Page 66 of A Cruel Kindness

Bellamy hummed in the back of her throat, considering. “It’s slowed down.”

I nodded as we moved to the next tent. This one had a book left behind. I crouched as I flipped through it, finding it to be Muli-written. I stood, tucking it into my back pocket to take it back with me. “In the early days, it was much bloodier. But now … we don’t have the resources to push much farther other than protecting the Bridge. Muli hasn’t tried to wipe us out completely yet. Though, I’m not convinced that’s not coming.”

The next tent, one left bare. “Have they tried to negotiate?”

I nodded. “They would send an emissary about once a week for a while there. It stopped a few years into my enlistment. Nothing could really get solved when every meeting dissolved into a screaming match about who was at fault. They would always claim we were the aggressors, we’d argue the same.”

“How do you know they weren’t right?” Bellamy asked softly.

I tilted my head in confusion. Bellamy knew this story as well as I did. “When the Bridge was discovered, we sent someone through. We waited two days until we sent more. You know what we found.”

Bellamy nodded, her eyes going a little distant. “At least two thousand men ready to march on Vir. Our emissary dead, his head cut off.”

“Any sign of weakness on our part, and that is happening again,” I said, right as we walked into another tent. As if to prove my point, there was a collection of discarded weapons covering the floor, ammunition piled high in the corner.

“Yell for Freya,” I told Bellamy, if not to keep her out of view of this many guns at one time.

As Bellamy called for her, I shook my head at the force of destruction before me. I hated this war, but that didn’t mean I would let Muli invade Vir.

I loved my home. Not just the Rystrom islands. I had been forced to adapt to my new reality, but underneath it all, I knew that I was ultimately protecting something I loved.

Because of my age, I’d likely become the Emperor one day. By that math, it wouldn’t be until I was well into my sixties, if I made it that far. Even this far removed from the way I’d been groomed to know that responsibility was coming, I’d never forgotten my sworn duty to protect Vir at all costs.

I heard Bellamy’s sharp yip a moment later, and it took no longer than twenty seconds for Freya to come running through the flap in the tent, looking as excited as a child promised a room full of candy.

“Oooo, gimme!” she yelled, paying me no mind as she sank to the floor and started tearing apart weapons.

I walked out of the tent with a laugh and a shake of my head. Bellamy was standing there, with her hands folded over her chest. The wind was whipping through her midnight black hair, sending strands shooting across her face.

Mine. I wasn’t sure if that was the Bond speaking or me anymore.

Bellamy noticed I’d come back out, and she turned to me, her lips pulling into a wide smile. “Onwards?”

I nodded, partially because I didn’t think I could speak.

We walked through several abandoned tents, not seeing anything, but falling into comfortable conversation. With every step we took further and further into the camp, the feeling that something wasn’t right continued to swell in my chest.

Ford was correct. This was one of their most advantageous strongholds.

That thought was only confirmed when we made it to the edge of the camp, which sat on a cliff that overlooked our base. With the cover of trees and from this distance, it was a hazy blur obscuring the landscape, but it would certainly give a good enough vantage point to see if we were gathering more troops than were normally stationed there.

“They are pulling their troops back,” Bellamy said from behind me.

I nodded, looking out over the expansive landscape, far too pristine to be the backdrop of war. The snow-capped mountains should stay white and spotless, not dotted with blood.

This camp was good for long-range viewing, but it wasn’t easy if you were planning a move forward. You’d have to go the long way down the mountain, unless you sent experienced climbers down the cliff face.

I took a step to the edge, looking over.

“Soren!” was the last thing I heard before the ground gave way from under me, falling down the vertical cliff face. I acted on instinct, reaching out for a root I saw sticking out of the ground when I approached.

Pain sliced through my shoulder as I caught my weight on the branch. I didn’t look down. The fact that I still hadn’t heard the boom of rocks hitting the ground below told me everything I needed to know about how far that drop was.

I wasn’t a dumbass. I’d tapped the ground with my heel before I approached to make sure it was steady. That meant this was a trap meant to deter climbers from scaling the cliff face in ambush.

No time to think about that now, when for all I knew, the root was the next thing to go. I took a deep breath and hauled myself back up, the move taking surprisingly less effort than I expected.

I realized why, when I hooked my leg back over the lip of the cliff and saw Bellamy’s hands wrapped around my arm, her eyes wild and chest heaving.