert and into the plains, the golden fields stretching on as far as his eye could see. The dry air had eased as they drew closer to the coast, as had the coldthat had bitten them in the desert. With the moon shining bright in the sky and the steady murmur of the Visya fighters clustered on their mats on the other side of the small fire Aidon had rendered, Will could almost forgive himself for calling the night peaceful.
The nearest village was far enough that the stars were unencumbered by Incend light. He tilted his head back, one arm propped on his knee, the other stretching toward Akeeta, his fingers buried in the fur of her flank.
“Pa and I used to try to count all of the stars in the sky,” Aya had confessed to him on their journey back from the Preuve desert. They had stopped just outside of the Agaré rainforest in the highlands and camped under the stars. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel the warm press of her back to his chest, could still smell her evergreen and mint scent as if he were burying his nose in her hair.
“On one of my first assignments, I was waiting for a mark, and I started doing it again. There I was, tucked away in an alleyway outside of the Rouline, and I just…looked up and counted the stars to calm my nerves. There weren’t many, but it helped. I’d never realized that’s what Pa was teaching me.”
Will blinked the burning from his eyes and began to count.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.He reached 232 before he finally accepted the ache that was spreading throughout his chest was one that would not ease. Not until he had her in his arms again.
He kept counting though.
I see you, he’d told her.I havealwaysseen you.
It made sense that he thought of Aya when he looked at the stars. She’d been so convinced she was made of darkness. But all he’d ever seen when he’d looked at her was light.
39
Aya could smell the smoke. It stung her nose, even from a distance, and if she weren’t looking at the gently sloping hills that sprawled into Sitya, she might think she was caught in a nightmare, her mind trapping her in Dunmeaden while it burned.
Their approach from the east had brought them to the camp the first wave of Kakos soldiers had established. Tents littered the long stretch of land, a smattering of worn canvas that reached toward the city like some hells-crafted path.
Aya walked through those rows of tents now, her back aching from the long ride. Curious stares followed her, her awareness of them prickling the hair on the back of her neck as she trailed behind Evie and Gregor.
They’d dressed her in a robe similar to Evie’s—navy without the silver thread—and left her iron cuffs on her wrists. The chain between them, however, had been removed.
“Consider it a show of good faith,” Evie had noted as she undid the fastenings. “A taste of how you will continue to be rewarded should you remain obedient.”
Aya ran a thumb over one of the iron cuffs, her hands hidden in the depths of her sleeves. She was not naive enoughto think this was any true sort of reward for her. She could steal a sword whether her hands were shackled together or not.
Evie had a love of symbolism and theatrics.
Aya’s concealed irons were no more than a show for the prisoners and the soldiers throughout the camp. It would not do to present Aya as a captive. Not if Evie wanted proof of Aya’s darkness to spread throughout the kingdom.
If she were going to fight for Kakos, she could not look like a prisoner they’d broken down into desperation. She wondered how Evie planned to twist the tale. Would she paint Aya as an acolyte? Surely she would not want to truly distinguish Aya—not if it risked devotion being taken from her.
What is an ant to a human? What is a human to a god?
“The first wave of soldiers you sent, along with those already stationed here, have been able to hold off the attackers,” the colonel leading them through the camp explained to Gregor. “Though the Midlands soldiers have yet to retreat. It seems they are intent on taking back the citadel, but the fighting has remained in the outreaches of the city,” he continued. His hands were clasped behind his back, his shoulders thrown back with importance as he walked between Evie and Gregor. The din of the camp made it difficult to make out Gregor’s murmured response, but luckily the soldier’s self-importance kept his voice strong.
“We’ve apprehended all ships within a five-mile radius of the port. None have been Midlands troops, but we have taken those aboard as prisoners as an added precaution.”
