Iryana nodded against her sister’s shoulder. Holding her tight. Let her warmth wash over her.
“You did it?” Hadima glanced at the bandages against her neck. “You’re… forged with Voordiza too? With water?”
Iryana nodded.
“Holy shit, Iryana.”
She almost giggled at her sister’s rare cursing, but the moment was too heavy.
“Can I—” Hadima swallowed. “Can I see it?”
Iryana winced, but she held up her hand and focused.
She instantly located the water-forged magic inside her. It sat like a sickness in her that was easy to isolate. She pulled that magic into her hand. Iryana had toclench her jaw, and pull andpull. But eventually a simple staff formed, long as she was tall and blue as the sky.
It looked like a regular water-forging, not like Karvek’s strange mixture. She’d tried to pull her metal-forged dagger out, see if she could combine it with the water magic, but it had been impossible. She didn’t know what Karvek had done.
The water-forging wasn’t as easy to command as her metal ones. She wouldn’t be able to do anything fancy with it; just summoning it would be hard enough.
But it hit her. She’ddoneit. She was double forged and had a secret weapon now to defeat Karvek. There was a chance to save them.
And she’d sacrificed a lot for that chance. Become something new. Something that wasn’t entirely whole.
“Karvek,” she sang lightly, running her thumb along the edge of the staff. She had torn herself apart for the chance to kill him.
“I’m coming for you.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Iryana returned to Myura River Fort the same way as last time, but instead of sneaking through the shadows of the buildings and avoiding the guards, Iryana walked straight toward the center square, hands raised. It had been two days since she’d first marched on the fort, and only so long because Hadima had forced her to rest for a day before the challenge.
The whole time she’d worried for Karvek’s prisoners, Pyetar most of all.
She was dressed as a proper guardian now, but underneath her armor and clothing, bandages wrapped the new tattoos that wept like a festering wound. She hadn’t been able to cover the wound on her neck though, not without the white linen being seen. So that bit of the tattoo curled up just under her collar, and every movement chafed against the raw skin.
Hadima was safely hidden in the empty city beyond the wall. She had wanted to come, but Iryana couldn’t allow the distraction. The risk.
A dozen soldiers surrounded her, swords raised, mirroring her steps. They could have stopped her at the gate, but she knew they would not. How couldthey see her as a threat? They were expecting entertainment. Especially after she said she needed to talk to the general.
And they were tired, the countless bodies of dakii and dead soldiers surrounding the fort said they’d fought for their lives since Iryana had fled. Just like she had.
She stopped when she landed in the heart of the center square; the estate looming down the long main road.
On the whole walk there, with Hadima at her side, she’d thought through a thousand iterations of how she could do this, how best to make sure Karvek would accept her challenge. In the end, her plan came down to his refusal to be seen as vulnerable. As weak.
“I am here to challenge Karvek Horvol,” Iryana shouted, turning in a circle as she eyed them all. “General of the 18th Brigade.”
Some soldiers sneered and snickered, calling out names likeguardian whoreandtraitor. Iryana didn’t care; her rage was a shield that none of them could penetrate.
“Why don’t we kill you right now?” one soldier asked with a sinister sneer on his face, even though a few soldiers had already run off to alert Karvek.
“Do you think so little of your leader that he can’t handle his own challenges? Are you afraid I will kill him because he is too weak?” Iryana threw her head back and laughed, while the soldier shrank noticeably. “What do you think Karvek will do if he finds you have so little faith in him?”
The soldiers stayed well back after that, leaving Iryana to wait.
She wanted to pace, but Iryana planted her feet, crossed her arms, and did not move. The crowd grew and grew, but she just kept on waiting.
Finally, the crowd parted, and Iryana steeled herself.
