Chapter 14
Kiera
What in the deep, dark, wandering hell was Renwell doing here? Had my mind broken under the weight of all the horror it’d experienced tonight?
I wanted to check on Yarina, but couldn’t take my eyes off him.
He looked the way I was used to—plain black cloak, gloves, and boots, his dark hair and beard shadowing his pale, gaunt face. No Rellmiran crown or royal clothes in sight.
Then again, he never enjoyed drawing attention to himself until his bloody schemes were successful.
The only thing that had changed was the handful of silver scars that crisscrossed over his face.
I felt a grim satisfaction knowing that he hadn’t left our last encounter unscathed.
“Look at you,” he murmured, stepping closer. His eyes glowed with a rare pride that sickened me. “Just how I always pictured you.”
“Fighting for my life against your Wolves?” I spat, trying to hide the way my body shook.
“Wielding my blade.” He nodded to the sunstone sword in my clenched fists. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
“It feels like death. Something I’ve seen too much of lately. Because of you.”
The furrows in his cheeks deepened. “You seem to have no trouble dealing death to my Wolves.”
“Neither do you,” I retorted, gesturing at the body by my feet. I remembered what Nikella had said back at camp. He doesn’t remove a piece from the board unless it’s no longer of use to him. “Why did you kill him?”
Renwell tilted his head to the side. “I think you know the answer to that.”
I scowled. “You want something from me.”
“You betrayed me. Tried to kill me. Ran off with my enemies. What could I possibly want from you?”
“Then why did you save me just now? Why spare my life when I escaped?” I ground out.
He stayed silent. His dark gaze slowly scraped over me, leaving me feeling raw and vulnerable.
My heart beat faster with every passing moment.
I’d never admit it, but I desperately wanted to know if Nikella was wrong.
I hated him, yes. But that hatred was rooted in pain.
Pain that all the time he spent training and protecting me had everything to do with his plotting and nothing to do with care for me.
Shouts echoed from afar. The square still smoldered around us. Renwell ignored it all, acting as if we were back in his study playing a simple game of Death and Four.
He stepped closer to me, his gaze unblinking. “You’re still trying to find a weakness where there is none.”
“Everyone has a weakness,” I breathed, my grip tightening on the sword. “You just hide yours better than most.”
“And you display yours for all to see. Speaking of which, I’m surprised you haven’t asked about your brother and sister. Or do you no longer care for them now that you have a new family?” He pointedly glanced at the square full of bodies. “Although you do seem to keep losing any family you have.”
Fury streaked through my veins. The sword twitched in my hands. Renwell’s smirk curved into something predatory.
“What did you do with Everett and Delysia?” I growled.
He held out a gloved hand and beckoned to me like a dog. “Come with me and find out.”
I wanted to slice off his hand with the sword he loved so much.
“I’m not your apprentice anymore, Renwell,” I snarled. “I will never follow your orders again.”
“Not even to save your siblings?”
My breath snagged. “They’re alive?”
“Perhaps.” Renwell shrugged, lowering his hand. “Perhaps not.”
I pointed my sword at his chest, still several feet away. “Tell me the gods-damned truth.”
Renwell tossed his bow aside and pulled his sunstone sword from its sheath in one smooth motion. “Make me.”
The taunt echoed from years of training together, but I was too angry to care.
I lunged for him, and he quickly sidestepped, tapping my shoulder with his hilt.
Snarling, I swung again, but he disappeared. Again and again. I struck, and he evaded like we were back in my gods-damned nightmare.
I stabbed air again. “Fight back,” I rasped, my body on fire with pain and exhaustion.
He tapped the tip of his sword on a bloody patch of dirt. “As you wish.”
He lunged before I drew breath and knocked my sword out of my hands with a bone-rattling hit. Then he kicked me in the stomach.
I sprawled on my back. The stars shifted and blurred above me while I gasped for air.
One moment. Defeat could happen in one moment, and I’d let it.
Renwell’s face filled my vision as he leaned over me. The sharp point of his sword nipped at the soft skin of my throat.
“That’s for ever thinking you could beat me at my own game,” he whispered. “And this . . . this is for the marks you left on me.”
Horrible, stinging pain sliced across my cheek.
I screamed, jerking my face away from his blade.
“Now we match, little monster,” he snarled in my ear.
“Renwell!” shouted a hard female voice.
His head snapped up. He straightened away from me, sword at the ready.
“Nikella,” he murmured. “Ever the survivor, I see.”
Nikella? Thank the gods. If anyone could defeat Renwell, it’d be his sister. I’d seen her take down a dozen of his Wolves.
I lifted my fingers to my burning cheek. I felt blood, then a searing pain, and drew them back with a hiss.
I tried to drag myself away, but Renwell slammed his boot on my chest, pinning me like a bird with broken wings on the cracked cobblestones.
My chest heaved under his muddy boot, trying to draw in enough smoky air. My torn shoulders screamed. But the humiliation that filled my soul was a different kind of agony.
“Let her go, Renwell.”
I couldn’t see Nikella, but I clung to the steady command in her voice.
“I’m not quite done with her, sister.”
“Yes, you are. Just as you are done here. Order your ship to cease firing.”
Renwell smirked. “They won’t until I’m back on board.”
“And what if I kill you here and now?”
I twisted my head to see Nikella a few yards away, her bloodied spear held firmly in her hands.
Renwell let out a coarse chuckle. “You’re welcome to try, Nik. But I have a feeling that even with all your warrior training, you still can’t defeat me.” He twirled his glittering black sword for emphasis. “I have conquered everything I set out to. Just as I said I would, all those years ago.”
“That proves nothing. Having more power doesn’t make you right. It makes you more responsible for defeating the evil in this world. Which you have not.” Nikella’s voice softened, as if she were instructing a young one. “You will lose that power, same as those you took it from.”
An ugly expression twisted Renwell’s face, and his boot pressed harder into my chest. I swallowed a whimper of pain and tried to shove him off. To no avail.
“I will lose nothing,” he hissed, his gaze fixed on Nikella.
“I have taken over an entire kingdom. I have built ships that can defeat any that sail.” He spread his arms wide.
“I have stolen power from the gods themselves by taking control of their precious fireseeds and sunstone. Their power is now mine.”
My mouth fell open. His normally pale face was flushed. Spit flecked his beard from his harsh words. I’d never seen him so impassioned. Nor so careless.
Silver streaked over my body. Renwell twisted away with a snarl, lifting his boot. I scuttled backward. Nikella’s spear clattered to the ground behind him.
Renwell grunted, putting a hand to his side. His leather glove came away wet.
Nikella gripped my arm and hauled me to my feet. She held a short dagger in her free hand.
Renwell’s eyes burned with malevolence. “Naughty little Nik.”
Nikella stiffened as if she’d been struck. Her scarred face blanched.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he continued in the same vicious voice. “Now you’ll finally get what’s been coming to you all these years.”
My eyes darted about, frantically searching for a weapon nearby. But instead of attacking, Renwell slowly retreated to the shadows he’d emerged from.
“I’ll see you soon, Kiera,” he called out, then disappeared.
Nikella and I remained stone-still for several moments. He didn’t return. Slowly, my wounds started announcing themselves all over my body.
I groaned softly, then realized Nikella was still clutching my arm. Her body hadn’t shifted out of its fighting stance, as if she were locked in a battle I couldn’t see.
“You can let go now, Nikella,” I told her softly.
Her chin jerked toward me, and her eyes cleared. She released me immediately. “Are you harmed?”
I gestured to my bloody cheek with a grimace. “Other than my pride, not mortally.”
Suddenly, I remembered. “Yarina!” I gasped and rushed over to where she lay amid an overturned crate of pumpkins.
Her chest rose and fell steadily. I breathed a sigh of relief, then pressed my finger to her neck. A strong, steady beat met my touch.
“Thank the Four,” I murmured.
I smoothed away her disheveled braids and folded a discarded cape under her head.
“More coming.” Nikella’s terse voice came from behind me.
I twisted around to see she’d retrieved her spear and was now guarding us against a storm of hoofbeats coming from the south. I seized the nearest weapon—one of Yarina’s scythes.
A group of a dozen Dag warriors rushed into the square, axes and swords flashing molten orange in the firelight. Their clothing was like the Yargoths and Urzosts but stitched in whites and grays.
“The Berengar Clan,” Nikella murmured to me, lowering her spear.
Their leader, a woman with a longer braid than Nikella, rode up to us. “Good to see you again, Teacher. We were out hunting when we heard the distress horns. Where is the enemy?”
“We’ve routed them from the village back to their ship. Our warriors fight on the riverbank.” Nikella pointed toward the street that ran east out of the square, as yet free of rubble. “That way should be clear.”
The woman nodded and rode forward, her warriors on her heels. Perhaps they would cut down a fleeing Renwell on their way.
I prayed they didn’t. He had too much to answer for.
“You’re not going with them?” I asked Nikella.
She shook her head. “Renwell most likely went back to the ship. He’ll leave now that he got what he came for. We need to gather the dead and the injured and start treating—”
“Princess,” a voice croaked from the ground.
I dropped to my knees next to Yarina. Her eyes were open, but still unfocused. Until they narrowed in on my hand.
“What in the bloody Abyss are you doing with my Soul Stealer?” she growled.
A painful smile pinched my cheeks. “Protecting your ungrateful ass. You can yell at me later. We need to get out of here first.”
“In a moment.” Nikella nudged me aside and examined Yarina’s head and eyes. “Pupils look normal. If you feel nauseous at all, lie back down.”
Yarina huffed. “I’m fine.”
I threaded my arm under her shoulders and helped her sit up.
“What happened to your face?” she grumbled. “It looks like you were—”
Her words cut off. I followed her gaze to where Davka’s body rested.
Yarina let out a blood-curdling scream and pitched herself forward. She fell on her hands and knees and crawled to her sister, sobbing her name.
My body shook and my eyes burned at her wild grief.
Nikella gripped my shoulder. “Stay with her,” she whispered.
I stumbled forward. Nikella didn’t know why Davka died. Neither did Yarina. I slowly stepped closer to her. She’d curled over Davka’s chest, hugging her tightly.
I could simply comfort her. Tell her how sorry I was. That I’d lost my parents and my siblings’ fate was uncertain. I could lie and say I had no idea how Davka had died. I could tell a partial truth and say she’d died a true warrior. But not because of me.
Not my fault. I don’t want it to be my fault.
My thoughts—the lies and truths—tangled with each other until they were a knot of fear in my mind.
I sank to my knees next to Yarina. I hesitated, then placed my hand on her shoulder as she wept.
“Sh-she can’t be dead. She’s the strongest. The best. How did she die?
Those fucking Wolves! I’ll send their souls to the Abyss and tear their bodies to pieces for this.
” Yarina gasped for air, tears mixing with dirt and blood on her pale cheeks.
“Fucking Four, was she alone? Why wasn’t I there?
I could’ve saved her and I didn’t. Why wasn’t I there, Kiera? ”
I closed my eyes at the onslaught of her grief. I remembered staring down at Mother’s body and demanding the same thing of myself.
Why didn’t you go with her? Why didn’t you see the danger she was in? Her last moments were filled with fear because you weren’t there to save her. To love her. She was stolen from you, and you’ll never get her back.
My eyes flew open, and the truth spilled out. “Davka died saving my life.”
Yarina jerked away from my touch. “You . . . She . . .”
I swallowed hard and forced myself to continue. “She was the better warrior, which was why the Wolf tried to stab her in the back. I . . . I was with her in her final moments.”
Yarina’s bloodshot eyes filled with more tears. “Did she suffer? Did she ask for us?”
Gods, this hurt more than any battle wound.
“She didn’t suffer long,” I murmured. “I tried to stop the bleeding, to tell her we could heal her. But she shook her head and . . . and . . .”
Yarina curled her fingers over my clasped hands.
That one simple touch released a flood of relief. Tears fell down my cheeks. My cut stung anew, but I ignored it and took a deep breath.
“She only said one word to me. ‘Protect.’”
Yarina’s face crumpled, and her grip tightened. “Are you sure?”
I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.
Yarina let out a sob and pressed a gentle kiss to her sister’s forehead. Turning back to me, she wiped her eyes and her nose on the back of her sleeve.
“It was the last thing our mother, and then our father, said to us before death took them. It’s the word we always say to each other before we part ways. It encompasses what my parents used to say to us: ‘Protect your clan. Protect each other. And our souls will be together forever.’”
My heart pounded. Davka had told me her family’s parting word. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with gratitude that I’d been there to hear it. To pass it along to her remaining family. Even if they hated me for why she died, I was glad I could do that one small thing.
I’m trying to help you find some gods-damned peace.
Aiden’s words echoed in my skull. Is this what he meant when he wanted to tell me of the night Mother died?
Yarina squeezed my hands, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Thank you for being with her,” she whispered. She withdrew her hand to place it on Davka’s still chest. “You protected us all to the end, Davka. You kept your honor. May the gods find your soul and bring it to Mother’s and Father’s.”
I bowed my head, sending up my own silent prayer for Davka.
A loud cry rose from the north. I fixed my gaze on the glowing mountain.
Holy Four, I hope the reinforcements find Aiden before Renwell does.