The new general closed the last few steps between them, a looseness in his limbs that he usually lacked around other soldiers.
“You can let those go now,” he breathed, shaking his head at her in amazement. “I don’t know how you—” His fingers grazed her neck. “Are you okay?”
It still hurt to breathe, even more to speak, and she thought she might vomit. But she would be fine. Hadima would take care of her.
When he pulled his hand away from her, his fingertips looked like they’d been dipped in red.
She was covered in blood. Karvek’s blood.
A sound burst out of Iryana as she released her forgings, part sob and part laugh. “I thought I would challenge Karvek just to discover he had already killed you.”
Pyetar’s smile softened. “I’m okay. You saved me.”
Emotion slammed into her, emotions she didn’t know what to do with. She wanted to reach for him, bring his mouth to hers, but when she licked her lips, she tasted blood. And she quickly remembered the others around them.
Iryana pulled away, and while understanding lit across Pyetar’s face, he looked just as regretful.
“How did you do it? Are you really water-forged now?”
“I don’t know how it worked, but—”
Turning away from Pyetar suddenly, Iryana ambled to Karvek’s body. Ignored the blood and the way his eyes stared unseeing at the sky.
Karvek had not stripped like the others at that party, where she’d seen plenty of soldiers’ tattoos. He had never taken his clothes off in front of her. She had never seen Karvek’s tattoos.
Crouched, Iryana started undoing his armor.
“What are you doing?” Pyetar asked as he kneeled on Karvek’s other side.
“Help me,” she demanded hoarsely.
Between the two of them, they soon had Karvek’s torso exposed. Above the great gash cut through his chest was his forging tattoo.
It wasn’t like Iryana’s, some mixed with metal-magic and some water-magic; his was uniform. A deep plum color one could only achieve by mixing red and purple.
She met Pyetar’s eyes over his brother’s dead body. She had been wrong about Karvek.
He wasn’t forged twice like Iryana. He had been forged once, in both. Together. Her mind spun. Somewhere there was a well where both fire and metal magic could be combined. She’d never heard of such a thing.
How had she survived then?Wasshe the first to be forged twice?
“Where was your brother forged?” she demanded.
Pyetar’s brows tugged together. “I don’t know. But he was gone for over a month.”
She covered the body back up. It didn’t matter. It was time to move forward. She climbed to her feet.
“Iryana!”
She turned at the sound, finding the Kleesolds making their way through the crowd, no longer bound.
Uncle Dinhal got to her first, wrapping his large arms around her. “You’ve done our family proud, Third.”
She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to handle the attention. So she mumbled, “You’ll get blood on you.”
“I’m already covered in blood.” Her uncle laughed. “A guardian should always have less of their own blood than anyone else’s. You’re restoring my honor.”
She gaped at him, not recognizing him in such a jolly mood.
