“Mayah!”
The thudding of boots, then a woman around Mayah’s age emerges through the trees, twin braids swaying.
Her lips curve into a smile when her blue gaze lands on Mayah.
“Mayah-bear!”
An incredulous beat.
Then—“Sura?”
The ground sways beneath me. My stomach plummets into the earth. When Mayah wrenches from my grasp, I let her.
She darts across the clearing and barrels into her friend.
“You’re alive,” Mayah breathes, cradling Sura’s face. “How?How?”
Sura’s gaze cuts me like a blade. “It was chaos the night he incinerated our camp. But Tumaas and I escaped under the cover of dark. A few others, too. Then Tairna found us.”
“Tumaas?” The hope in Mayah’s voice mocks me. “He’s alive, too?”
She nods. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Why didn’t you come home?” Mayah asks, a whisper of hurt lining her voice.
“Your father … he’d have just sent us back to the front lines eventually. I’m sorry, Mayah. Come with us.”
Mayah glances back at me.
She needs no words. I know she’s chosen.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Ishouldleave.
I should leave Mayah with her friend and Tairna.
IknowI should. This might be my only chance. I can make it to the coast, barter passage onto a Volcan merchant vessel and leave this skiesforsaken continent behind.
Tairna’s eyes burn into the side of my face, but I don’t look at her. Can’t bear to. She’s been alive this entirefuckingtime. Somehow ended up leading the skiesdamned Rebellion.
And now she wants to use Mayah for her means.
Mayah.
Mayah, who hasn’t let go of her friend’s hand.
Mayah, who glances at me sideways, a question in her gaze.
Mayah, who pretended to care for me while planning my death.
I want to hate her. I want to carve my heart from my chest and bury it. I don’t want to care whether she ends up in a ditch. Whether Tairna will keep her safe. Whether the Rebellion will be successful or if her father or my father will finally manage to obliterate them.
So I say, “I’ll come,” and damn myself.
Mayah’s shoulders sag. Tairna doesn’t bother to hide her relieved expression or the tears in her eyes.
Sura, though, eyes me with seething hatred.
