7. Volla
Shock. Debilitating, overwhelming shock rolled through Volla’s body as she watched Rorax collapse into herself on the floor. Volla’s throat swelled up and she wanted to laugh, to cry, and to curse at the same time.
Rorax Greywood.
Roraxiva Greywood had stepped in to save their lives with that gods damned knife of hers. The same knife that stabbed and cut Volla so many times in training that Volla had started hurling it away into lakes, into pits, or off mountains at any chance she had to get rid of it, only to see it dangling from Rorax’s fingertips seconds later.
Volla’s chin trembled at the same time a violent thump came at the front door where there was currently a thick frozen barrier. It snapped her back into action.
Jia blinked away her tears furiously. “Can you carry Rorax? We can climb through the back hatch and onto the roof, and hopefully run around them. There are two horses out there we can steal. I saw them earlier.”
There was more yelling, and Volla smelled smoke.
“Quickly!” Jia ran down the hall as Volla picked Rorax up from a puddle of blood on the ground. Rorax’s armor, face, and hair were completely soaked with it, and it smeared onto Volla’s front as she ran to the back pantry. Jia started up the ladder first, holding her arm out to drag Rorax’s limp body up with her.
Jia had only made it halfway up when the sound of the ice cracking at the front door had them both looking over their shoulders, and any remaining relief in Volla’s heart was washed away with acidic fear. Volla could feel Jia through the mating bond they had secured through the Mating Draught not two days before, and she knew all of Jia’s magick was tapped out; the Waterlily Rine had emptied her. If she pushed herself any further, she would pass out like Rorax had. Despair and regret, like nothing Volla had ever experienced, filled the new void in her chest.
“Hurry!” Jia hissed to her, stepping up a few more rungs.
As the guards crashed into the door again, Volla selfishly stared up at Jia, soaking up precious seconds to study Jia’s perfect features, admiring the beauty and strength held there, even now.
“Volla!” Jia hissed again, Rorax dangling precariously over her shoulder. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
Jia reached her free hand out to Volla, meaning to grab her and pull her up, but Volla trapped Jia’s hand in her own and placed a reverent kiss to it before taking a step back.
“Run, my love.” Volla took another step away.
Tears streamed down Jia’s face. “Volla Torvik, don’t you dare.”
“Get her out of here. Go, Jia.”
“I will not leave you here,” Jia choked, her tears now dripping off her chin.
“Don’t let anyone see the tattoos on Rorax’s neck. They are looking for her everywhere.”
Jia shook her head. “No.”
“Jia—”
She just shook her head. “No fucking way am I taking Rorax over you.” Her voice broke and another sob wrenched out of her lips. “I love you. I’m going to spend the rest of my life with you. You are my wife.”
Volla’s heart broke. It cleaved cleanly in half and her chest throbbed.
“Listen,” Volla hissed. They only had precious seconds before the guards broke through the barrier, and she refused to spend the last minutes of her life fighting with the love of her life.
“Rorax just saved our lives. She saved both of us from pain, torture, and death. Rorax. She had the opportunity to find Darras and yet she . . . threw it away. For you. For us. I . . . Jia . . .” A painful cry caught in her throat, and she had to force a steadying breath into her lungs. “Jia . . . I couldn”t save you from Crax. Sahana couldn’t save you from Crax. But Rorax did. She made the decision, and she did.”
Volla pointed to that dark head of hair that was now matted and dripping with the blood of the soldiers she had slain single-handedly. “I can’t let her die like this, Jia. I owe her everything and I refuse to let her die in dirt and filth. I . . . I can’t.”
Silent tears dripped down Jia cheeks, and she nodded once. She didn’t have to say anything. She knew. She knew that if Volla lived past tonight and Rorax didn”t it would haunt her, destroy her.
Rorax was her friend; she had just proven her loyalty, and Volla owed her a life debt. She would not abandon her now while she was defenseless.
Volla took one step up the ladder, gripped Jia’s ponytail, and roughly pulled Jia’s lips to hers for one last taste. When they broke apart, Volla brushed her thumb over Jia’s lips. “I love you. I wanted to spend the rest of my days growing old with you, and I should have taken you away and gotten started on that the minute you agreed to marry me. I’m sorry.”
Jia closed her eyes and Volla was about to move away when something silver caught her eye. Rorax’s knife was back in its sheath. Without thinking, Volla snatched it.
Usually, when Volla touched Rorax’s knife the metal burned, searing the skin of whoever touched the metal besides Rorax. This time it warmed against her palm in a greeting, as if it could sense Volla’s sacrifice for its master.
There was another crack at the door, and Volla took a step away. “Go. If I survive, I’ll find you.”
Jia nodded through her tears and continued up the ladder as Volla sucked in a deep breath and turned to face the soldiers.
The men broke through the door not thirty seconds later. Volla immediately knew why Rorax loved her knife more than she loved anything else.
She could feel its energy pulling her limbs to block here, block there, attack here and attack there. For what felt like hours, Rorax’s knife gave force to her limbs that had started to go numb with exhaustion.
A pile of bodies laid at Volla’s feet as she fought her way out of the small house and into the field outside. When she finally looked around her, she didn”t see any more soldiers coming at her.
Rorax’s knife in Volla’s hand disappeared, and a tiny seed of hope grew in her heart, blooming into a magnificent flower for one beautiful moment.
Then there was a bone crunching thrust and Volla stared down with horror at the end of a blood-stained steel sword thrusting out of her chest.
She screamed as her knees gave out, but a large, clawed hand grabbed her neck and held her up before she could fall over into death.
“Where is the Contestar?” the man snarled into her ear.
Volla opened her mouth, but she couldn’t talk.
And the last thing Volla Torvik saw in this world before she tumbled into darkness were two cloudy eyes.