A tremor runs through Annora, and I tighten my arms around her, hoping to lend her my strength.
I continue in what I hope is a gentle, reassuring tone. “She surrendered to our forces, and I have taken her prisoner.”
Annora pulls back just enough to tilt her face up to mine. “What will you do to her?”
Tenderly, I reach up to brush a stray lock of reddish-brown hair from Annora’s face. “I don’t know yet, but I will not execute her. You have my word.” It’s a promise I intend to keep, no matter the consequences. For Annora, I would move mountains, cross oceans, defy the very laws of our land.
Sadness burns in Annora’s eyes as she speaks, her voice raw. “Grandfather made her want to be chieftain. He made her think it was our birthright, but it’s been a long time since House of Silver sat on the Hematite throne.”
“I want someone with blood from both houses to sit there next,” I say. “Not someone who is only crimson or silver.”
“You are from both houses, Jasce,” Annora says softly. “You never acknowledge it, but it’s true. You are silver and crimson.”
I have never thought of myself as being from both houses. I have always been from House of Crimson. Always cast crimson flames. Learned their ways. Learned to be chieftain by a tyrant father. Never once have I thought of being silver.
Jerrod turned on my mother the moment he found out she was from House of Silver. I remember her screams echoing through the halls as he beat her for her deceit. He would have turned on me just as quickly, striking me down with his fists, if I had tried to claim that side of myself.
She ran after that and hid from him. And he made me swear to never speak of my mother again. So, I didn’t, but it didn’t mean I forgot about her.
I exhale and bury the memories like I always do. “Nobody else knows the truth about my mother, Annora. You cannot talk about it.”
“I won’t.”
I pull Annora close again, savoring the feel of her in my arms before reluctantly letting her go. As much as I want to stay here with her, duty calls.
“I need to go meet with my commanders and Hector,” I say. “But I will try to hurry back to you as soon as I can.”
My heart aches, knowing I must leave her now, even for a short while. But the sooner I attend to my responsibilities as chieftain, the sooner I can return to her side. With great effort, I force myself to turn and head for the doorway.
ChapterFifty-Eight
ANNORA
I tugmy veil into place and step out of the library, my heart weighed down by the overwhelming need to see Asha.
She shouldn’t have to face this alone, not after everything we’ve been through together. I quicken my pace, my slippered feet barely making a sound against the stone floors as I navigate the corridors.
I have to see Asha and tell her it will be all right. She’s always been there for me, and now it’s my turn to be the strong one.
I descend to the lower levels below the palace, where the air grows colder and damper with each step. The shadows seem to reach for me as I hurry down the winding stone staircase toward the dungeon.
Nerves tighten in my throat as I approach the guard stationed at the entrance and request to see Asha. He nods curtly, then leads me through the dim passages until we reach her cell.
My breath catches as I lay eyes on my sister. Asha sits hunched on a thin, dirty mattress in the corner. Dark bruises mar her face, and a thick bandage wraps around her right arm, stained with the faintest hint of red.
My heart drops to my feet at the sight of her injuries, knowing how fiercely she must have fought. But despite it all, fire still smolders behind her eyes as she lifts her head to meet my gaze.
“Ash,” I whisper, my fingers curling around the cold metal bars that separate us.
“Rora…” Her expression softens, and for a moment, the world falls away. In an instant, we are not two sisters torn apart by war, but two halves of the same heart. Two halves destroyed by their father leaving them. Two halves who lived through the pain of their mother consuming a vile flower.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she says, her voice hoarse and strained.
Tears blur my vision as I shake my head at her. “I had to see you. I needed to know that you are all right.”
Asha’s lips curve into a sad smile. “I’m alive, if that’s what you mean.”
I reach through the bars, desperate to touch her, to offer some small measure of comfort. She flinches away, her eyes filled with a pain that cuts me to the core.
