That earned the faintest snort from Ashley.
I continued. “About five years ago, I met a male named Kael’Varyn. Actually, he met me. He and his friends attacked the Temple, and I decided I wanted to leave with them.”
“Rebel?” Ashley guessed.
“Rebel leader,” I corrected.
“Kael’Varyn had spent decades building resistance cells throughout Sythari territory. Human settlements. Labor camps. Temple servants. Smugglers. Disgruntled soldiers. Anyone willing to fight.”
I felt Thyros' attention sharpen beside me. “He showed me things the Temple never would. Human worlds. Human families.” My voice softened slightly. “Human freedom.”
For a moment, I saw Kael’Varyn again. The old rebel standing over a star map, looking exhausted and determined all at once. The closest thing I'd ever had to a father. “He freed me in every sense. He taught me how to fight. He made me part of the rebellion.”
"My last mission was to capture the two men you're holding for me now." I looked at Xandros. "The last message I receivedfrom Kael’Varyn was urgent and distressed. I don't know if the Sythari found our base, or if they took him prisoner. I was ordered to bring my prisoners here and wait. So," I met Xandros' eyes, conveying how important this was. "If there is any chance that Kael’Varyn is still alive, he will come here. But if he doesn't, the Sythari will. And they won't stop until they have those two men back and Earth is annihilated."
"Let me guess," Xandros crossed his arms, "You want me to babysit your prisoners, protect Earth, and play messenger to your boss Kael’Varyn, does that sound about right?"
I nodded and stood my ground. "Yes."
Xandros took a deep breath, "I'm not?—"
"We'll do it. You can count on us. Earth will remain safe." Ashley assured me.
Xandros only stared at her. She shrugged.
“What?” Ashley asked. “It's literally what we do.”
“We absolutely do not?—”
“You absolutely do,” Ella interrupted.
“Repeatedly,” Nadine added.
“Against my better judgment,” Xandros grumbled.
“Every time,” Ashley said.
For a moment, despite everything, laughter rippled through the room. Even though it was small and brief, it bound us. For a moment, it felt like I had found a new family. One I hadn't even known I was searching for.
The words landedlike a blade between my ribs. Even though I'd already stolen glimpses into her past, this time it hit me with more force. For just a moment, when she said that this Kael’Varyn had freed her from the Temple, she had opened herself up, and I snuck in. I wasn't proud of it, but getting a glimpse of what my Aelyth had been through, the way she had been used… a breeding program. They had planned to use Naeris as a vessel. To force her to carry children for their twisted ambitions, to treat her body like livestock while her spirit was caged. A deep rage rose in me, dark and volcanic. The flaw on my back burned. The Abyss inside me whispered sweet, violent promises, how satisfying it would be to hunt down every Sythari priest who had ever touched her and make them scream for centuries. Slow. Painful. Personal.
I barely stopped myself from demanding names.
Zapharos spoke before I could. “No reason to linger. We have what we need. The Shard waits in the Abyss.”
Ella let out a low, pitiful sound, and Zapharos embraced her, whispering words into her ear that nobody could hear, but their meaning was easy to decipher. I didn't fully understand her calling, but from the moment I’d become Executioner, when the one who held the title before me succumbed to Nox Eternum, nobody could have stopped me from fulfilling my duties, so I understood Ella's reluctance to leave hers.
Xandros looked pained; it was also easy to see that he'd rather go with us than stay here and play babysitter to Naeris' prisoners, but that wasn't my problem either. Ashley and the females hugged, then we were finally outside in the hallway. Naeris looked up at me with an unreadable expression. “I should be there when we bury Marek.”
I moved without thinking at the mere thought of being separated from her. My hand rose, cupping her cheek with a gentleness I didn’t know I possessed. Her skin was warm beneath my palm. The golden thread between us sang at the contact.
“If you really feel the need to stay,” I vowed, “we will. But right now, it is more important to save the living than to mourn the dead.”
She searched my eyes for a long moment, then gave a small, reluctant nod. The understanding in her gaze eased something tight in my chest.
“I still need to say goodbye to my crew,” she gave a derisive, humorless laugh, "or what's left of them."
I moved to follow her when she turned and started walking down the hallway, as every instinct screamed at me to stay at her side. But Dravok and Zapharos fell in beside me.
