Chapter 44
Kiera
Such intense terror was nauseating.
I never thought I’d meet death weak, shivering, shackled, and defenseless. But that was certainly how Korvin liked to deal it.
His toothy smile and bared muscles made him look like a monster ready to devour us.
The soldiers dragged our raft up the shore. I held onto Aiden and Ruru, my nails digging into their arms. Maz was as pale as the moon above us, still as stone. Where was Nikella?
Four more soldiers with spears herded us up onto the bridge with Korvin. They shoved us to our knees before him.
Korvin glanced behind him to where two Shadow-Wolves held a red-faced Shayn. “Your papers said four prisoners—three men and one woman.”
“That is what you see before you,” Shayn said through clenched teeth.
Don’t anger him, Shayn. You don’t know him like I do.
Korvin smiled as if very pleased with this answer. “How strange when the western patrols tell me that there were three male prisoners and two female prisoners. The likes of which matched the descriptions I gave them.”
My heart sank. They’d been watching for us and reporting back. They let us slip through their fingers so that we would land in Korvin’s clutches.
Where in the deep, dark, wandering hell had Nikella gone? She was still shackled. She could be drowning right now, in the same river her father had.
Shayn visibly swallowed. “They were mistaken. My papers say three men and one woman, as you see before you.”
I grimaced. Brave, stupid man. Perhaps he knew Nikella might be our only hope.
Korvin’s smile dropped faster than an executioner’s axe. He sauntered over to Shayn, pulling a long, thin sunstone blade from his belt.
Shivers ricocheted through my body, and I struggled to stay upright.
“Where is she?” Korvin demanded softly. “Where is the other woman?”
My heart beat frantically, willing Shayn to just tell the truth. Korvin would look for Nikella, anyway. He would always look for her. She wouldn’t want anyone dying on her behalf.
Shayn shook his head, his jaw set. “There was no other woman.”
Korvin growled and shoved the knife through Shayn’s chest to the hilt.
I stifled my cry, hunching my shoulders and hanging my head. Ruru inhaled sharply, and Aiden’s fists clenched on his thighs.
Shayn had a family in Aquinon. He would never see them again.
Because of me.
No. Because of them. Because of the choices Shayn made. Because we were all fighting to be rid of these murderous men who had stolen so much from us.
I lifted my head, eyes burning with hatred.
Korvin was already staring at me. He tilted his head to the side, a smirk back on his dry lips. “Princess. My brother will be so happy I caught you. I was a bit too hasty with my first attack. Patience, Renwell’s always telling me.”
He wiped off his blade on Shayn’s limp body. “I suppose he was right this time. I tracked you to Norford, and a few idiot drivers there told me you were interested in the river checkpoints. So I set myself up at this one and waited.” He licked his lips and nodded at the Wolves.
They tossed Shayn’s body in the river on the other side of the barrier.
Korvin watched it with glee. “He’ll be the only one to reach Calimber, I’m afraid. If that was truly your intended destination. He’ll tumble right off the cliff into the sea.”
He chuckled, sauntering toward us. It took every ounce of willpower not to lean away from his sweaty bulk.
“Who else have I caught in my trap?” he murmured.
“A boy. A princess.” He halted in front of Aiden.
“Ah, the prisoner Renwell wanted all to himself. Are you the monster who shot my brother with an arrow?” He pivoted to Maz, and his eyes gleamed.
“Or was it you, Dag? This is going to be such fucking fun.”
Korvin stepped back and jerked his head at the two Wolves. “Take her.”
“No!” Aiden, Maz, and Ruru shouted at once.
The Wolves shoved Aiden and Ruru aside and yanked me away. My numb body didn’t protest.
“Don’t fight them,” I begged Aiden as I twisted around to look into his furious green eyes.
The Wolves handed me to Korvin, who snared my wrist in a grip that could easily crush it.
He stroked my cheek, right over the scar his brother had given me. “Chain up the others by the fire. I want my sister to find us quickly. I’ll take this one.”
Needles of panic prickled over my cold skin.
This was a nightmare. It had to be. I was dreaming of him again. I would wake up and be safe in Aiden’s arms by the fire.
But I was trapped in Korvin’s hold. He smelled of oil and blood and death.
“Renwell s-swore,” I stammered, hating the weakness in my voice. “He swore he’d n-never let you hurt me again.”
Korvin’s eyes were soulless pits. “Renwell said you’d say that. He told me to pass along a message. ‘You broke your promise to me, so I’m breaking mine to you.’”
Memories of Korvin’s sunstone whip assaulted me. The agonizing pain across my shoulders.
Not again. I can’t. I won’t survive.
A feral shriek exploded from my throat. I snatched his knife from his belt and plunged it toward his chest. He caught my wrist, wrenching it backward. Pain sliced through my arm. I dropped the knife.
Madness seized me, and I flailed against him, trying to jab at him with my knees and elbows. I sank my teeth into the taut tendons of his forearm.
He roared.
Then . . . darkness. And silence.
Light flickered through the darkness, followed closely by pain and the taste of blood.
So cold. Colder than the river around Arduen’s Mountain. My feet were too heavy. Was I drowning?
Muffled sounds rumbled against my ears. Yes, I was underwater. Why was I tasting blood instead of water?
Korvin.
My eyes flew open. I coughed and spat onto the dry ground. A fire danced before me.
“Kiera,” a beloved voice whispered.
Aiden, on the ground nearby with his wrists now shackled to his ankles. Maz and Ruru with him. The relief on their faces didn’t soothe me.
We were all going to die.
My gaze fell on Korvin, who was pacing the dirt around the small clearing between tents. Blood dripped down his forearm.
I convulsed again and tried to spit out the lingering taste of his flesh in my mouth.
“Where is she?” he hissed as I wiped my mouth.
I stared at him. “Who?”
He stalked over to me and slapped me hard across the face. “My bitch sister, of course.”
“Enough, Korvin!” Aiden shouted as I held my stinging cheek. “She’s not fucking here! She drowned in the river this morning when we hit a rock.”
No, no, Aiden. Lies won’t work.
Korvin sneered at him. “My men told me they saw two women yesterday. You can’t lie to me.”
“The last patrol we saw rode past before she died,” Aiden said, his voice full of conviction.
“That’s right,” Ruru piped up. “Our guard lied about having two women because he wasn’t supposed to have an extra.”
Korvin’s face sagged with disbelief. “My little Nik would never drown. You’re trying to keep her from me.”
“We’re telling the truth,” Maz growled, his chest expanding. “We told you the truth about the log. Why would we lie about this? Besides, your men haven’t found her either. No one can swim with shackles on.”
The log? I craned my neck from where I was curled up on the ground. A log from the raft lay shredded behind Korvin.
Disappointment crashed over me. The tins of explosives. The fuse ropes. The pouch of blackrust powder. They were all strewn on a table next to the gutted log.
Our plan for Calimber was now exposed to our worst enemy.
“I don’t believe you,” Korvin snapped. “And I can’t kill you until I lure her in.”
He stomped over to me and yanked me upright. Pain seared through my head. He must’ve slammed his fist into my temple.
He set the edge of his sunstone knife against my jaw. I stopped breathing.
“Perhaps I can teach this one a lesson while you shout for my sister,” he said to Aiden.
Rage twisted Aiden’s face. “If you spill one more drop of her blood, I will flay every inch of skin from your body with your own gods-damned whip.”
A horrible laugh rumbled from Korvin’s chest. His sticky fingers tightened on my face. “Call for her.”
Fear hammered through my body. It’s just a face. My face. Just skin. It doesn’t matter. The pain doesn’t matter.
Aiden’s eyes burned into mine. His lips parted.
I was gasping for air, but still managed to cry out, “Don’t, Aiden! He won’t kill me, but he will kill all of you.”
“Shut up,” Korvin growled. “Now, call—”
“I’m here, Korvin.”
Everyone twisted to see Nikella standing on the south side of the tents.
She was dripping wet in her prisoner rags, her ankles still chained together. And she carried her silver spear.
Korvin tossed me into the dirt, his eyes on Nikella. “Sister. At last.”
Her nostrils flared. “You shed whatever blood I shared with you a long time ago.”
“And what of the Wolves I sent searching for you?”
“Dead.”
Korvin smiled. “There’s my naughty little Nik. I’m so glad our brother finally let me hunt you down. I’ve wanted to for years. All the blood I spilled. All the pain I caused. All the death I delivered. I always thought of you.”
While he spoke, I slowly crawled to the table with our explosives. Maz and Ruru sent me panicked looks, and Aiden jerked his head to the side, stop.
I ignored them. I was the only one with unbound hands.
Just a few more feet.
My chain rattled. I froze and peered back at Korvin. But he was fully focused on his favorite prey.
“Of all the scars I’ve etched,” he said, gesturing at Nikella’s face, “I cherish that one the most. I hope it reminded you every day of who you are. Who you’ll always be. Mine. Forever.”
Bile burned the back of my throat. I slid up to the table and grabbed the powder Nikella had shown me.
Praying to the Four with all my might, I dusted some over my heavy chain. The metal hissed and peeled, shedding bits of rotted metal into the dirt.
Korvin started to turn, but Nikella stepped toward him, her spear lifted.
“It’s my favorite scar, too,” she said. “Because it was the one that set me free. From my fear and from you. It gave me the courage to leave you and become a Teacher. To save the future king of Rellmira. To destroy everything greedy, spineless men desire. Now the rest of the world will be free of you as well. You didn’t make me who I am today.
I did. My choices. My will. My scars. Me. ”
Tears sprang to my eyes. She was everything I wanted to be.
My chain fell apart just as Korvin rolled his shoulders back and pointed his sunstone knife at Nikella.
“It doesn’t matter, Nik,” he said softly as I crept toward them. “I told you, little girls don’t survive.”
She edged toward me. “No. That’s why we become women.”
Korvin lunged. Nikella ducked and threw herself toward me. I scrambled forward and smattered some of the black powder on her chain. It sizzled and started to disintegrate as she danced away from Korvin’s furious blows.
I sprinted toward Aiden, Maz, and Ruru, my chains beating against my bare feet.
“Guards!” Korvin screamed as he fought Nikella.
An answering shout came from the light beyond the tents. The bridge.
One of my chains tripped me, and I crashed to the ground in front of Aiden. Some of the precious powder spilled onto the ground. I swore loudly.
Aiden snatched it from my hands. “Get a weapon!”
I staggered to my feet—my knees and hands scraped and bleeding. But I hurried back to the table, dodging the vicious fight between brother and sister.
Nikella shoved Korvin into the fire, and he howled. He tossed a handful of embers at her.
There were no weapons. No weapons on the table. Only our bombs. Our weapons were in a different log, and Korvin was using the only other blade I could see.
“Fucking Four!” I shouted, frantically searching.
The guards raced toward us, their spears gleaming. Aiden was still shaking the last flecks of powder onto Maz’s chains while Ruru wrenched apart his crusted shackles.
I seized one of the bombs, trying to remember what Nikella had said about them. But I had no time.
“Run!” I screamed, cocking my arm back.
Aiden’s eyes widened when he understood my intention. He grabbed Ruru by the collar and flung him away from the fire. He and Maz threw themselves behind a tent just as I tossed the can into the fire in front of the soldiers.
I raced in the opposite direction. BOOM!
An invisible force lifted me off my feet and hurled me into a tent. Heat seared me from behind. I crashed into a heap of canvas and broken wood. Screams rose in the night.
I lay still for a moment, panting. Something warm dripped down my leg. I ignored it, trying to swim out of the tent that had swallowed me.
More screams rose, and the clash of weapons.
I thrashed harder. We will not die here.
I slowly crawled to freedom and found a gruesome scene. Several soldiers lay in twisted, molten heaps by the blown fire. Aiden, Maz, and Ruru battled the remaining three with stolen swords and spears.
Aiden ran his opponent through and spotted me, his face twisting with relief. “Find Nikella!” he shouted, then turned to help Maz and Ruru.
I unsheathed a dead soldier’s knife and stumbled in the direction I’d last seen Nikella and Korvin hurtling.
I found them down a grassy hill, still at war. Their movements were slower, as if they were wearing out.
“You can’t defeat me,” Korvin shouted, slashing at Nikella. “We are the same. Monsters, the pair of us. Born of the same monster. You can’t defeat what you are.”
I flipped the knife and caught its tip, ready to aim it at Korvin’s throat.
“No, Kiera,” Nikella said sharply.
I hesitated.
Korvin used her distraction to stomp on her lagging chain and trip her.
My heart shot up to my throat. My grip grew sweaty on the blade. I didn’t care what she said. I’d kill him before he killed her.
But Korvin didn’t go in for the final blow. He stopped, wheezing for air. The sweat pouring down his back glistened in the moonlight.
“Admit it,” he said. “Admit we are the same monster, and I won’t draw out your pain for too long.”
Nikella slowly rose to her feet with the aid of her spear. “You are the monster, Korvin. And you’re a liar. Because I am something you never chose to be.”
“What? Good? Kind?” he sneered.
“Merciful.”
She stabbed at him. He evaded. She spun and plunged her spear through his chest, impaling his entire body.