Ayla hadn’t yet let go of Lenna’s shoulders. It was not that she needed to orientate herself; that much was obvious. Since she had been forever blinded, Ayla hadn’t lost the confident way of moving in the world, nor the ability to know—or sense—where things were.
If anything, her confidence seemed heightened.
“Are you okay?” Lenna asked in a low voice. The sangins were far away above them, but the last thing she wanted was to make themselves known to them. “Did you moure Nina and Indianna?”
“Yes, they are safe in the safehouse, waiting for the rest.” Ayla inhaled deeply and then swallowed. “Lenn—”
“Which is exactly where Sasha and Brendon should be,” Lenna interrupted, grabbing the ladder again. She scoffed. “Safe. If they only fancied coming down one of these days. Honestly, what th—”
“Lenna…Sasha won’t come.”
“Oh yes, she will. Even if I have to carry her down myself.” Her shoes banged against the metal as she climbed upwards. A mass of deadly aggressive creatures would not stop her from getting her friends to safety.
“Lenna,” Ayla shouted, the volume of her voice making Lenna stop dead, her blood at once frozen as she feared the beasts would have heard the loud sound and would attack them there, on the bloody ladder. Not the best amongst strategic positions.
“What?” she spat, staring at her twin.
“Sasha isn’t coming.” Ayla lifted her palm as Lenna opened her mouth again to argue back. “She isn’t coming, Lenna. I’m sorry.”
“What do you mean,you’re sorry? What on Terrha are you talking about, Ayla?” Lenna’s own voice raised an octave.
“The sangins got to Sasha, Lenna. She’s dead.” Ayla’s words came out in a broken whisper.
The confusion and nonsense were such that Lenna felt as if they could drown her there and then. A part inside her was laughing out loud; another was getting angry for this conversation wasting her time.
Ayla had to be wrong.
Lenna couldn’t take her eyes away from her sister. From the way Ayla’s lips trembled. From the way she flinched, she looked like someone crying, except perhaps Ayla couldn’t produce tears anymore.
“I’m so sorry, Lenna,” Ayla repeated, a moment of hesitation before she added, “It’s not safe for you to go up there. We must moure away from this place.”
Lenna rocked her head, her hands tightening against the chilled metal of the ladder she was gripping as if her own damned life depended on it.
It wasn’t possible. It really wasn’t. Aylahadto be wrong.
Hope, Ciaran, and Jake were still there, fighting the sangins. They would have protected her best friend. They wouldn’t have allowed Sasha to die. They were the best fighters on this Cardinal-cursed island.
And yet, neither of them had replied to Lenna’s ink.
The devastating overwhelm and worry were so painfully heavy in her soul that she couldn’t even fathom that any of the three—or perhapsallthree—would be hurt to the point of being incapacitated to send an ink.
Fuck.
Fuck fuck fuckfuck.
Stormy rage made her speed up the ladder, the fire-red waves of her hair shining under the sun, her own heart begging to burn.
She had already burned once before.
A painful memory flashed in her turbulent mind. After the ordeal where she burned herself almost to death, and Jake with her. She had claimed she was fire-cursed, yet he had denied her truth. “You’re my fire-blessed,” he had promised. This thought alone was strong and devastating enough to rip her heart apart before she even made it atop the navia.
The blood-borne creatures of the Cardinal Queen couldn’t have killed her best friend. Harmed, perhaps, but killed? Stopped her life forevermore? So Sasha would never flash her wide smile or make her witty comments again? Would she never hug her closely again, or tease each other until they were both laughing so hard they cried?
No.
No, no, andno. Not in five fucking million years.
She saw the destruction atop the navia a second before her feet stepped onto the metallic platform where a full-on battle had unfolded. Her golden eyes checked on Ayla behind her.
