Truth. A diversion. Whatever he wanted to call it. I just had to talk long enough, which I was damn good at.
Barrett turned to me, eyes flickering with hopelessness, and I scanned the crowd. I had one chance to aid them, one chance to choose the right words and not leave another failed stain on my family name. To save some people here while I couldn’t others.
I love you, baby brother.
“Angels spare me,” I muttered.
Unsheathing my sword, I handed it to the prince. An awed ripple went through the crowd at the sign of surrender, even the leaders beside the pool stopping to watch.
I strode to where they were gathered on the bank, eyes on a little girl clinging to her mother’s leg in the front row. These people wouldn’t listen to anothernobleman. They wouldn’t hear my truth from across palace walls. They needed someone they saw as a comrade. Approachable.
I kept well over an arm’s length from them—I may be reckless, but I wasn’t a complete idiot—and I slid my hands into my pockets.
The crowd retained their threatening stares, but the child canted her head toward me, half hiding her face in her mother’s skirt. The woman propped a toddler on her hip.
Crouching down, I asked the girl, “Is that your brother?”
She nodded but didn’t respond.
“I bet he’s very lucky to have you as a sister.” She watched me warily. The mother placed a hand to her head, and I sat back, making myself comfortable in the dirt. “I had a sister.”
“What’s her name?” the girl asked, and my chest cracked.
“Her name was Lyria,” I said, fighting the tightening in my throat. “She was afiercewarrior, but she’s not here anymore.”
“What happened?” the young girl asked.
I spared her the more gruesome details, but for the first time, I didn’t push away the thoughts. Instead of numbness, I letmyself truly succumb to the loss. “My sister was the Commander of the Mystique armies. She fought proudly, but in her most recent battle, we lost her.”
“Do you miss her?”
“Somuch,” I swore, my voice quiet as my vision clouded. “Every day.”
I love you, baby brother.
I wiped my eyes and looked to the mother from my spot on the ground. To the Engrossians surrounding her and the fear in their eyes. And with a deep breath, I projected my voice over the crowd. “My sister sacrificed her life for a cause we deeply believed in, and it is not the one you may think. Recently, rumors have surfaced about a Warrior God.”
Murmurs broke out, but I raised my voice. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m here as proof that it’s true. That it’s true, and my sister lost her life in the process because we didn’t trust the warnings given to us. We chose derision instead.”
Silently, Barrett sat beside me. A king on the same ground as his people and his rival.
“But that was precisely what the Warrior Godandthe Angels wanted. Now, they pose even greater threats to warrior kind. In order to fight and bring peace to the realm—to avoid the unnecessary loss of life—the Gallantian Warriorshave toband together.”
The stares looking back at me softened, tears rimming eyes.
“That begins with the man beside me.” I laughed. “Trust me, when Barrett showed up to aid the Mystiques, I didn’t want to trust him. But I learned very quickly that your prince—yourking—has the best interest of his people at heart. And he was willing tolay down his lifefor it because he loves this clan.”
Love is the most infallible driving force.
My eyes fell back to that little girl, her hand now clutched in her brother’s. “I love my sister very much. And I amdesperately,hopelessly, unfathomably in love with the Revered of the Mystique Warriors. I know her heart deeper than my own, and to love her is easier than breathing. I would give my life for hers in a heartbeat, but I do not wish to put any clan in the way of harm. We need to stand together, against the Warrior God, for the sake of love and life.”
The words tapered off, but the desperation in my voice when I spoke of Lyria and Ophelia was palpable. I could fucking taste it with every word, see it in the tears clouding the eyes?—
An ax flew from the back of the crowd, landing two inches to my left.
“By the fucking Angels,” I groaned, jumping up.
So much forpeaceful distractions.
