Chapter Twenty-Eight – Mira #2
‘You’ve been practising,’ Aric said, running his left hand through his sweaty dark hair. I noticed that he didn’t lower his sword. ‘But you’re still too impulsive, Mira. That much hasn’t changed.’
I stared at him mutely, unable to fully believe what I was seeing.
Memories resurfaced, chaotic flashes of colour and emotion: the way he had held me together after my mother’s death, the desperate way his lips crashed against mine in the arena, all the times he had laughed with me, trained me, helped me.
And then came the memories of that precious night spent in his arms.
I could still see the tenderness in his gaze. Could still feel his body settling over mine, achingly gentle as he gave me time to adjust. The certainty I’d felt as our bodies had joined together: that I was exactly where I belonged.
A certainty that had crumbled when Aric had confronted me on that gangplank, looking at me with nothing human in his face.
It was that Aric who stood in front of me now. Not my childhood friend or lover, but someone utterly unrecognisable. Someone who looked at me and saw a monster responsible for his sister’s death.
My eyes caught on the jagged wound running down the right side of Aric’s face, the angry skin held together by stitches. I might have felt concerned for him, if the memory of Thoren falling off the platform hadn’t been so fresh in my mind.
‘You killed Kalurians.’ My voice was choked. ‘ Innocent people , Aric, who were only fighting to defend themselves. What did they ever do to you? Why would you be involved in something so cruel?’
Aric took the opportunity to appraise me too, but there was no softness on his face. He didn’t answer my question.
‘I promised there would be a reckoning when we met again,’ he said in a low voice. ‘It seems that reckoning is finally here.’
I took a step back from him. I didn’t want to feel afraid of Aric, but I would feel much better with a sword in my hand. Mine lay discarded at his feet – impossible to reach before he did – but bodies were strewn across the wooden platform, and all of them had weapons. If I could reach one of them–
‘You’re fighting for Roran now?’ I asked, stalling for time. ‘Do you really hate me that much?’
‘Not everything is about you.’ Aric smiled faintly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. ‘I have my own plans.’
‘And do those plans include letting me go?’
‘That’s up to her .’ Aric nodded across the treetops, where the ranks of Ravalian Warriors parted.
My heart sank as Scarlett strode across the sky bridge, an imposing figure in black armour. Her red hair was braided on top of her head like a crown – in place of Emperor Kalias’s bone crown, which she had worn the last time I’d seen her. I supposed even she was wary of openly antagonising Roran.
‘So glad you survived, Mira. Pity about your fighters, though,’ Scarlett said, not even glancing at the bodies. Her Warriors had cleared most of the dead from her path, though the wood was still slippery with blood.
Betrayal and anger resurfaced at the callousness of her words, at the memory of how brazenly she had turned against me in the Ravalian Court. And now she had come here, to kill my people, to taunt me with the knowledge that I was at her mercy–
‘Mira, no!’ Cassius shouted, but I was already moving. Already using the last vestiges of my blood magic to slow Aric’s pulse and slip past him to–
‘Give me one reason,’ I hissed into Scarlett’s ear, pressing my dagger to her neck. ‘One reason why I shouldn’t end your life right now.’
‘Because if you do,’ she breathed back, barely moving her lips, ‘Lillian dies.’
I paused, the tip of my dagger digging into the column of Scarlett’s throat. We were both breathing hard now. Blood dripped steadily from my nose into my mouth. ‘But Aric said – he told me she was–’
‘Dead?’ Scarlett finished with a taunting smile. ‘She was. It’s only thanks to my magic that she’s alive.’
‘That’s a lie.’ My voice was so cold that it burned. ‘Every word that leaves your lips is a lie.’
But when I looked at Aric, the connection between us surged – and suddenly I was seeing past his face and into the maelstrom of emotion beneath. He was conflicted, and furious, and achingly sad. But above all–
I flinched back from it. His betrayal. His hurt .
My hold over him snapped. Aric remained where he was, his eyes – usually a warm, golden brown – as cold and hard as river stones, h is hand shifting to his sword. He studied the blood staining my lips, and I knew he suspected exactly what power I had used against him.
‘Didn’t you ever wonder,’ Scarlett whispered as my hold tightened, ‘why Aric serves me with such devotion ? It’s not purely out of hatred for you. It’s because I saved his darling little sister. Your supposed best friend.’
End it . Every part of me screamed those words. Urged me to do it. But I couldn’t seem to move.
‘She died for you, you know.’ Whether it was a trick of the light, for a second, I saw dark veins webbing across Scarlett’s pale skin.
‘She stepped in front of a swordsman to save your life. And now here you are, considering killing me – killing her – purely out of spite.’ Too quietly for anyone else to hear, she murmured, ‘You might not have killed Emperor Kalias, Mira, but you’re just as selfish as Aric believes you are. ’
‘And you ,’ I hissed, ‘don’t know when to shut up.’ I glanced down at my dagger, intending to press it in deeper, but a shocked gasp left my lips at the sight of the strange veins darkening my skin. Horrified realisation flooded into me like ice.
For an instant, I was back in Ravalia, staring at the soldier Scarlett had killed. The soldier who had tried to cut her poison out of his skin. It hadn’t worked for him, and I knew it wouldn’t work for me.
But I can still take Scarlett down with me.
My eyes locked with Aric’s, whose gaze seared into me with punishing force. The condemnation in his face cut into me far deeper than any blade. He truly believed I was the villain here.
And the moment I killed Scarlett . . . I would prove him right. Would die with hatred and lies between us.
‘You blame me for what happened to Emperor Kalias,’ I said, looking only at Aric, ‘but you’re wrong. The person at that wedding wasn’t me .’
‘I saw you–’
‘You saw what she wanted you to see. Has Scarlett ever mentioned her illusion magic to you?’
‘Don’t try to turn this around.’ Aric’s expression didn’t so much as flicker, and I realised that he trusted Scarlett implicitly. ‘There were two people involved in that assassination: you and Cassius. Whatever powers Scarlett might or might not possess, she couldn’t have killed him alone.’
Watching from his knees across the platform, Cassius wasn’t in a position to back me up. Not with Aric’s Warriors towering over him, ready to deliver the killing blow.
‘I know how it sounds,’ I said to Aric. ‘I really do, but you have to believe me–’
‘Believe you ?’ Harsh and unforgiving. ‘I’ve seen what you’re capable of – how far you’re willing to sink to achieve your goals. I tried to make excuses for you in the Ravalian Court, and all that brought me was death and heartbreak. I don’t believe a word out of your mouth.’
Furious tears welled in my eyes. ‘Scarlett’s done something to you, Aric. She’s twisted your mind–’
‘My mind is clearer than it’s ever been, and this conversation is over.
’ Aric raised his sword and approached the three surviving members of my party, his expression suddenly businesslike.
‘Release Scarlett, or I will start killing your companions.’ He considered Jadis, Odessa and Cassius for a moment.
Then he said, ‘Starting with the prince.’
Aric never had believed me, I realised with sudden clarity. When I had told him there was nothing between me and Cassius.
And now Cassius was going to suffer for it. But–
‘We’re all going to die anyway,’ I said, raising my chin. ‘I might as well make my death count.’
Aric’s hold tightened on his sword. But it was Scarlett who spoke, her voice lightly chiding.
‘I didn’t come here to kill you, Mira.’ Scarlett shifted slightly and I tightened my hold in response, warning her not to move. She went still. ‘Despite everything, you’re still my cousin. I wanted you gone from Ravalia, but I never wanted you dead .’
Her words brought back memories of our interactions in the Ravalian Court, and even the brief moments of softness I’d seen from her. But that softness had been just another manipulation.
Why else would she have ridden to the docks ahead of a host of Ravalian Warriors, intent on capturing me for the murder of Emperor Kalias? If I hadn’t sailed off before they reached me, I doubted I would still be alive.
‘That would be more convincing if your Warriors hadn’t almost killed me,’ I said, ignoring the increasing weakness of my muscles. Soon, I knew, her poisonous magic would reach my heart. ‘I noticed you didn’t leave any of the clansmen alive.’
‘I didn’t want any witnesses to the offer I’m about to make you.’ How did she sound so calm, so reasonable ? ‘Besides, killing all of them means you can tell the clans whatever you like. Ideally that Roran murdered them in an unprovoked attack.’
I pulled back just enough to stare into Scarlett’s face. I wondered why it had taken me so long to see it before. ‘You’re insane.’
‘Just calculated.’ Scarlett’s glacial blue eyes met mine, then shifted to my neck – to the dark tendrils that must be visible there.
I could feel them spreading through my blood: draining my energy and muddling my thoughts.
There was something almost hungry about the way Scarlett looked at me then, but all she said was, ‘We both want Roran dead. It makes more sense to pool our resources and work together to end him.’
Adjusting my hold on the dagger, I placed it flat against Scarlett’s throat – in the perfect position to slice it ear to ear. And I looked straight into her eyes as I said, ‘I trusted you once. I won’t make that mistake again.’