Chapter 52
52
R iverleaf had fallen.
In his memory, I saw through Callum’s eyes as he surveyed the burning homes of our little village. He went into charred homes, rooting through the rubble only to find charred corpses of families who had been trapped inside. I felt his anger boiling until he broke into a run, sprinting toward the edge of town as wails of the survivors filled the air.
Callum stopped in front of the bakery— my bakery—where the door had been melted open and the inside burned to a cinder. He stepped inside, as if worried he would find me amongst the remains.
“Saffron? Are you here? Anyone?” he called out, but there was no reply. Then, something caught his eye and he lowered to one knee, reaching down to the soot-stained rubble to pull out the blue ribbon— my blue ribbon, and the one he had kept at his bedside. I felt his emotion swell as he pocketed it.
“Missing something?”
Cassandra stood in the doorway with three of her priestesses, flanked by six Luminaria guards wearing white and gold. The darkening sky cast an eerie light across her face, and she smiled at Callum.
He didn’t hesitate and blasted them back with his shield, sending them flying, out of the bakery and back onto the dirt road. But Cassandra seemed to float on some sort of wayward wind, and Callum unsheathed his sword, leaving the burned down bakery and advancing toward her.
“Leave our village.”
Cassandra raised her arms, turning to the other Luminaria soldiers beside her. “He speaks!”
“Back off!” Callum yelled, and I heard the fear in his voice.
Cassandra stepped closer. She tilted her head. “Oh, I’m sorry. You aren’t even just a soldier. You’re…” her eyes dipped a symbol in his armor of a six-pointed star. “…a captain . Oooh, how special. You must be privy to your little militia’s plans, aren’t you?”
Callum roared, and his steel rose to slash at her. She merely reached up and gripped his blade , blood sliding down her palm from where her skin met the hilt.
His eyes went wide. “You’re a witch.”
Cassandra smiled as she melted his blade in her fist, and silver droplets landed on the soil beneath her. “High Priestess, actually.”
She raised another hand, and power blast out of her at him, but he fell to the ground, calling out his shield to protect him just in time. I felt his fear run through his veins as he realized he was outmatched.
Cassandra blasted waves of power at the shield again and again, but it did not waver. “You’re a strong one, aren’t you? Your power could be… useful to us, you know.”
Callum didn’t answer, grunting under the strain of keeping his shield up. But Cassandra threw more power at the shield, and he cried out in pain as it started flickering. He was losing.
He knew it, too.
That’s when his hand dipped underneath his chest, reaching for a hidden dagger there.
A hidden dagger to pierce his own heart crystal and blow everything to hell .
Even as just an observer in Callum’s memory, I saw the moment his resolve clicked into place as he prepared to sacrifice his own life to end Cassandra’s.
Cassandra saw it, too, and suddenly, she shot out a fresh beam of power—a force streaked with a rainbow of color from all of the stolen heart crystals she had absorbed. It overwhelmed his shield in an instant, snapping it with a cry as Callum’s dagger dropped to the ground.
Callum dove for his dagger, but Cassandra was on him instantly, and with a horrible crunch she broke his leg.
He screamed, but Cassandra was on top of him. She held his dagger at his throat.
“Now now, don’t make such a fuss,” she chided. “I saw you were going to introduce us all to the gods a moment ago, but that would be a waste of your heart crystal and the power stored there.”
“Fuck. You,” Callum spat at her, but pain wracked his face. She pressed on his broken leg and he let out another horrible scream.
“Be still, soldier. I heard that you lost someone today, didn’t you?”
Callum froze.
Cassandra smiled, and through his eyes I could see how wicked that smile was. “I know the Shadowfire Assassin left this village with something that didn’t belong to him. A girl . If my sources are true… your girl. What if I told you that I could bring her back?”
Callum swallowed. “What do you mean?”
“It’s simple, captain . You fight for Luminaria for one year and help us put a stop to these silly neutral villages that are aiding the Stormgard rebels, and in return I will see to it that you will be reunited with your dearest Saffron.”
Even as I witnessed Callum’s memory, a part of me began raging at him. To stop. To not consider this.
“I’ll find her myself.”
Cassandra looked down at him, pointedly. “You think I’d let you live? That’s cute,” Cassandra crooned. “And even if I did, do you think the bloody remains of your militia will brave another fight after what has happened here? Here, I’ll even offer you a blood oath that I will bring her back to you if you work for us willingly.”
“If she was taken by the Shadowfire Assassin, how can I be sure that he has not warped her mind? That he has not taken her for his own?” Callum asked, his voice cold.
“You’re right. Then here are my terms: you will share with me all of the militia plans for all of the villages on the border and serve in Luminaria’s forces for just one tiny little year as we see fit to quell this rebellion. In exchange, I will spare the rest of the surviving civilians here in Riverleaf and return Saffron to you. And I will ensure she will be… unencumbered from any man who thinks to lay claim to her. Deal? Or would you prefer death?”
Callum hesitated, and I felt the warring emotions in his mind even as the terror started to give way to finality.
His decision was made.
“Deal,” Callum said as I watched the memory unfold with growing panic. “We seal it in blood?”
“Why of course,” Cassandra grinned, and rose to her feet. Callum stood as Cassandra took her dagger and in a smooth motion, she split her hand open, handing the dagger to Callum, who did the same.
They clasped hands, their blood mixing with a spark of power, and I screamed and screamed and screamed as the memory
d
i
s
s
o
l
v
e
d
around me.
I stumbled back from Callum in my chambers, gasping for breath, for truth.
“You…” I whispered, shaking my head.
Callum was gripping the chair behind him, his face ashen. “You looked into my mind. You… stole Tristen’s powers to look into my mind .”
I didn’t let myself think of how it had been possible for me to unintentionally take Tristen’s powers—and how if I had taken them, he had been truly defenseless against those shapes that had emerged from the dunes. I had sealed his death with my unknowing touch, but I shoved away that rising guilt and let it boil over into raw fury.
“You made a deal with her,” I said, my eyes wide. “With Luminaria! When you watched them torch our village and burn everyone in it !”
Callum held up a hand. “The destruction was done. Tristen had stolen you from me. Everyone we loved… they were all dead. I made a deal to salvage what was left. Us. I made that deal for us .”
Tears, hot and angry, flowed down my face. “You gave them information to help them take down the other neutral villages, didn’t you, Callum? The ones at the border that were aiding the Stormgard rebels? Those innocent people?”
Callum shook his head. “I did what I had to do to bring you back to me, Saffron. I told you before, my wish was to see you again.”
Truth flashed through me. “You… you’re the reason I’m here . In these godsforsaken trials. Cassandra said she’d bring me to you—and this is where she brought me!”
Hurt and anger flashed through Callum’s eyes. “I should have clarified my blood oath with her. I messed up, Saffron. I never thought… never thought she’d bring you here. Like this. I just… I just wanted you to survive. Everything I have done is for you. Please… believe me…”
He took a step forward, but I took two steps back. “ No . You’ve betrayed everyone for me. What about my memory? Are you somehow responsible for that, too?”
“No,” Callum said. “The sphinx told you that Tristen had done that. Probably so that you couldn’t see all of the horrible things he must have done to you behind enemy lines.”
“Behind enemy lines?” I said, and wild laughter slipped from my lips. “I am behind enemy lines. And all I see is my true enemy.”
Callum took another step toward me, but I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t bear to look at the man who I had wished with all of my heart could have been the missing piece to a forgotten love story—but in truth was the reason my life had turned into a living nightmare.
I flung myself out of the door of my room and down hallways, down stairs, past drunk courtiers and guards and priestesses.
Out. Out. Out. I have to get out.
My feet obeyed, and I made it to the gardens before I realized I was out of breath from running. I stopped at the foot of the sweeping gardens, the ocean glittering beyond in the dying light.
My hands were shaking as I took unsteady steps down the small staircase and onto the wet grass. Behind me, I could still hear the revelry of the party happening above. In my honor—the honor of the King’s favored who would win The Ash Trials and help the King of Luminaria in his quest to destroy the Stormgard rebels—and any innocent civilians that stood in his way.
“A beautiful night, is it not?”
I whirled to see Cassandra strolling toward me out from behind a fog-lined hedge.
“ You ,” I said, my anger rising as I took sight of her. “You are the reason I’m here.”
Cassandra smiled, the image of piety and sweetness. A candy apple rotten to her core. “You should be thanking me. I brought you back to the man who loved you. It’s not my fault he just happened to be here of all places.”
“He chose me over innocent people. He let Luminaria destroy those neutral villages.”
“In the name of love, was it not? A lot of people do silly things for the name of love. Just like your husband-to-be. Don’t think I believe for one second that Tristen just happened to be caught after you showed up here.”
Husband .
Suddenly, I was brought back to the first memory I had in this version of myself. Lying on the cell of Ashguard, looking down to see I was dressed in a torn wedding dress.
It wasn’t Callum who I had chosen to be wed to.
It was Tristen.