Chapter 31
KALLIE
"What if Domitius doesn’t show up?" Ellie asked as she sat on a low-hanging branch of a maple tree. With one leg dangling from her perch, she inspected her weapons, turning them this way and that. She had woven her stark white hair into a simple plait, and thin strands framed her face.
Kallie looked toward the forest at the opposite end of the great plain that stretched in front of them.
A crisp breeze rolled in, sending the leaves tumbling.
There was no other movement between the trees on the other side of the plain, though, and a nauseating knot twisted in Kallie’s stomach. Still, she said, "He’s going to come."
"How do you know?" Ellie asked, doubtful.
"Because I know him." Kallie pressed her palms flat on the ground, and blades of dry grass weaved between her fingers, scratching her skin.
Within the surrounding ten-foot square radius, Graeson’s constant pacing had flattened the meadow, digging a small trench into the ground.
They had arrived at the agreed-upon time: an hour past high noon.
But now the sun was setting behind them.
Golden hues painted the field resting between them and the opposing forest. Myra would have thought the view was worthy of a painting to be hung in a grand hall.
Kallie, however, saw it for what it was: one last moment of peace before she would come face-to-face with the man who had destroyed her life.
She shouldn’t have been surprised Domitius was late.
How many times had he made her sit in his office waiting for his verdict?
Waiting for her punishment after she failed a mission or failed to increase her power?
Kallie had always hated the anticipation that came with sitting in his office alone, never knowing when the door would swing open.
The resulting anxiety was a plague, always finding its way to infiltrate her bloodstream and twist her thoughts into a tangled mess.
It was a tactic, one Domitius used freely.
And Kallie was falling for it even now, allowing the passing of time, the inevitable doom, to crawl under her skin and set her nerves on fire. It made her question whether she was ready.
Kallie rested the back of her head against the tree trunk. "I should have listened to you sooner."
Above her, Ellie sighed. "Of all times, you admit that now? When I don’t even get to enjoy telling you I told you so?"
Chewing the inside of her cheek, Kallie shrugged. She should have listened to Ellie from the beginning. Instead, she had let her pride get in the way.
"Hey," Graeson said, calling her attention to him. "None of that."
"It’s true, though," Kallie mumbled as he crouched in front of her.
With a finger, he tipped her chin up, forcing her gaze to meet his. "No, it’s not. Even without showing his face, Domitius is messing with you, twisting your thoughts. Do not let him win; do not let him have that power over you." His thumb lightly brushed across her jawline. "Got it?"
Kallie gulped but nodded.
He wove his fingers into her hair, cupping the back of her head, his touch soft yet unyielding. Wrong yet impossibly right. "You are not a weapon, Kalisandre. He does not have power over you; only you do." His moon-gray eyes bounced across her face. "Repeat it, Kal."
Her mouth had gone dry, though, and Kallie struggled to repeat the words.
"Louder, little mouse," Graeson insisted.
Kallie tried to focus on the warmth of his palms, the light pressure at the back of her head.
But as she looked at him, everything she wanted taunted her within Graeson’s storm-gray eyes.
She could see the life that she could have had with him.
She could hear the moments of laughter that might never come to be, the moments of joy and love.
She saw open skies and smiles. She saw a world that was theirs to roam without fear or terror.
But the one thing that was missing from those scenes that flooded her mind was his mother.
When Kallie had believed her mother was dead, she would have done anything to spin back time and save her.
She would have done anything to have at least one conversation with her, one moment that was just theirs.
Now was Graeson’s chance to have that, and Kallie would do anything to ensure he got it.
She rolled her hands into fists. "He doesn’t have power over me; only I do."
Speaking the words aloud was like a ship crashing against an unexpected plot of land. A sudden jolt forward. But instead of falling over, Kallie felt sturdier than she had moments before.
As if seeing the words sink in, Graeson leaned closer. His forehead touched hers as his shoulders dropped. "No matter what happens," he whispered, "do not forget that. Do not forget that we are here with you. You have the power, but you are not alone. Not anymore."
Kallie closed her eyes and leaned into him, leaned into his words and the knowledge that Graeson was right. She wasn’t weak. She wasn’t powerless. But more importantly, she wasn’t alone anymore. Not if she didn’t want to be.
"Thank you." The moment the words left her mouth, she knew they were not enough. There was so much she wanted to say, to admit. Her lips parted. "I—"
A whistle cut her off.
They pulled away from each other and looked up at Ellie.
"He’s here," Ellie said, pointing her freshly sharpened blade at the forest across from them.
Kallie and Graeson both looked over. A flicker of light sparkled deep in the trees, as if the sun’s rays had caught on metal.
Graeson, already on his feet, held out a hand. Without hesitation, Kallie grabbed it, letting him pull her up.
Once upright, her legs only trembled marginally. Loralaine’s words swirled in the back of her mind.
Fear reminds us we are human.
Ellie’s boots hit the ground with a loud thump as she jumped from the branch. "Army or no army, you’ve got this, Kals. Or else we all might be—"
"Euralys," Graeson hissed.
He was too late, though. Kallie already knew what Ellie was going to say: they would all be dead if Kallie failed.
I will not fail, she told herself, determination steadying her legs.
She took a step forward, but a calloused hand wrapped around her wrist, beckoning her to stop mid-stride. She turned and peered at Graeson.
"Together," he said.
Kallie nodded.
They would meet Domitius together, but the rest of this she would have to do on her own. She knew it, and he knew it.
With Graeson and Ellie on either side of her, Kallie began crossing the clearing.
She focused on the silhouette clouded in shadows across the field.
With each yard gained, more features came into the light.
Domitius stood with his head tilted slightly up, hands clasped behind his back, shoulders relaxed yet rolled back.
His feet were shoulder-width apart, planted and unwavering.
Months might have separated them, but some things never changed.
From this far away, Domitius was barely a blip compared to the forest behind him, yet he had the ability to tear the world apart. Today, that ended.
"Do you see her?" Ellie asked, scanning the trees.
"No," Graeson said, voice tight.
Other than Domitius, there were only two soldiers standing on the other side. They were several paces behind Domitius, their forms masked in darkness. Lysanthia, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"He’s probably keeping her out of sight," Kallie said, pushing away the rising nausea. "We continue on as planned."
She could sense their hesitation, but Kallie ignored it. Rolling her shoulders back, she steeled her expression. Leaves crunched beneath their feet as they eliminated the space between them and Domitius, inch by painful inch.
Once they were halfway across the field, Domitius stepped out of the shadows at last. His white pants were impeccably clean for having traveled from Ardentol, and Kallie wondered when he had arrived.
A day ago? Several? Had he simply been sitting in some posh inn, drinking whiskey while they waited?
At the thought, anger boiled inside her, and she tamped it down the best she could.
The two guards stepped out of the shadows, and a collective gasp whipped through the air.
Large wings spanned out from behind the guards. One man bore a set of webbed wings as black as night, while the other had feathered wings that were made of molten ash, each feather a different shade of gray.
"Myra wasn’t lying," Kallie whispered, voice haunted.
While she hadn’t doubted Myra, seeing the winged men was entirely different from hearing about them. Suddenly, Kallie was regretting leaving Nyrri behind with the horses deep in the woods. Would the drakonis be able to hear them if they needed her? How long would it take Nyrri to get here?
"We agreed no armies, yet he brought two of his pets?" Graeson spat, a low rumble vibrating in his throat.
Kallie inhaled. "We knew he might try to pull something like this. The odds are still manageable." But she wasn’t sure if she was trying to reassure the others or herself more.
Ellie tilted her head, her braid falling to her back. "How do you think they put on that armor?" she asked, eyeing the winged guards decked head-to-toe in armor.
"Now is not the time," Graeson retorted.
While Ellie observed the guards, Kallie’s attention was fixed on Domitius. Unlike the guards, Domitius wore no armor. Kallie wondered what it felt like to be so sure of one’s survival, to be so confident in one’s ability to win, that one didn’t even find it necessary to wear a chest plate.
A small smile graced Domitius’ lips, but there was nothing gentle or warm about it. There never had been.
He had no power over her, not anymore, she reminded herself.
Her fingers twitched at the dagger strapped to her thigh. She hadn’t bothered to hide the weapon. There was no point. He knew her well enough to know she would not come unarmed. He had trained her, after all.