The general shoots them both a glare before his gaze returns to me. He brushes a stray curl from my eyes when he says, “We will handle the bargains you made with both Niya and Bagya. But first, we need to deal with the Vatruke.” He looks to the lieutenant. “You say you saw more than one?”
Riah nods. “At the edge of the forest.” So, that’s what she saw when we fled. “It was Vos, General,” she says.
His entire body goes rigid. “You’re sure?”
Riah nods again. I don’t know why it hasn’t occurred to me that they might know the Vatruke. For all I know, they have all been alive long enough to cross paths many times over.
“Which of the males fell by Shivaria’s hand?” the general demands, a subtle fear masked behind his eyes as he waits for her reply.
“Kezik.” The lieutenant forms the word hesitantly, as if saying it aloud might harm her in some way.
“Foc,” Riesh swears, the same moment the general asks, “You’re sure?”
“Unquestionably,” she replies, regaining some semblance of composure.
The orders that tumble from the general’s lips are urgent and his tone even more demanding than I am accustomed to hearing.
“Riesh, inform your sister and alert the guards. Riah, get yourself back to Toren, he needs to know what we’re dealing with. Leave a small contingent at the barracks. I want every remaining soldier stationed outside the palace by dawn, sooner if possible.”
“As you say,” they reply as one, departing from the room with haste.
“What is happening?” I ask, baffled by the exchange.
“Kezik was Vos’s mate,” he explains, “If Riah saw her at the edge of the forest, then she saw you both as well, and she’ll be out for blood.”
And just like that, as if it were a toppled piece of stained glass, my life begins to break apart at the seams. Each colored pane, a different path, a different life I’ve lived, or could live, but the binding holding those paths together begins to fracture. I hadn’t known it then, but I can see now, that every possible future I could have known shattered the moment that blade left my hand.
All of the lies become dust. Every excuse a vapor. I killed again. My own people,again. I did it without sparing a single thought for their lives.
I was never in any true danger, not from the Drakai. If they captured me, I would have been freed the moment I told them of my purpose here. I could have led them to the barracks, helped them gain entry into the palace, stopped the war that is coming, the war that is already here.
But Riah’s life would have been forfeit, and how many others? I can’t do it. I can’t sacrifice innocent lives, feyn or mortal. Iwon’t.
And what is the cost of all the lives I saved by betraying my people? I will pay with my own life. If Vos seeks vengeance, and the Vatruke are working with the La’tari, can I ever return home? Will she honor the pardon the king will surely grant me for succeeding in my mission? Unlikely.
The general mistakes the reason for my concern and pulls me into his arms.
“Don’t worry,” he says into my hair, “There isn’t a single army in this veil or any other that I wouldn’t send to haliel if it meant you would be safe.”
“Awri was right,” I say, my face pressed to his chest, “You should send me away.”
My throat burns when the male draws me closer, whispering into my ear, “There is no place for you to be, but by my side,mi’ajna. I swear by the fates, I will never send you away.”
But he will send me away. He would do it now if he truly knew me, if he knew why I’d come, what I am, what I intended—stillintend—to do.
I do, don’t I?
My mind has never been a more chaotic clutter of unanswered questions, and my resolve begins to fray.
“Your king won’t be safe here.” It’s as close as I can bring myself to warning him, but he doesn’t understand and maybe that’s for the best.
“The king is already aware of the Vatruke,” he replies.
I look up quizzically. “That means—”
“He has returned to A’kori.” He smiles at the surprised look on my face and drops his lips to my forehead, mumbling against my flesh. “Would you like to meet him?”
My stomach pits, my entire life dividing into two distinct paths. One planned since I was a child, formed by others and thrust upon me, and the other, new and unexplored, unconsidered, until now.
