Rev
Tyadin and I sprintthrough the pathway, not even pausing as Caelynn stops to engage. I don’t know what her plan is, and I don’t care.
If she wants to put herself at risk again to help us—have at it. I hope she dies in the process. It would make my life so much easier. I’d live with the disappointment of missing the chance to shove the blade through her heart myself. I know what it feels like, thanks to the orb of terrors, and it’s not something I feel the need to live with forever if I don’t have to.
Call me by my name before you kill me.
Tyadin pulls me behind a boulder, the stone rising to surround us as we hide, listening to the battle waging behind us.
“What the hell is she doing?” he whispers. “She can’t beat them on her own, can she?”
I swallow. “She did it once.”
He shakes his head. “She had the element of surprise that time, and she had time to build her magic into one atomic shadow bomb. I doubt she’ll get a blast like that one again.”
“Is it bad that I don’t care one way or another?”
“Suppose I don’t blame you. It’s better for our survival if she’s still around, though. She’s the strongest of the three of us at the moment.”
“That’s not a comforting fact.” I swallow. “How does she do it? Hide her magic like that?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Tyadin says, brushing hair from his eyes.
I raise my eyebrows, waiting.
“Pain.”
I narrow my eyes. “Is she ill?” Chronic pain of some kind? Except that would suck her strength, wouldn’t it?
“Pain isn’t only physical,” he says ominously, and the truth I hadn’t dared even consider sends a jolt of discomfort through my chest. The image of a young Caelynn being held down flashes through my mind.
“But she’s so...” Several words cross my mind. Listless, apathetic, hard-hearted. “Cold,” I finally decide on.
He nods. “The more time I spend with her, the more I suspect she’s simply a very good actress. She’s hated, and she doesn’t fight it. She owns it. Perhaps because she hates herself just as much.”
I wince. Dammit. I cannot possibly feel compassion or empathy for my brother’s murderer. She killed him, and she doesn’t care. I wrap that truth around my heart and seal it there. That’s my truth. That’s what’s going to keep me going. Keep me sane.
Once her heart has stopped beating, maybe then I’ll consider looking deeper. A cry of agony echoes through the forest around us, and I freeze. The voice was distinctly male.
“Who was that?” Tyadin whispers.
“Rook,” I say, knowing it’s the truth as soon as I say it. My brother’s murderer has become my friend’s murderer, and I am culpable. It’s not like he didn’t try to kill me first, but the pain still hits hard and sharp as if it were my heart she carved out.
“Well that’s... good news, I suppose,” Tyadin says, a hint of sympathy in his tone. He turns away from me, peeking through the gap in the stone wall he created. “She’s coming—shit!” he spits and then quickly slips from an opening on the side of his created cave.
“What?” I don’t dare say it loud enough for him to hear now that he’s already on the path sprinting toward some unknown conflict.
“Look out!” Tyadin cries to a figure in the distance.
I watch over a hundred yards from the scene as Caelynn skids to a stop, her eyes darting toward Ty and then to the bolder beside her just before Kari’s blade flies at her. Caelynn barley blocks the attack with a fling of her sword and cry of surprise.
Tyadin just saved Caelynn’s life. I can’t help but feel a pang of disappointment, even though the logical part of my brain tells me it’s a good thing. She’s still an ally. She’s still defending me.
With movements fast as lightning, Caelynn swings her shadow-singed blade at Kari’s neck, and she only barely avoids it. Caelynn’s second blade clips Kari as she twists away, slicing deeply through her inner thigh.
I wince and sprint to them, knowing the battle is over.
Kari falls with a cry of pain, gripping her thigh as blood pours over her fingers. I brace myself for Caelynn’s final blow—ending the life of another enemy—but I blink back my surprise as she slides her blade back into its sheath.
