“How?”
“It’s horrible.”
His eyes didn’t waver. She’d only seen him this intense in the middle of battle, and now she regretted saying anything. Perhaps this was a secret she should take to her grave.
But it was Brandt.
“It’s a soulwalking technique. If you create a connection with a living being and it dies, you gain its energy when it passes through the gate. That’s how I’ve gotten stronger.”
“Can you teach it to me?”
“Brandt—”
“Can you teach it to me?” It wasn’t a question, but a demand.
“Maybe? It requires at least a basic knowledge of soulwalking.”
“Figure out how to teach it, Alena.”
She found her spine then. She liked Brandt and trusted him, but no one ordered her around. If he forgot, she would remind him that in this place she was far stronger than him. “So you can do what? Go on a killing spree?” She let the venom in her voice reflect her anger.
It caught him by surprise. He held up his hands, as if to surrender. His eyes fell. “Not like that, no.” Then his eyes came back up. “But I’m a wolfblade, and a soldier of the empire. Just last night I must have killed nearly a dozen warriors. If I can gain something from those deaths, don’t you think I should?”
“But we don’t know what the technique does to those who die. What if it prevents them from passing through the gate? What if it strands them in the same void we experienced?” Alena blurted out her worries.
The words of the original Anders echoed in her thoughts. Perhaps the technique allowed one to bypass the cost in using affinities, but it still came with a steep price.
She didn’t know what to tell Brandt, but delaying was easy enough. “I’ll see if I can learn how,” she said, the words feeling dirty even as she said them. “I have a pupil now who I can attempt to teach.”
“Thank you. It might make the difference as we travel deeper into Falar.”
Alena frowned. “You got attacked and you’re going deeper in. Why?”
Brandt’s eyes fell back down to the table, and he looked as though he’d been caught saying something he hadn’t intended to.
“Brandt, why are you going deeper into Falar? Why, exactly, are you there?”
He looked up, chagrined, “You’re not going to like the answer, especially now.”
She hoped her stare burned him.
“Hanns has asked us to treat with the Falari. He wants to control their gate as well.”
23
Brandt admired the townspeople’s resilience. Not only did they all rise to defend their homes, they went about the rebuilding of their town with a quiet determination that left him speechless.
The morning after the attack, the residents of the village gathered bodies for a large fire, set to consume neighbors and invaders alike. While the Etari and imperials tended to bury their dead, the Falari preferred the quick end of fire.
Brandt heard no wailing as the town cleared its streets and rooftops. He didn’t doubt their grief for a moment. Tears ran freely on many faces, but they contained their grief and kept it within.
In a way, that made the morning harder.
This had been Regar’s fault, shared by all who accompanied him. The enemy Falari had attacked Regar and the town had been in their way. Brandt would have welcomed an angry spouse or sibling. He would have endured a torrent of hate, if only it would wash away a part of what he felt.
But no one spoke a word against them. Brandt didn’t even catch an angry glare.
It made Falar feel more foreign than before.
When his host family offered them generous amounts of food for the road, Brandt almost lost his composure. He tried to refuse, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer.
They left the village not long after the sun rose above the peaks, the work in town still unfinished. Brandt wished the village well as it disappeared behind them. It was the least he could do.
His worries faded as they hiked into the mountains. The paths through the heart of Falar were often demanding, and they began their morning with a stretch that climbed relentlessly uphill. The effort finally succeeded in pushing away his guilt.
Alena’s message came later that morning. Brandt spoke to her while they rested near the high point of a pass.
When she severed their connection, he couldn’t hide his new distress from Ana, who asked, “How is she?”
“Well, as far as I can tell. She’s currently at the Etari gate.”
“What?” She looked as confused as Brandt had felt when he spoke with Alena.
“I know.”
“Isn’t their gate shattered? Isn’t that what Hanns told us?”
“It is, but Alena says part of it still exists and it’s active.”
“Huh.” Ana accepted the fact easier than he had. “And she’s fine?”
“I think so.”
When Brandt didn’t volunteer further information, Ana pushed. “So what’s bothering you?”
“She found a way to surpass the cost.”
That piqued Ana’s curiosity. “How?”
Brandt explained. Ana’s face fell. By the time he finished his explanation, Ana looked horrified. “Would you consider it?”
“I asked her to figure out how to teach me.”
Word came that their journey would soon be resuming. They walked down the path, near the rear of the column. Regar, Ren, and Weylen were close to the front, leading a mixed column of imperial guards and Falari warriors. After last night, the distinction meant less than ever. Both sides had lost friends. Brandt and Ana remained in their own bubble, undisturbed by the others.
“You shouldn’t pursue that,” Ana said.
Brandt glanced at her. “I don’t like it either, but what if there’s no other choice?”
Ana’s reply was harsh. “There’s always a choice.”
“If not for Regar, the first Falari ambush would have killed most of us. And against the queen, I’m nothing. This is the only way I know of to protect you and to protect the empire.”
“Which is why we have an emperor. Hanns is the one connected to the gates. It’s his duty to fight the queen.”
“It’s everyone’s.”
Ana stopped walking, forcing Brandt
