Chapter 49 #2
I follow his gaze and when I see it, my shoulders fall. I’ve seen death like that before and it came from a very specific magic. The voices nag at me, scaling up their intensity as I try to process what I’m seeing.
It can’t be possible. It shouldn’t be possible.
They grow louder, a riot of sound that makes me wince against it. As I stare at the circle of death, I try to rationalize it. To come up with any other possibility. What if someone else had a similar power? What if someone from Iskvaland could—my breath catches. They don’t have magic in Iskvaland.
There is no other way to explain the mass of corpses in front of me.
Mostly Pendralian. Caiden’s people. My people.
All gone. Their voices cry at the injustice, begging me to assist them.
They want vengeance, they want peace, they want to say goodbye.
None of them died with dignity, and all of them are angry.
It’s so much death. And it’s something I’ve seen before.
My heart is a weight that falls away with a sinking sense of despair. As much as I want to deny it, this is Brevan’s brand of killing. I don’t want to believe it, but the sight in front of me is difficult to rationalize in any other way. My words come out small and defeated. “How could he?”
“He betrayed us both,” Caiden says.
As the tears rise, I lose the fight against the voices. They howl around me, smothering me in a cacophony that makes me press my hands to my ears. I scream, yelling at them to leave me alone. Demanding they go away.
Someone pulls me against them, then another person is on my other side. I’m sandwiched between Caiden and Anya, both of them attempting to soothe me and shield me from the dead.
“Fight it,” Caiden says. “Pull from your magic. There’s a way to use what you have. Find it.”
My hands tremble and cold sweat beads on my forehead.
I think back to our lessons, to the way I had to find that magic deep within me.
For a moment, I stop fighting the voices and I focus internally on that well of power that flows within me.
It’s there, a chaotic writhing tangle of darkness that’s pulsing and tensing.
It’s a contradiction in my own body, the magic equal parts desperate to escape and determined to stay locked away.
I reach for it instead of pushing it away and it stills, seeming to welcome me. Warmth surges and my hands steady. Somehow, I manage to will it to flow through me and it almost feels like it’s settling in my very bones.
The voices cease and I gasp at the relief. I lean forward, resting my forehead against Caiden’s chest.
He strokes my hair soothingly. “Good girl.” When he kisses the top of my head, I feel cared for, rather than repulsed.
I do not have time to figure out what is going on in my mind regarding him. I lift my head, then step away from him, then turn to Anya. “You have to go.”
“You’re coming with me, right?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No. I have something else I need to take care of.” I look over at Caiden. “Give us a minute?”
He nods, then gestures to Stanley to follow him. The two of them return to where we left the horses tied to a tree at the edge of the camp. There’s still a chance they’ll hear me, so I keep my voice low.
“I need you to do something for me after you’re healed,” I say.
“Anything,” she offers.
I take her hands in mine. “You need to get them to take you and the ladies to the castle. Tell them you’re waiting for my return there. Do whatever it takes to get back there.”
“You figured something out,” she says.
“I think so, but if I’m right, there’s worse coming,” I say.
“I do not like the sound of that,” she says.
“I know. But you’re strong. So are the others. And I want you all to be even stronger. I need you to trust me, alright? Promise me?”
She nods.
I hate that I’m asking this of her when it should be me, but everything changed. “You and the others need to go to the temple. Get there without anyone watching. Go inside, speak to the gods.”
“Are you insane? They’ll kill us,” she hisses.
“They won’t. This is what Mara wanted me to do.
The thing they’ve been hiding. Well, one of many…
” I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. Anyone can receive magic.
It’s been locked away, trapped. They’ve created rules and myths and falsehoods designed to confuse and restrict.
Half the things they’ve told us are outright lies. ”
“You’re certain?”
“Would I ever put you in harm’s way?” I wince. She’s been harmed so many times because of me.
She squeezes my hand. “I know what you mean. And no, you’d never ask me to do something that might hurt me. I chose those other things.”
“Not exactly…” I should have left with her sooner then she’d never have been taken and I wouldn’t be married to Caiden. I glance over at the emperor and he looks away as if trying to pretend he wasn’t watching me closely.
“If you’re sure, I’ll do my best to get them there,” she says.
“Thank you,” I say. “I know this is what we need to do. I just wish I could be there with you.”
“What are you going to do?” she asks. “He’ll let you return with me.”
“If I do, you’ll never get to the temple. They guard me constantly. I couldn’t sneak out.” I release her hands. “Besides, I have to finish what I started.”
“You were right about one thing.” She glances over her shoulder, then looks back at me. “Caiden wasn’t your target.”
A lump rises in my throat. “I know.”
“You’re going after Ludis,” she says. “And Brevan.”
I nod. “If he felt confident enough to do this and leave without me when he claimed I was his leverage, it means he already had a deal with his father. And I refuse to let that man get any closer to a throne. Brevan, well, what if he’s who Mara was hinting at?
What if that’s why she couldn’t tell me? ”
“I have one favor to ask,” Anya says.
“Anything,” I echo her earlier offer.
“Memorize exactly how he looks as the life leaves his eyes. I want to hear every detail when I see you again.”
I grin. I might not be able to follow through with Brevan, but at least I can promise her Ludis. “Done.”
She pulls me into an embrace and for some reason, this time, it doesn’t feel like a long goodbye. I know we’ll see each other again soon. And when we do, everything will be different.
“Please take care of her,” I say to Stanley.
“I’ll protect her with my life,” he says.
My chest tightens and I hope his loyalty to Caiden extends to me. “Thank you.”
“Safe travels,” Caiden says.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a raven land on a tent that’s still standing. Another joins it, then another.
A shiver runs down my spine but I ignore the birds while I wave to my friend. As soon as she’s out of sight, I look to where they’ve gathered.
More ravens fly to meet their fellows and my pulse races.
“You wouldn’t have anything to do with this, would you?” Caiden asks.
My lips part to answer, but then my jaw drops lower when I see the unkindness of ravens approaching like a black cloud. They’re carrying something.
No.
They’re carrying someone.