65. Greyland
SIXTY-FIVE
GREYLAND
The moment we arrived outside the castle gates, all hell broke loose. Lilia and I were toward the front of the group, and I immediately lost sight of Kallon and Scottie.
I unsheathed my own blade from my back, testing the weight of it in my hands. I knew how to use it, and I was good at it too. But I’d never gone up against someone like this before. All my fights were strictly set within regulated rules in guard classes. Even when I competed in school for the Six Battles, there were rules. We were never allowed to make a killing blow.
But this… this would be different. There were no rules here. There would be no one to yell at us to pull back. And even though Dravenburg made it clear we didn’t want to go straight to killing, he warned us all that it could quickly escalate to death. Our goal was to only take out the High Council, which was exactly what my brother and the first wave of Advenians planned to do.
We didn’t want to kill any civilians, but as far as the Tennebrisian guard went, we had no idea what would happen. We didn’t know who they would be loyal to, which was the purpose of our wave, the fifth wave. We were the backup in case a full-fledged battle took place, and judging by the sounds, I already knew where this day was heading.
I turned toward Lilia, whose hazel eyes flared as she took in the blood already soaking the ground before us. “Stay by my side, Lil , I mean it.”
She nodded, silently reaching for the daggers strapped to her thighs. Her hands were shaking, and all I wanted to do was get her as far away from here as I could. If I had my brother’s powers, if I could teleport, I would have.
I swatted at a fly that wouldn’t stop buzzing around my face before it— he —shifted into Peter.
I cursed, taking a step back. “What the hell are you doing being a fly in the middle of a fucking war?” I swore at Lilia’s brother. “Do you know how easy it would have been to squash you?”
He grinned, his dimples sinking far into his cheeks. His sister had the same ones, but hers were shallow, harder to see unless you were paying attention to them—which I always was. “Awe, that’s cute you think you can kill me that easily, Little Noren, but I can fly pretty fast, get it? Fly,” he gestured toward himself, “cause I was a fly.”
I shook my head, fighting off my own smile. Only Peter would shift into the weakest creature imaginable and not be worried about himself.
His tone changed as he took in his little sister, then at the blades she was holding in each of her hands. His smile immediately vanished. “You two shouldn’t go inside.”
“Why?” My head snapped toward his.
“Things are bad,” he started. “Sie sent me out here to warn everyone we’re fighting to kill. The guards aren’t backing down.”
“Shit.” I blew out a breath.
“We’re fighting, Peter,” Lilia said as she gripped the daggers tighter, determination written all over her face. “We didn’t come here just to sit back and watch.”
Peter’s green eyes slid to mine, his were so vibrant, one solid color of bright green compared to Lilia’s hazel. I found myself getting lost in the mix of her gold and brown hues with the edges of green bordering her irises.
I nodded at him. I knew what to do. Lilia would fucking hate me for it, but at least she would be alive.
“We’ll fight,” I said to both of them, “but we’ll stay on the perimeter of the castle.”
Lilia whipped her head to me about to protest, but I cut her off. “We can still help from out here, Lilia.”
“Fine,” she grumbled, and the look Peter gave me—such relief—made me know I was doing the right thing. It was why he agreed to sneak me in without Sie knowing.
As soon as he left—shifting back into a fly—I gestured for Lilia to follow me. If I was going to do this, I had to make it believable.
I was thankful for the thick leather uniform we were wearing and that my markings only spanned across my chest and stomach as I called to my abilities. Because Lilia didn’t notice my skin changing colors, as golden swirls spanned across me, the Tennebrisian telltale sign I was actively using my powers.
I entered her mind easily with my illusion, making it seem like she was fighting guards, but in reality, and to everyone else, she was attacking nothing—just air.
Yeah, she was going to fucking murder me once she found out.
I kept half my mind focused on her, on making her imaginary battles believable and keeping her occupied at the border of the tree line, while I actually fought off whoever came our way.
There was no way I was letting anyone get within a foot radius of her.