I just scoffed.
“You disapprove,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
“Of killing children? Yes. I do.”
“Those children were conscripted soldiers sent out to find an enemy. Instead of hating their opposition, perhaps you should hate the ones who conscripted them in the first place.”
“Don’t worry. I hate them too.”
“Do you hate yourself then?”
My gaze snapped to hers and I held it there for a moment, the question suspended between us. Then I stepped in closer, lowering my voice so that only she could hear me, allowing the hard edge of my grief to sharpen as I spoke.
“Every damn day,” I snarled.
Then I stepped away, leavingKseniastanding alone in the dark while I found my tent and a restless night’s sleep spent covered in the blood of human slaves.
***
“We’ll be inArchíby evening,” Rainier announced the next morning as we rose and took down our camp, preparing for the day’s journey.
“That’s quick,” I said, unable to help myself.
Rainier’s eyes found mine, widening briefly in surprise. I hadn’t spoken to any of them since dinner the previous evening and they all knew why. Word had gotten around regarding my feelings for what we'd done. They all looked at me with pity or disgust or both. I didn’t care. I was just the bait anyway.
“The pass was a shortcut,” he informed me, his eyes narrowing. “That’s why it was so important we took it.”
I didn't give him the satisfaction of a response. If Rainier wanted to justify the slaughter of young men with a strategic tactical advantage, I wasn’t going to validate his choice. It wasn’t the one I would have made and, truthfully, it didn’t seem like theone the hero I'd grown up on legends of would have either. So I said nothing and we both climbed upon our mounts, ready to depart.
Roman andKseniawere speaking in low tones a bit away from the group, plotting under the guise of packing. Rainier’s riders were busy loading up their own mounts as well which left me alone with the legendary hero.
“What’s it like?” Rainier asked after a moment of tense silence. “Knowing you’re riding to your death?”
I ignored him but he must have noticed the way my jaw tensed in irritation for I saw the satisfied grin he turned away with as one of his men approached and announced we were ready to leave.
The others mounted their beasts and Roman mounted his horse and we were off within moments. The captain caught up to me only a few minutes into the journey.
“What was that about?” he asked with a nod in Rainier’s direction.
“He’s an asshole,” I replied.
Roman snorted at that and I could have sworn the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile.
“Finally, something we agree on, Viper.”
Then we were moving.
Ksenia, Rainier, and the riders cast an enormous shadow over us as we made our way through the winding pass between sandstone cliffs. Phantom led the line, despite Rainier having been the obvious leader of the group before. He soared overhead, staring down at our surroundings with shrewd red eyes. I avoided his gaze, keeping my eyes cast down on the sand beneath my horse’s hooves. It was coarser here, rockier, as if it had been carved from the cliff side surrounding it rather than having formed a natural floor.
I tried to think about the sand. I tried to think about the horse beneath me or theZverabove me. I tried to think of their riders and the forest they'd claimed to glimpse the day before. But all I could really think about were the words Rainier had spoken and just how much they'd affected me.
What’s it feel like knowing you’re riding to your death?
Admittedly, not great. I’d known I was bait from the very beginning. I’d known of the human prince's plan to offer me up to the vengeance of my former partner in an effort to lay claim to the power she held. I’d come this far knowing where I was going, what fate I was marching toward. But now that the hour of my destiny was at hand, I…well, truth be told, I never really thought we’d make it.
I assumed we would have been found by now, captured or killed and left to rot in the desert like the sun-bleached carcasses of the many animals we'd come upon in our travels. And if that hadn’t happened, we still would have had to find her. I hadn’t expected my human companions to have such extensive knowledge of the world outside their walled cities. Nor had I expected to come across an ancient hero from Sanctuary. One who was clearly Fallen himself and would have the best sense of where Adrian had gone, enough to lead us right to her.
So I’d played my cards wrong. I’d bluffed and they’d called and now I was left to accept my fate, whether I was ready to or not.
