Chapter Forty-Nine – Mira
Chapter Forty-Nine
Mira
The instant Roran fell, General Harte mounted a horse and galloped away. Fleeing with the remaining Ravalian forces.
I hesitated, torn between chasing them down and helping Cassius. My legs chose for me.
I ran to Cassius’s side, Scarlett and Aric hurrying after me. Even for a Ravalian, he was pale – unnaturally pale.
And his pulse . . . it was so slow. Faint and fading, but still there. Barely.
Thump . . . thump.
Thump.
‘Hold on,’ I whispered to him. ‘You can survive this. You have to survive this.’
Aric was watching me, but in that moment I didn’t care. All I could think about was the vulnerability in Cassius’s voice when he had said, ‘You love me too.’
And my answer: ‘No. I don’t.’
My last words to him had been a lie.
‘If he . . .’ I could barely say it. Barely even think it. ‘If he dies, you have to bring him back.’ It was an order, not a request. ‘The same way you resurrected Lillian.’
‘It doesn’t work that way. I would have to . . .’ Scarlett’s wary glance at Aric said enough.
She would have to sever her bond with Lillian. The bond keeping my best friend alive.
I gathered Cassius’s unresponsive form in my arms, frantically searching for a sign of life. A sign that I could still reach him, still save him–
I found it. A hint of warmth – not in his expression or his cold body, but in his veins.
‘You promised the Sorceress.’ Scarlett’s voice was soft, little more than an exhale of breath. ‘No blood magic.’
‘I don’t care.’ Promises and consequences meant nothing to me if I could save Cassius.
And despite Scarlett’s warning, I knew she felt the same. She said nothing else as I closed my eyes, focusing on Cassius’s heartbeat. On the blood pumping weakly through his veins.
Dimly, I was aware of Aric moving to meet what was left of Roran’s personal guard as they reached the platform – buying me as much time as he could.
Scarlett caught my left wrist, understanding what I was about to do. ‘Don’t–’
I pulled out the dagger.
Blood bubbled out, red and thick and terrible. If I was wrong, then I had just killed Cassius with my own hands.
‘Don’t die,’ I begged him, pressing my hands over the wound. ‘Please.’
Thick, reddish warmth stained my hands and skin. But the blood wasn’t mine. It didn’t belong to me.
Return to him , I willed it with everything I had. Save him .
My mind felt as though it was fraying at the edges, but I held onto the magic, refusing to let go.
I didn’t notice the change at first. Not until the bleeding began to slow, and then stop entirely. The wound was still open, but it began to close in tiny increments. Like Velanthe had once done to me.
Scarlett watched with wide eyes as Cassius’s wound healed. But as colour and warmth returned to his skin, I felt colder and harder. Brittle. As if the magic had cost me something crucial this time.
My apprehension faded as Cassius opened his eyes, midnight-blue and every bit as piercing and alive as I remembered.
We looked at each other for a long moment. Scarlett murmured something as she helped him stand, and Cassius’s mouth opened, forming words. Words I didn’t have the chance to hear.
A Warrior broke through Aric’s defences, his spear raised. I cut him down without pause, and as his blood sprayed, my senses seemed to sharpen. It was like what had happened with Velanthe in the Temple. I was connected to everyone around me, to their blood and their minds and their beating hearts–
Including Roran’s fleeing forces.
And General Harte.
My power hardened into ice at the thought of his name. And my focus narrowed to vengeance.
I raced down the steps of the platform and ran towards Conall, heedless of the distant shouts of my name. I would be damned if I let General Harte make it to the harbour with Roran’s remaining soldiers. If they escaped on those ships–
I refused to finish the thought. They wouldn’t escape. I won’t let them.
My magic erupted from me as I rode towards the harbour, connecting me to Roran’s remaining force. Blood rushed through my ears until it was all I could hear. All I could feel.
Power thrummed through my veins, warm and electrifying and addictive.
Puppets. They were all puppets, and I had hold of their strings.
With a single thought, I severed those strings.
Dozens of bodies collapsed ahead of me, spreading out through Roran’s fleeing army like a contagion.
And as Roran’s forces fell, the clansmen joined my pursuit. Their heartbeats reverberated through my ears, loud and tempting and distracting. I resisted the urge to stop them. They were my warriors. Mine to protect.
It occurred to me that I shouldn’t have had to remind myself of that fact. That perhaps using so much blood magic had skewed my perceptions.
But my entire being rebelled at the thought of releasing the magic. Roran might be dead, and his army destroyed, but this war was far from over. General Harte needed to pay for what he had done.
Then I would stop. But only then. When I knew he couldn’t hurt me – or anyone I cared about. When I knew Kalure was truly safe.
I descended on the harbour ahead of my warriors, though I could sense Scarlett gaining on me, Cassius and Aric close behind.
What I had seen before at the clifftop was correct: Ravalian ships had been set against Roran’s armada.
Despite their superior numbers, somehow it was Roran’s fleet that was decimated, the proud ships leaning on their sides and taking on water, some blown apart entirely, with only floating debris left behind.
It was a power I had seen once before – on Aldara. When Zandri had blasted apart the tents in the circus.
Conall stilled as General Harte and six of his officers shuffled into view – wounded and with none of the confidence I had observed earlier. Zandri rode behind them, Emperor Kalias’s bone crown glinting ominously on her head. Its golden tips jutted cruelly upwards, like death dipped in gold.
A cool smile greeted me as Zandri swung down from the saddle. She hadn’t bothered with armour, instead donning her usual black fighting leathers. Warriors, Masks, Artisans – they all flanked her, giving me pause.
‘Congratulations on a decisive victory, Kasmira,’ she said in her razor-sharp voice. ‘It seems any further assistance is unnecessary. At least I was able to apprehend these cowards for you.’ A nod at General Harte and his senior Warriors.
I eyed the crown she wore as I asked pointedly, ‘Did you come here to help, or to challenge me for the Kalurian throne?’
‘I assure you,’ Zandri said smoothly, ‘there’s no cause for concern. Ruling Ravalia is more than enough for me.’
‘I thought that was Scarlett’s intention.’
Zandri merely smiled. ‘Does it matter? Do you care what happens in Ravalia, so long as your country remains free?’
I trust Scarlett a great deal more than I trust you , I thought. Out loud, I said, ‘I suppose not.’
Let Zandri think that I believed her assurances. At least I had the larger fighting force.
I returned my attention to General Harte, who had the audacity to collapse to his knees, his head bowed in surrender. The rest of his men followed suit, discarding their weapons.
I laughed. A harsh, callous sound. ‘What would you have done if I had surrendered?’ I asked, stalking closer. ‘Would you have let me live?’
General Harte said nothing. I saw the truth reflected in his eyes as he met my gaze, and that truth was all it took for my blood magic to rise up.
Blood rose with it. Pouring from General Harte’s eyes as he writhed on the ground, his fingernails clawing at the dirt.
‘Enough,’ Aric said from behind me. ‘That’s enough , Mira.’
‘Are you seriously trying to stop me?’ I asked, twisting to look at him. ‘Don’t you remember what General Harte did to you?’
‘I remember,’ Aric said in a low, measured voice. ‘But you’re not yourself right now. Scarlett told me about the blood magic; I think you’ve used too much. It’s affecting you more than you realise.’
I shifted my gaze to Scarlett. Despite Aric’s words, she was watching General Harte with an impassive expression and didn’t seem too bothered by my actions. Cassius stood at her side, silent and still, but his gaze was intent as he studied me, filled with unexpected gravity.
‘I know what kind of queen you want to be,’ Aric said again, ‘and this isn’t it.’
‘You’re wrong,’ I said defiantly, willing the blood to flow more readily. Willing General Harte to experience the same pain he had inflicted on Aric and Cassius.
The General crawled to me, his hands outstretched as if he might beg for mercy. But when he opened his mouth, only blood came dribbling out. It poured from his ears and eyes and even his nose. Choking him.
Killing him.
I felt nothing but satisfaction as his heart finally stopped. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of his companions dash for the forest. The remaining five exchanged a panicked glance and bolted after him.
Nari’s warriors didn’t try to stop them.
My teeth ground together, but I didn’t turn my ire on Nari or her people. I merely watched General Harte’s Warriors run.
The sight reminded me of Darius – of how Roran had given him a glimmer of hope, only to wrench it away at the last moment.
I let General Harte’s Warriors flee until I felt that same hope emanating from them.
Then I stopped their hearts one by one, laughing as I wrenched that hope away.
Laughing as they fell, only a short distance from the tree line. From escape.
‘Bring me Roran’s son,’ I ordered Odessa. The priestess tensed at my words and glanced at Scarlett.
Scarlett frowned, the first glimmer of emotion she’d shown so far. ‘Aurelius is resting. I don’t think he–’
‘I don’t care what you think. I gave my high priestess an order, and I expect it to be followed.’
‘What are you going to do with him?’ Scarlett asked, utterly unfazed by my anger.
‘I’m going to execute him.’
Scarlett stared at me. She was looking at me like everyone was looking at me – as if I had lost my mind.
‘Mira–’