Dianna smiled, but I saw the pain and grief she hid behind it. If they were not bound now, I’d run that blade through him again and again until he felt even a fraction of the pain he’d caused her.
“I love you.” She clasped my hand, running her thumb over my knuckles. “Don’t worry about me.”
A weak snort left me. “Oh, akrai, you are far too late for that, my love. It’s practically my job now.”
45
DIANNA
Miska had showered, and we were tucked away in her room, sitting on her bed as I finished braiding her soft pink hair. It was the first time we’d had a chance to talk, and she had needed me to listen. Miska had been through so much in her young life that she felt older than her actual eleven years. I think we often forgot how young she actually was.
She’d told me everything, all that she had seen, heard, and experienced. It had taken everything I had to keep my temper under control, and when she had told me about Nismera hitting her, I’d had to let go of her hair to keep from burning it. Her face wasn’t swollen or bruised, but I planned to skin Nismera alive for daring to hurt my kid. How low must you be to attack someone weaker or smaller than yourself?
I was still a little bit shocked at hearing how Kaden had healed her, but I said nothing about that. I couldn’t explain it, but I showed Samkiel what I felt. Kaden was different. Had Oblivion shaped him anew? Or had meeting his true end changed his perspective?
She turned toward me as I dropped the end of her braid and slipped off the bed. “I remembered everything you said, and I was brave.”
I smiled at her and pulled her covers back. Samkiel had made her new ones. Actually, that was a lie. He had damn near given her a whole new room, expanding the space and adding more of her favorite plants and vines. She had far more arts and crafts than I think she knew what to do with, and a large collection of stuffed animals. Even the window was larger, giving her a better view of the towering mountains and allowing her to watch the birds singing brightly in the mornings.
The worry that we had put a target on her by rescuing her from Jade City was at the forefront of both our minds, and I knew Samkiel felt as horrible as I did about her being taken and hurt. She was much too young and innocent to have to face anymore monsters, yet she had done so with courage and wit. I ached for what she had gone through, but I couldn’t be more proud of her.
“So very brave,” I said, and she nodded decisively before crawling beneath the covers. I tucked her in and sat on the edge of the bed. “Most would have fainted from fear, but you survived in one of the scariest places, surrounded by monsters. People should fear you.”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. It reminded me of when we’d first met her in Jade City, and the urge to hurt Kaden and Isaiah was nearly overwhelming. They had stolen Miska’s hard-won sense of security, the belief that her home was a safe haven.
“I thought they’d be meaner to me,” she said in a small voice.
I knew who she meant. “They weren’t?”
“Well, besides trying to sell me, no,” she said. “Whatever happened between them and Nismera at the palace was bad, and it has left them at odds. They were too busy yelling and fighting with each other to really pay attention to me.”
I nodded and stroked my hand over her hair. So my theory was correct. Not that I thought they’d ever tell any of us what truly happened, but whatever it had been, it had badly fractured the centuries-long truce between the three.
“Do you know where they took you? Do you remember where it was?” Perhaps if she remembered, we could end this war before it started.
She shook her head, “No. As soon as we left her boundaries, everything became fuzzy. Then after, it’s like my brain shies away from even thinking about it, and I cannot focus on it enough to even guess how to get back there.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I smiled. “There is something else I need to tell you.”
Miska folded her small hands atop her fluffy pink blanket and waited. “What is it?”
“I will not lie to you, nor do I wish to treat you like a child. You have seen and experienced things you shouldn’t have, and for that, I am sorry. But I promise to make a place in this world for you and people like you to actually live and enjoy life. No more wars or fighting.”
Her smile this time made her eyes crinkle. “I know.”
“But it seems Kaden and Isaiah aren’t going anywhere for a while.”
“Why?”
“In simple terms, someone very powerful has bound the two of them and me together. Which means that we have to work with them and keep them close because if they die, so do I.”
Her eyes grew wide, and she shot up from her bed. “No!”
“I know. It’s okay. I feel the same,” I assured her. “But I have no plans to let that happen, and you know Samkiel does not either. I’m telling you this because I know they hurt you. They have hurt a lot of people here, and I want you to be comfortable while we are all here. I know you are close to a lot of the girls in the city, and if I need to make arrangements for you to stay with—”
“No!” Her hand shot out, grabbing mine, and tears filled her eyes. “Please don’t send me away. I can be strong like you. If you have to endure them, I can too. I swear. I’ll be good.”
My heart broke. How many times had she been shunned, abandoned, and pushed aside? I was just trying to make sure she was safe and felt comfortable. It broke my heart that she thought I would cast her out.
