“Exactly. And when the mission calls for it, the Lead can override rules. Pyro is your first apprentice, so you are being cautious, but this is a simple task. They’ll be fine.”
“The apprentices are more important than these people. It’s not a risk worth taking when we could lose one of them. What’s another body out here really?”
Every muscle seemed to lock up, and a cool fire burned slowly in my chest. I pictured myself flying at her and hammering my fists into her face. No one had said it out loud before, but she just voiced what I knew deep down. They didn’t care about us, and the only reason they did now was because this village was useful to them by providing food.
“What did you just say?” My hands began to ache from clenching them into fists at my sides.
She barely regarded me. “I’m saying that your life and the others are too important to risk and we should go back.”
“But a couple weeks ago I would have been just another body, right? My family are just bodies not worth protecting.” I stepped toward her. “The people out here have families. They are mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters. There are babies and children and yet you disregard those dead over there as if they meant nothing. Someonelovedthem.”
Ghost’s brows shot up. “I didn’t mean?—”
“Yes, you did.” Before I even knew what I was doing, I shoved her. She stumbled back into Scout’s chest and looked at Vander, surprised. He didn’t step in to defend her the way I thought he would. This was his woman, wasn’t she? Rather, he tilted his head curiously. His eyes sparkling with a sort of mischief, almost as if he dared me to push further.
Ghost’s gaze flicked between everyone, as if waiting for someone to reprimand me, but their silence was felt. She straightened and lifted her chin. “I didn’t mean to offend you, and I understand how you may feel, but it’s the truth. Ducai are superior to the humans in Lothleton and are protected as such. If a few more humans die, it doesn’t matter. It’s just the way it is.”
I punched a fist at her jaw—and it connected. Her head snapped to the side and she snarled. She weaved, narrowly escaping the next punch. Scout and Falcon backpedaled out of the way as I swung again and again. Each time she bobbed and moved. No one stepped in. No call to stop came from Vander or the other trainers.
She slipped behind a tree trunk and held up a palm like it would stay me. “Stop before you embarrass yourself.”
It was like my inner rage had been locked in a trunk and the lid finally flipped open.
I charged, my shoulder rammed into her gut, and I tackled her to the ground. She bucked her hips, tossing me off and her boot heel smacked into my chin. Copper filled my mouth, but I scrambled to stand. Her leg swung out, sweeping my feet from under me and my back smacked into the ground. I quickly rolled into a crouch, itching to take another shot, but I knew it would end with me looking like an amateur fool. I jerked down my mask and spit blood from my mouth. The vampires would smell it.
“Enough,” Vander drawled, stepping between us. The barest hint of a smile played at the corners of his mouth. Was that approval? I thought he’d be furious with me, and yet there were no harsh lines of anger, not even a disapproving pinch of his brow. I’d gathered in my time here that respect was one of the highest priorities to assassins, and she disrespected me and mypeople. Maybe they understood that. “We’re staying until the vampires are killed.”
No one else objected. Not even me. I’d rather die for the people Ghost so callously dismissed than side with her against my own by running back into the safety of the wall.
Chapter 11
Isat high on the thick branch of an Ember tree as the crickets began to chirp, and the sun hung just above the horizon. Somewhere in the distance a horn blew. It sounded different from the one at home, but the meaning was the same.
“What was that?” Pyro whispered from the branch above me.
“It means get inside or die,” I answered.
“Oh.”
Yes, oh,I thought.
A few minutes later the final horn blew. The sound prickled the hairs on my body. Anytime I’d ever heard it I’d either run or was already locked inside my house with the shutters over the windows. My father was probably pacing the floors. I’d bet my mother and grandmother were quietly sewing baby clothes in the main room.
It was abhorrently foreign that I sat stark still watching the sun disappear. My body twitched, urging me to run. The wall was at least five miles from here. Would they lower the rope for me if I was being chased? I wondered if there were ever people pounding on the entrance gate of the city, begging to be let in, and were left to be slaughtered. If I were to be put on wall duty, I couldn’t stand at the top and watch them die. I wouldn’t.
In silence, we waited. The moonlight hit the forest and the leaves all around us gave off a subtle orange glow, like the embers of a fire floating into the night. It was beautiful. To distract myself from the rising panic, I plucked a leaf and rubbed the soft fiber between my fingers. It left an illuminated film on my fingertips.
A quick flash of white caught my eye. I wasn’t sure what it was until a pair of animal eyes reflected behind a bush... a wolf. My brows pinched. The same white wolf I’d seen near Nocturnus? It couldn’t be. But a wolf with such a beautiful coat would be rare.
A scream echoed through the wood; the leaf dropped from my grip, floating to the ground next to Vander. I jerked in the direction of it, expecting the monster to appear. My heart crashed loudly in my chest. I pulled my legs up and settled into a crouch ready to move, the wolf forgotten.
Vander waited at the base of our tree, not trying to hide himself, picking at something beneath his fingernail. My jaw came unhinged. How could he be so unbothered at a time like this? The other trainers were half hidden behind bushes or somewhere in the shadows but not him. Taewyn hand signaled with his finger and thumb forming a circle, and his other three fingers upright. Three?
A quiet snap, and the crunching of leaves finally caught my ear. Vander slipped around the other side of the trunk and pressed his back to it. I gripped my knife in hand, sweat dampened my palms underneath my gloves. I wasn’t supposed to move from this spot unlessabsolutely necessary. Which was perfectly fine with me.
A large tawny owl screeched and swooped in, landing on the branch next to me. I froze, watching those big yellow eyes stare ahead. It didn’t know I was here.
Three shadowy figures came into view. Two males guarded a female at the center. She looked about my age, dark matted hair, face dirty but beautiful. She reminded me of Kayda. The male on the left was tall, maybe a little older than her, the one on the right appeared mature. I half wondered if the older one was their... father. Who would have turned who? I’d read in the LOA manual that some wildlings stuck together when changed around the same time.
