25. No Right Choice
No Right Choice
Larissa
F our children raced along the lakeside.
Two boys battled with wooden swords, their faces covered in sloppy warpaint and the wild abandon of childhood joy.
Two small girls, one with dark hair and another with light, called out to the boys, who paused in their game.
Yet none of the children spared Larissa a glance from where she watched in the shadows.
We were always together , the voice in Larissa’s mind reminded her.
But if that were true, why had they been separated?
Like rain on a windshield, the images ran and blurred before her.
Then Larissa was back on her farm; flames raged around her more fiercely than they had before.
Pappa and Mamma cried out to her, begging her to save Halla before the draugr killed them both.
Then Halla stood before her, weeping over their parents’ bodies as the draugr advanced on her from behind.
Larissa leaped between them, catching the draugr’ s claw across her face.
Blood dripped from the wound. Larissa looked up from the ground to see it was not the draugr , but Kafteinn Calder standing over her, holding a bloodied knife in his hand.
His pale hazel eyes sickened her with their familiarity.
Let me show you how it’s done , he said, bending down. The knife pierced Larissa’s skin, and she screamed. Calder’s hand covered her mouth, silencing her pain.
L arissa’s eyes snapped open; there was nothing to see in the darkness. Her screams stilled at the back of her throat. It had all been a dream, except for the hand still covering her mouth.
“Larissa, stop, it’s me,” a voice whispered fiercely.
She paused mid-thrash, her gaze locking on dark hair falling over sea blue eyes.
“I’m going to lift my hand,” Darien whispered. “Don’t scream, they’ll hear you.”
When she nodded, Darien removed his hand, but only to brush back the hair that had covered her face and the tears she hadn’t noticed slipping from the corners of her eyes.
She was suddenly aware of his nearness, of the way his body lay pressed up next to hers.
He was as taut as a bowstring. His words registered in her mind. They’ll hear you.
Her body tensed, relaxing only slightly when confirming Halla’s slumbering presence next to them.
“Anara smelled people approaching.” Darien spoke hushed words into Larissa’s ears, and she told herself she only shivered from the cold. It was then she noticed Anara’s absence. “She woke me and went to find out who they are. We need to wake Halla, in case—”
Larissa’s next shiver truly came from her fear.
The sounds of approaching footsteps and male voices reached her ears.
Off in the distance, beams of light flashed through the dark night.
Larissa started to rise, but Darien’s hand wrapped around her elbow, gently yet firmly holding her in place with his finger over his mouth.
Noting the distance of these newcomers, Larissa understood why.
Whoever was out there hadn’t noticed them. Yet.
Mimicking Darien’s strategy, Larissa reached out a hand over Halla’s mouth. The girl stirred instantly, then calmed when she saw Larissa’s face. A finger over her mouth and the distant voices were enough to silence Halla’s questions.
Leaves rustled in the woods near them, followed by the snapping of branches as bodies broke through them.
“Found ’em!”
Other voices rose, cursing and grunting. A woman shouted, “Run, Juni!”
Larissa nearly yelped, having bit her tongue at the sudden shout, but the voices came from some distance away. They were not yet discovered.
“Oh no, you don’t!” A curse, followed by a moan.
“Got ’em, Fenris.”
“Well done, boys. Three more to add to the auction tomorrow.”
Auction? Larissa’s breath froze in her throat.
Darien’s anxious glance revealed he had made the same connection.
These men could only be thraell , slavers who traded in human flesh.
Given special privileges to roam the lands in between the cities, never bound by the Wall, the thraell hunted men, women, and children—particularly second-borns.
Larissa’s hand slipped into the blankets, fingers curling around the grip of her gun.
From the sound of the scuffle, the thraell’s victims were putting up quite the fight. Beside Larissa, Darien’s fingers twitched, his body leaning toward the commotion. He wanted to help. Larissa could feel his indecision radiating off of him.
He’s always been this way , the voice in her mind spoke.
But they didn’t know how many were out there. They didn’t know where Anara was. Larissa couldn’t let the thraell see Halla.
She did the only thing she could think of and linked her fingers through Darien’s, pulling him back toward her.
At her touch, Darien stilled. Like a man waking from a dream, he looked down at their entwined hands and then up at Larissa.
She shook her head, her gaze motioning him toward Halla, willing him to understand.
She couldn’t risk Halla, not even for those voices that cried out against their captors.
Darien breathed deep, the cost of his restraint evident in the clench of his jaw.
But with a look at Halla, he nodded, letting his thumb rub absent-mindedly over the back of Larissa’s hand.
It was Larissa’s turn to still, letting the movement wreak havoc with her heart.
She told herself it didn’t mean anything.
Then something caught her attention, banishing the conflict within herself.
The thraell ’s voices, raised in triumph, were growing louder and closer by the second.
Darien released Larissa’s hand and rose into a low crouch, readying himself for the fight. Larissa drew the gun, pushing Halla behind her back. The lights danced closer and closer. Where was Anara?
A howl filled the night air. The lights paused in their advance. The voices of the thraell quieted.
“One of yours, eh Fenris?” a voice jabbed, uncomfortably close to their clearing.
Before the slaver could answer, Anara’s disembodied snarl rose above the wind.
Even knowing that Anara was on their side, the sound set Larissa’s teeth on edge.
The enormous wolf materialized before them, pacing the bushes and trees that separated the thraell from the clearing.
Her snarls raised into vicious barks that warned the slavers against advancing any further.
Somewhere in the dark, a man chuckled. “Not one of mine. A she-wolf protecting her cubs.”
“Should we kill it?”
“No,” the man answered with a growl of his own. “We’ve hunted worthier prey tonight.”
Anara’s snarls heightened, daring the thraell to test that hypothesis.
Then they were leaving, walking around the clearing and dragging their prey behind them.
Larissa tried to close her heart to the victims’ whimpers and muffled pleas, but she would never forget the guilt of knowing she had done nothing to help them.
Once the thraell were finally out of earshot, Larissa flung her arms around Halla, clutching her sister tight to her chest. Halla’s own heart beat like a hummingbird’s, revealing the fear she never would have admitted.
Anaramaterialized out of the shadows, shaking off her transformation. “We need to leave.”
Darien bounced on his heels, fuming. “Kings and Queens, Anara, what was that?”
Anara paused at the venom in Darien’s voice “What?”
“Why didn’t we help them?” Darien’s voice shook. “We could’ve saved them!”
Anara’s eyes tightened as she set her mouth in a hard line. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“We defeated a draugr , what’re a few thraell ?”
“You mean a few dozen thraell ? Who have reinforcements down the river?” She snapped.
“We nearly died with the draugr ; we got lucky. Use your brain, Darien. What would have happened if we lost? Best case scenario, we’re all sold into slavery.
Worst case, they realize who Lovisa is and hand her over to the Empress. ”
Larissa was too shaken to correct Anara’s slip. Darien shook his head, defiance rolling over him. “We could’ve done something.”
“We could’ve, but we might not have won. Blame me if you must Darien, but you’re alive and free because I make the decisions no one else wants to.”
Darien’s jaw, like his hands, clenched. Larissa agreed with Anara. It had come down to the strangers’ safety or Halla’s. Larissa would choose Halla every time, regardless of the guilt that ate away at her soul.
Anara turned away from Darien. “Pack up everything as quickly as you can. We need to get out of here.”