Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
THEA
Things are so much worse in Hypathia than I could have ever guessed.
I still can’t quite wrap my mind around the fact that Barony has been experimenting on Gifteds all this time, torturing them in his quest for power.
I wonder how many have died at the hands of his alchemists.
Hundreds? My eyes burn with tears for the nameless, faceless people whose blood is on his hands, all while my Gift snarls and claws and longs to make him pay.
Did my sister know? All this time, did she just sit back and let it happen? Did she...My stomach roils. Did she help him? Watch with that dark, twisted glee at the pain of others, or with greed at the idea of having more power?
It’s something that I vow to ask her myself—before I end her.
I’ve learned that aside from normal Hunters, Barony had a Gifted who could detect other Gifted’s energies, much like Killian, though she couldn’t block them as he does.
Barony used her to find Gifteds throughout Hypathia, kidnapping them himself and condemning them to his dungeons and experiments.
When his alchemists finally found a way to take the power of a Gifted, he became maniacal in his quest for more fodder for his experiments, more potential power in his grasp, and he pushed her to the Brink.
I’m told that she died screaming in agony.
That’s when Barony set his sights on the most well-known cache of Gifteds in all of Hypathia: Duskthorne. He gained allies through promise of power or threat of annihilation, and now plans to move against us.
Us. Because I am part of them now. Always have been, really, my path always leading me here to stand beside Killian and to protect these people.
My people. I feel as if the Makers orchestrated this to help us fight back against Barony, to punish him for perverting the blessings they gave us.
Why else would they set me on this road?
Why else would they send Soren to me when familiars are all but things of legend now?
It all means something, it all has a purpose.
I think they’re making us as strong as they can in this fight.
Because we’re going to need to be strong.
Our sources say that Barony’s alchemists are putting the strength of multiple Gifts into people now, making them stronger than any unbonded Gifted should ever be.
When we meet them in battle, we’ll need to be ready.
Killian can block a great deal, but he’s never been up against anything like what we might face.
“I still don’t understand how he’s kept all of this a secret for so long, how he’s hidden these new creatures.
” I refuse to call them Gifteds. They were not blessed with a Gift, they took it by force.
They stole what was never meant to be theirs.
Though I know these abominations most likely had no say in the matter, just more rats to be used and discarded in the laboratories by Barony and his ilk, I can’t help but want them gone from this world.
“Great wealth and power can cover up all manner of sins,” Killian says as we walk to a large building used for training the army.
There’s a sharp edge to his voice and I know he must be thinking of his father.
Dorian didn’t hide his hunger and cruelty when it came to Gifteds, but he hid the horrors he subjected his family to, the bruises and broken bones, the blood and fear and heartbreak.
Though Killian’s told me much, I know there are even more horrors that I haven’t yet learned.
He’s stronger than I ever could have imagined.
“Why do you think he didn’t just take Tesni’s Gift? Even with these abominations being strong, her Gift is still fearsome. Why wouldn’t he want it for himself?”
“Our ears”—which means Ryker’s ravens that he sends to spy throughout the continent and report back to him—“tell us that it was a condition of Marrowood’s alliance.
They wanted Tesni, Gift intact, in exchange for their army and access to their mines.
” Marrowood’s mines supply half of the empire with iron.
Of course Barony would want to control that and have free access to as much of it as he might need for himself.
“Plus, he has some shred of decency left, it appears: he didn’t want her dead. ”
I snort at that. Barony and decency shouldn't be in the same sentence.
“I wonder where she is now,” I mutter, twirling the end of my braid around my finger.
“Will she stay in hiding or run back to Barony and beg his forgiveness? Fight with him in this war?” Part of me salivates at the idea of meeting my sister on the battlefield, of showing her just how strong I’ve become.
To show her that I’m not the same girl she threw to the wolves not once, but twice.
“We’ll find her one way or another.” I remember the conversation with my sister that seems so long ago now, the day I came back to Lyanna, learning how she tracked me all those years ago by my blood.
I put that thought in the back of my mind, ready to use whatever alchemy I need to in order to track my sister down when this is said and done if I need to.
“And when we do…well, that will be up to you, love.” I look up at him, arching a brow.
“She hurt you in ways no one who shares your blood ever should. It’s your right to decide her fate.
” I sigh and shake my head and his brow furrows. “What?”
“I just wish you would stop saying things that make me fall more in love with you,” I say, mockingly wistful.
He laughs low, snaking an arm around my waist and tugging me to him.
He kisses me soft and slow and my toes curl in my boots at what that soft kiss promises, all that it will lead to if I let it.
But now is not the time. I kiss him once more and pull back.
He lets me go, but the fire in his eyes tells me his thoughts mirror mine.
Later, they say. My stomach clenches at the thought and I'm again tempted to run straight back to his chambers now, to show him just how much I love him. ..
But I know this needs to be done, so, with great effort, I step away and he gestures for me to enter the training building before him.
It’s huge, three times as large as the stables and those house hundreds of horses.
It could easily fit five thousand soldiers, I’d wager.
There are multiple rings spread throughout the space, a low wooden railing encircling each one, that I assume are for sparring or weapons training.
Long rows of dummies line one wall with arrows still sticking in many of their straw-sack bodies and a collection of bows, quivers, and more arrows on hooks and racks sit beside them.
There are large sacks of what might be sand or possibly flour hanging from long chains suspended from the ceiling in another area.
I have no idea what you do with those. Perhaps whack them with swords or… run around them?
I shift my gaze to the ropes hanging down from the rafters nearby and get the sinking feeling those are for climbing.
Perhaps I won’t be required to learn that particular skill.
I crane my head up to where they’re secured, so high up, and my stomach clenches again, but this time from terror.
I’ve grown fond of looking out over the kingdom from the palace high up in the mountains, but still keep my gaze firmly on my feet or my horse when we ride to or from it, and stay well away from the edge of the palace balconies.
The thought of climbing up a rope with nothing between me and the ground.
..I shudder, my stomach flipping and my throat feeling thick.
“Don’t worry, I won’t make you climb to the top—yet,” Killian says as we walk, following my gaze and thoughts easily.
“Yet?” I repeat, mouth dry. He chuckles low.
“You’ll be doing flips off of them in no time.” I glare and he only laughs harder. He leads me to one of the rings near the center of the room.
“I already told you that I know how to fight.”
“You know how to defend yourself against attackers, and you are damn good at it, but that’s completely different than knowing how to fight an army.
” I start to argue, not for the first time, but he holds up a hand.
“I want you in this fight right beside me, Thea. I won’t be the man who tries to keep you locked away in a gilded cage to keep you safe.
You’re a warrior, same as I am. It’s one of the many, many reasons that I love you.
” He cradles my face gently between his big, scarred hands.
“I would never try to lock that part of you away. But,” he adds, holding my gaze, “I’ll not allow you to take one step onto a battlefield without proper training. ”
He sets his jaw and while there’s unyielding determination in his eyes, there’s also fear.
I understand it, and as much as I don’t like to admit it, his fear is justified.
I may be able to hold my own against a few bastards in an alley, but an army?
True battle against trained soldiers with all manner of weapons that could kill me in an instant?
I haven’t the first fucking clue how to handle that. So, I sigh and nod.
“Alright. Where do we start?”