I glance at Sadal, sickened. Forever.
Suddenly, I feel a stinging pain on my cheek. I inhale sharply as Maaz’s brilliant, furious eyes come into view. Her hand is still raised, the palm pink from making contact with my cheek. Her narrow fingers wrap around my chin and she tugs at me. I blink back tears of pain, gasping.
“How dare you?” She hisses. “You should be honored that the Dark God would spill his own blood to bind you to him. There are few who are so privileged.”
“Are you?” I ask with a muffled voice, narrowing my eyes at her.
She grimaces furiously, her eyes flashing. “You don’t deserve the honor of the covenant.”
“That’s what I thought,” I say, smiling despite the grip she has on my chin.
“Maaz,” Sadal snaps. “Get out.”
Maaz rips her hand away, huffing. Her cheeks are pink with fury, eyes impossibly wide. With a final glance over her shoulder she stalks out of the tent. Sadal rolls his eyes, watching her slender figure disappear between the forest of tents outside. He reaches for me, but I dart out of arm’s length, panting. I rub my jaw, staring fearfully at him as he watches me. Sadal shrugs before following Maaz outside.
I wonder briefly if bruises will form on my chin and jaw where Maaz held me so tightly. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror; cowed, pale, and draped in red. I close my eyes, sorrow fluttering in my chest. Every day, I grow further from Altair. Every day, I find a new challenge to blame myself for.
When I open my eyes, the Bloodbane text near the bed catches my eye. I slip towards it, apprehensive. When my fingers wrap around the cover, I feel it vibrate with power. I lift my eyes to the mirror again. Sadal gave me power when he forced me through the ritual. He gave me the power of the Bloodbane with no limitations.
He made a mistake.
Chapter 4
Altair
“Hit them hard,” I hiss. “I want all of our soldiers striking at once.”
Haru, Moritz, Thal, and I are clustered in a tent a day’s march from Alnembra, close to the mountain border. Our combined forces, made up of my most elite troops and Moritz’s soldiers, are camped all around us; a sea of soldiers stretching for miles in every direction but east.
Moritz narrows his eyes and pins his finger to the map. “Absolutely not. If we strike with everything we have, Sadal will hit back twice as hard because that’s what he’ll expect.”
“He’ll strike as hard as he can regardless of our own forces,” I say fiercely, acutely aware of Thal’s warning gaze.
“If we reveal the entirety of our forces, Sadal will plow through us if we don’t finish him in this battle. I won’t allow us to risk everything here,” Moritz snarls.
“I want him obliterated. Destroyed.” I lean forward, eyes intent on the map.
Haru crosses her arms. Her black hair is braided back tightly, her blue gown traded for a pair of sleek leather trousers and a cuirass. She looks every bit the warrior I know she is. Her eyes, which fluctuate between kind and hard, soften now. “We all do, Altair,” she murmurs.
I resist the temptation to snap at her that she couldn’t possibly feel the overwhelming intensity that I do. Instead, I drop my eyes back to the map, curling my fingers against the heavy parchment.
Moritz moves our pieces that symbolize our forces and places them on opposite flanks of the Bloodbane army. “We flank them with half our forces. Feel out his strength, and show him ours without being reckless,” he says coolly, his hand disappearing back into his heavy cloak.
“Too lenient,” I whisper, snatching back the pieces.
“Don’t be a fool,” Moritz snarls. He straightens, rising to his full height and glowers at me over the cowl of his cloak. “You would risk everything for that woman?”
“I would,” I growl, leaning forward with my eyes flashing.
“Then you’re an even greater fool than I thought,” he says. He strides towards the tent flap. “My soldiers and I will return to Canes immediately. We’ll prepare for Sadal on our own. After he’s taken Alnembra.”
My blood goes cold as his hand wraps around the door. I stare at him, eyes wide. “No,” I breathe.
He glances at me over his shoulder as Haru starts towards him. She places a hand on his shoulder and squeezes. “Moritz,” she says, warning lacing her voice. “Reconsider.”
“Apologize,” Thal whispers in my ear.
I turn sharply to him. “For what? For trying to rescue Verity and save my kingdom?”
He closes his eyes for a moment before snapping them open, eyes blazing. “You know he’s right, Altair. You know it. Use your head. You can’t alienate the only allies that are willing to step up and save Alnembra,” he hisses.
“Fuck,” I murmur under my breath. He’s right. Of course he is. Thal, despite his playboy ways, was always clever. I turn back to Moritz, the muscles in my back tensing. “Moritz,” I bark.
Moritz cocks a brow at the harsh way I addressed him. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” I say, relaxing my jaw. “The vast majority of our forces are your men. I won’t forget that.”
“You owe me, Altair,” Moritz says softly.
“I know,” I mutter, heart clenching in my chest.
“Now that wounded egos have been licked,” Haru says, her lips twisted into a mirthful smile. “What’s our next move?”
I look at Moritz before moving the pieces of our forces past the mountain border and into Alnembra’s plains. “We wait for them here, where they bottleneck from the mountain passes.”
“Archers here,” Haru murmurs, joining me at the table. “Cavalry here. And the catapults?”
Moritz peers at the map. “We march half our soldiers, our best. But I don’t want our forces to be burdened by heavy catapults.”
I nod, considering this. “Agreed.”
Suddenly, the door flies open, and a messenger stumbles into the room. His eyes are wide, and I can smell the fear permeating from his skin. Sweat trickles from his brow and he stands, frozen,
