From up above, the flutter of Allie’s energy flowed through me, even as tendrils of anger raced through her.
“You killed children,” I said. “Your actions led to the death of my mother–”
“She shouldn’t have died, I’ll give you that.”
“You helped the Northern Clans attack us,” I went on. “Warriors died in battle because of you. You tried to kill The Huntress. Apparently, you also wanted me dead.”
She scoffed.
“And yet, despite all of this, one death I can’t understand.” I leaned my face forward, making sure she saw my eyes. Those eyes which had watched her grow, train, and laugh. “Why did you betray Geryll?”
For the first time, the careless defiance on Nadya’s face cracked, before she averted her gaze back at the window.
But I’d seen.
Shame.
“Geryll decided to go to war all by himself,” she seethed. “I wasn’t there to push him onto that battlefield.”
“You convinced him. Didn’t you? You knew your spirit was stronger than his and you used that.” My voice rose for the first time. I tamped down the rage. “He was the first person to make you talk. He cared about you.”
“Not my fault.”
“Very much your fault, Nadya.” I gnashed my teeth to keep from shouting. “And it will haunt you for the rest of your days, no matter how much you try to deny it.”
“It was either him or your precious Huntress. And I’d already failed at getting rid of her three times,” she said, the fanatical edge gone from her voice. “She also came back, the coward.”
“Why, Nadya?” If I could yank the truth out of her, I would.
I’d already sent word for the ingredients Dax needed for this truth serum, but I doubted even that could get to the depths of the madness Nadya had been poisoned with.
“To unbalance you, obviously,” she said petulantly. “So you’d make a mistake and die in the war. The Blood Brotherhood was supposed to lose. The crater should have been unprotected andan easy target. But you fucked up the war. She fucked up the occupation. You two deserve each other.”
“Thank you.”
“She was such a pain. Watching my every move,” she seethed. “Still took her months to discover me. I’m smarter than people think.”
Dangerously smart. But I’d given her enough of my empathy.
Perhaps that had been the problem.
I’d noticed her sharp edges, but had always chalked them up to her mysterious upbringing, hoping warmth and understanding would soften them with time.
How wrong I’d been.
The sigh I let out threatened to tear me apart, as two sides of me battled for supremacy at once.
Bottomless grief over losing Geryll.
Unimaginable pain at discovering Nadya’s betrayal.
Both of them felt like losses I had caused.
I’d accused Allie of being blinded by loyalty and heart, when I’d sheltered one of our greatest enemies.
“I would have been just as unbalanced if I’d lost you,” I said. “You didn’t tell your overlords that, did you? Otherwise, you would have infiltrated our army, not sent Geryll. It would have been simpler.”
“Because it’s not true,” she protested. Too fast, too harshly. Either because she truly didn’t believe it or she was afraid whoever she was working with would have used that information to end her. “And I was needed here.”
