“Don’t you want to see your family?”Kseniaasked.
I snorted bitterly before turning back to face her. I knew my expression was cold from the way she cringed away from me. I probably should have felt bad for that. I didn’t.
“I did all of this to getawayfrom my family,” I told her. “I betrayed Adrian before I ever pushed her in that hole. She wasn’t going to do the tenth and I knew it. She wasn’t going to go through with it and leave her family behind forever. She just isn't the kind of person who can live without the people she loves. I knew she was going to keep me from that final victory, from that escape, so I told my grandfather. I knew what kind of man he was. I knew he would scheme up a way to force her into the tenth Trial. For all his pride, I knew he couldn’t allow me to come so close only to fail in the end.”
Kseniastared at me when I was finished with my confession. I wasn’t sure why I'd told her any of that. She hadn’t asked and I hadn’t admitted it to anyone else before. Not even myself. Not really.
“She knew,” I continued. “I could see it in her eyes when they pulled us apart. She knew what I’d done and she knew why. She’d seen enough of what my life was those months that we were together, making our way through the Trials. She saw how much I hated it there. I don’t think she ever really believed I would betray her to get out, but I did. Before we ever even entered the tenth Trial, before I ever saw that hole, I’d alreadybetrayed her once. I think that’s what made it so easy to do it again.”
Kseniawas horrified. She still didn’t say anything but I could see it on her face. I didn’t blame her. Who wouldn’t be horrified by what I’d done? Even I'd begun to hate myself for it. More so now that she'd been given the chance to take her vengeance upon me and hadn’t.
“She should have killed me,Ksenia,” I said then, my voice weak. The despair was plain. I couldn’t be bothered to mask it anymore. I was too tired. “I was counting on it.”
Ksenia inhaled sharply.
“Why didn’t she kill me?” I asked, turning to the spy.
“I don’t know,”Kseniaanswered and, lost as I was, I had to admire her honesty. “But the fact that she didn’t only makes me more willing to follow her.”
That was strange. I'd been taught that failing to be rid of those who opposed you was weakness. But I was beginning to believe that real strength only existed within those capable of mercy.
“You’re coming with us,” she said then. “If you’re not staying here and you’re not going to Sanctuary, you’re coming with us.”
“ToPavos?” I asked, fear rising within me.
“We could use whatever you can tell us about the inside.”
“I imagine you know your way around the city better than I do.”
“Then we can use you to tell us what you know aboutValinand the others. I could never get close to anyone inside.”
“Ksenia—”
“You’re going to make yourself useful, Dante of House Viper,” she snapped, using a more forceful tone. “And you’re going to earn this redemption your former partner has given you an opportunity to claim. Because it isn’t often that life gives you a second chance and I’m not letting you waste it.”
I blinked at her, caught off guard by her ferocity, her determination, and, most of all, the simple fact that she cared.
“Besides,” she said as she smiled and walked ahead, “no sin is too great that it cannot be forgiven. Trust me. I know.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Adrian
“The others want to attack Viper first but you and I both know it is wiser to strike where they’re weakest. Avus is the obvious choice.”
— A Letter from an Unknown Rebel addressed to Rebel Leader Marsh Ackley
I’d never worn armor before. Even this set, molded perfectly to my form, made of steel so dark and shiny it seemed to drip from my body, felt strange. Perhaps it was the ostentatiousness of it. Most warriors wore simple leather or chainmail draped from their torsos. But I’d been gifted an exquisite outfit of molten metal by the best blacksmiths in the encampment. Apparently, they'd begun making it the moment word reached them about my breakout from the Underground.
“It suits you,” a familiar voice drawled from the tent opening behind me.
“It’s too much,” I muttered, dropping my arms as I turned to face him.
“Too much for the savior bearing a power they’ve been waiting over two thousand years for?”Gryfonasked, raising a brow as he stepped forward.
I rolled my eyes but froze as I realized just how close he was. His face was only inches from mine. He reached out and my breath caught. I cursed myself in the same instant. This gruff, arrogant behemoth of a man had no right to affect me like this. But then he grabbed a strand of my hair, twisting the hazel locks around one finger, and my heart leapt into my throat.
“You should put this up,” he advised. His tone was that of the general inspecting his soldier before she went off to battle. But his eyes, normally ice blue and frigid, had transformed into two shining sapphire pools beckoning me into their depths. “Most women do. It gets in the way when you fight.”
