Chapter 41 #2
“Asking,” I bit out. “I’m not in the business of forcing people into battles they do not wish to be a part of.”
She snorted, her eyes flickering with suspicion before she set about unrolling her bedroll, avoiding the weight of my stare.
What right did this school teacher have to judge the actions of my army? She knew nothing of war. She knew nothing of how we recruited our forces or compensated them for their service. She knew nothing of me.
“You doubt my intentions?” I asked her even as she kept her back turned to me. Kent smacked my arm sharply, shaking his head in a silent warning to leave her be.
Ayanna must have been hitting him with some pretty intense waves of anger. Perhaps anger even stronger than what I was feeling.
“Yes,” she answered instantly, not even bothering to soften the word. Sitting on her roll, she turned to meet my gaze. “Would you deny that the Athenian forces have sought out children to force them into joining the Dragon’s armies?”
An awkward silence fell over us, my brother looking obviously between Ayanna and me, before his gaze fell awkwardly onto Kent.
My oldest friend just stared at the ground, even though I knew he must have felt it the moment that Ayanna looked toward him.
Her eyes lit with understanding. Understanding and enough vindication to make my upper lip curl back.
“They gave me a choice,” he told her, although it seemed more like he was reminding himself of that fact. “I made a decision I do not regret.”
Ayanna watched him with narrowed eyes, the firelight flickering over her pale skin as she stared at Kent. “Well, consider yourself lucky then.”
Undoing the belt across her waist, she slid her instructor robes over her shoulders, revealing a thin-strapped chemise that left far too much of her smooth skin on display.
She flapped the robes, content to use them as a blanket for the evening and I found myself watching her movements as she laid back on the roll.
Elaijah smacked my arm, leaning over to whisper. “Stop staring.”
I blinked, pulled out of whatever trance he’d just caught me in.
Ayanna was insufferable, pretentious, condescending and—apparently—hiding quite the body underneath those loose robes. Impressive curves. Flawless skin. Thighs and arms made of lean muscle.
“Not everyone was fortunate enough to be given a choice,” she continued, oblivious to my attention. “Especially those of us unfortunate enough to have such desirable powers.”
Elaijah tossed a stick into the flames. “The army tried to force you?”
I braced myself for her answer, expecting the worst.
I did not, however, expect her to turn those icy eyes on me.
“You don’t remember?” She asked, voice thick with accusation. “You were there.”
Her words froze me, punching at something deep inside. I felt the sharp sting of something… familiar as I took in her dark hair and too-knowing eyes and before I could stop myself, I found myself leaning forward, towards her.
Moonlight filtered over us all, leaving each of us in a silver hue even as shadows lingered all around us. Trees rustled. Bugs chirped. Kent and Elaijah stared at us. And yet, she was all I saw.
“My parents were Mortal,” Ayanna explained, her eyes never leaving mine. “A contingent of soldiers arrived at my house only days after I had first used my powers for the first time. They demanded my father hand me over and—”
“He said no.”
Memories flickered to life in the corners of my mind. I must have been only eight or nine summers old, traveling with my father’s legion. He had been recruiting. Most agreed to the promise of wealth, but not all. And when they didn’t agree to hand over their children...
“So they killed him,” she explained.
Through the firelight, I could make out the shimmering tears welling in her eyes.
“And then they killed my mother while she screamed for me to run to the Institute.”
The Institute.
The one place in the country that was exempt from service to the army in wartime.
It was a smart escape, but I suspected she didn’t need to be told that.
I swallowed, glancing towards Elaijah, whose face showed the same heaviness I felt in my heart. He hadn’t known our father well, but he knew enough to put together the pieces of this story and understand why she had been so aggressive towards me.
Our father had changed this woman’s life in the most permanent, devastating way possible.
“Well, as I said.” I cleared my throat. “I don’t force it upon people. I never have, and I never will.”
I loved my father. He was my hero—the greatest man I had ever had the privilege of knowing—but he was not without his faults. And I was not the same man he was.
She stared at me, eyes narrowed as she took in every one of my words and measured the sincerity in them. Until, finally, she nodded. “See that you don’t.”
A silence fell over us all; no one knowing quite where that left us.
Kent busied himself while Elaijah glanced at the stars above us, but the intensity between Ayanna and I seemed to remain.
Everything involving her was always so charged.
There was never a single moment of rest in her company and I was in desperate need of rest. Rising, I moved to my horse to unpack my own bedroll, content to lose myself to my thoughts if only so that I could find a reprieve from the weight of her scrutiny.
Elaijah shifted as I did, picking up another stick from his feet and snapping it easily between his fingers. “I’m telling you, my plan is good.”
“It’s not.” I tried to keep my voice gentle, not wanting to upset him further than I already had, but he and I had discussed his plan several times. I’d laid out the reasons it was a bad idea several times. I wasn't interested in having the conversation again.
“What plan?” Ayanna asked as she covered herself with her robes and folded an arm under her head. Her hair fanned out around her while that tiny strap of her camisole slipped over her shoulder.
Elaijah looked to me, brows lifted, silently challenging me to fill her in.
Oh no, I neither wanted nor needed her opinion on this. She’d probably agree with him just to spite me.
“I think we should be recruiting Mortals for the war effort too.” He practically spat out the declaration.
I growled, sliding off my boots and setting them angrily beside me. “The answer is no, Elaijah! I’m not using Mortals as fodder in an army. If you put them against a God and Descendants, they’re dead. I won’t willingly sign them up to be slaughtered.”
He glared at me, rising and brushing off his pants with an irritated huff. He moved to his own bedroll but spun around a moment later, mouth open to continue the argument.
Only it wasn’t Elaijah who spoke next.
“He’s right,” Ayanna agreed. “It is a good plan.”
Gods help me. I scraped a hand down my face, turning towards her. “I did not ask for your counsel.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “In the Second War of the Gods, Mortals were instrumental in victory. It had taken Mortal and Descendant forces fighting in perfect synchrony to keep the Hyraxian army at bay so the Gods could raise the Veil. Descendants and Mortals were paired together in teams, forced to work in unity to defend one another. Their cooperation was truly essential to victory.”
Elaijah watched her, motionless, as she spoke, before pointing excitedly at her and turning back to me. “See?”
“It’s not only a good plan,” Ayanna continued, seriousness in her tone. “It’s the only one that gives you a chance of victory.”
I sighed, meeting Kent’s gaze. I saw the same hesitation in his face, the same fear.
Asking Mortals to join our endeavors meant putting them in grave danger.
It meant adding more names to the running tally in my head that I was responsible for.
Allowing Mortals to fight also meant allowing Elaijah to do so if that’s what he wanted.
I couldn’t very well allow others and not him, not when he was a man in his own right now.
I’d been his age fighting in the Great War.
And my brother wasn’t that different from me.
He was brave, to a fault. Idealistic. He wanted not just to fight, but to fight for a cause.
I stared at him as he talked to Ayanna, watched the way he grinned over at her as they spoke. I didn’t look away from the two of them as Kent moved to sit next to me.
“I hate to say it, but...” his voice trailed off.
“They’re right,” I agreed quietly, hating the words.
He rested his elbows on his knees, crossing his hands in front of him. “I know how worried you are. I know how badly you want to protect them.”
I tried not to glance over at him. It was the first time he’d spoken of my emotions since his mother died.
He’d been suppressing his powers. He thought we didn’t notice, but it was clear that he’d stopped reading the twins and me.
He was much less reactive to our spikes in feelings.
I suspected he temporarily let in the emotions of the others to check if they were trustworthy, but I'd bet ten gold shillings that those moments were fleeting.
“Maybe this is how we do it,” he reasoned. “Maybe this is how we win this war and keep them protected.”
My jaw worked from side to side as I considered. “We don’t even know if the Mortals will fight with us. I will not force them to.”
His brow furrowed as if I had offended him. “Nor will I, but there is only one way to find out if the Mortals will join us.”