“You are now a soldier of the 18th Brigade, Sena Lidishta,” Darish declared. “I assign you to the first team.”
That snapped Iryana out of her tumbling thoughts. The first team? Lidishta would fight alongside her then. She watched nervously as Lidishta went to stand beside Pepha and Shahn. That was going to be interesting.
When Darish went to call Iryana, a hand on his shoulder stilled him. The general stopped him.
Iryana sucked in her breath, worry seizing her muscles. Had Karvek changed his mind?
Karvek whispered something in Darish’s ear, and then the major moved to stand off to the side. The room was quieter now; the discussion lowering to a confused simmer, as Karvek looked out at them all.
Then his eyes met hers, and the corner of his mouth tilted, and Iryana exhaled with relief. He at least would not abandon her.
“Iryana, come.”
She clenched her jaw as she walked up the center of the hall and kneeled before Karvek at the base of the dais, watching his eyes track her. Why had he taken over from Darish? To remind her she owed her loyalty to Karvek and not any of the others?
Iryana could feel the eyes on her, the wondering. The expectations. She did not want them. Not here too.
She felt like glass; fractures already running through her. For years she had distanced herself from her family, protecting them and herself, but she had never felt so forsaken by them. Why could they not accept her? Stop asking more of her? Surely they knew it only forced her further away from them.
Tension was clamping on her muscles, her breaths growing weaker, and Iryana knew she was panicking. Her gaze jumped around wildly before latching onto Karvek. There was something in his look that calmed her as much as it worried her.
“Iryana Kleesolda, once a Guardian of Klees, you have proved your loyalty to me, proved your value to the 18th Brigade. Speak your oaths now.”
She swallowed, but spoke without hesitation. “I swear to follow the commands of my general, to never desert my service, and to never protect my life in sacrifice of the 18th Brigade.”
In her heart though, she remembered the oaths she had taken four years ago when she became a guardian. To first guard and protect those her clan was charged with above all else, above all authorities. Then came her duty to her clan and family, and only after that came the Kingdom of Istri. The new oaths she tookfor the 18th would follow those, and she would obey them as long as they didn’t interfere with any of the oaths she took before.
“You are now a soldier of the 18th Brigade, Sena Iryana,” Karvek declared, still watching her with that sharp way of his. “You will stay assigned to the first team, and I also award you Bronze Arrows, for your service that earned your place.”
Then he held a simple yellow-brown belt above his head, presenting it to the room which roared in approval, and Iryana stared at the bronze arrowhead-shaped mounts attached along the belt. Those mounts were awarded to soldiers and officers who individually contributed to a great defeat of an enemy—normally in a large ceremony where the story of the bravery and service to the military was recounted, not unexplained and at a soldier’s first belting.
Karvek draped the belt over her shoulder and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “We are going to do great things.”
Iryana felt the urge to run, to escape whatever the award meant, but she held the belt over her heart instead.
When she stood and faced the brigade again, met their stares, she realized what Karvek was doing. Her loyalty was to him alone; her victories were for him alone. She did not know what it truly meant, though. Would it protect her? Put a target on her back? Keep her isolated from the others?
Iryana went to stand with her team, finding herself beside Vaneshta, finding her roommate and new sergeant staring.
There was worry in Vaneshta’s eyes. “Congratulations, Sena.”
“And you, Sergeant.”
The hall was a crowded mess of celebration; everyone seemed to take advantage of the extra vodka and ale available. Iryana clutched her drink, constantly moving through the crowds, counting down to the moment she could finally slip away.
Her new belt was strapped around her waist, and eyes lingered on the bronze arrows wherever she went.
“Congratulations, Sena,” someone said as she walked past, for the twentieth time.
“Thank you,” she answered with a forced smile on her face. This was what she had wanted. She couldn’t let them see the turmoil she hid.
She hadn’t seen Pyetar yet, and she intended to keep it that way. He knew she was trying to help her family, knew that she had likely told them where the metal well was. Had he known it wasn’t enough? That she had no idea, no plan, to help them? That she was trapped here?
It was best to avoid him and not find out.
Iryana slipped through another crowd, and her eyes landed on glassy eyes, dark veins, and then she was reeling backwards.
The man high on the Beast's Poppy was being pushed back and forth between his friends as they laughed. His feet barely touched the floor as the effect of the poppy made him nearly weightless, his eyes shuttering with pleasure.
