“There is no explanation good enough!” he snarled at her, watching droplets of blood roll down his blade. Not that she so much as flinched. “You betrayed me.”
Because it hadn’t been him that she’d intended to hit with that spear. It hadn’t even been Serrick.
It had been Lydia. And for that reason, no explanation was worthy of forgiveness.
“I know you think that,” she answered. “But I need you to know that I was only trying to protect you. And so was she.”
“Bullshit!” he shouted. “You were trying to cover Malahi’s tracks so that no one would discover she’d sent an assassin after her own father.”
“No.” Bercola started to shake her head but froze as his blade dug deeper. “Lydia is corrupted, Killian. Malahi saw her steal life the night of the ball. And if she did it once, she’ll do it again. And again. It would only be a matter of time until you had to kill her. And I knew doing so would kill you. Better that you hate me for the rest of your life than that.”
“She is not corrupted!” He screamed the words, his body shaking. “She’s a gods-damned healer, and you should be glad of it, because otherwise I’d be dead by your hand!”
She flinched.
“Lydia sacrificed her freedom to save my life. And she wouldn’t have had to if not for Malahi’s scheming. If not for her lies. If not for you enabling her.” Fury flooded through him, and because he knew if he didn’t, he’d kill her, Killian dropped his sword. “I trusted you.”
Silence.
“I won’t apologize,” Bercola finally said. “I swore to your father to keep you safe, and though he might be in the grave, my oath remains. You may refuse to see it, but there is a darkness in that girl, and it is born of fear. And fears never stay buried.”
“I neither need nor want your protection,” he said between his teeth. “Go, Bercola. Get out of my sight and out of Mudamora, because if I see you again, I will kill you for what you did.”
“She’s dangerous, Killian. And you and I are the only two living who know it.”
“We know nothing! This is all on Malahi’s word, and we both know she wouldn’t hesitate to lie if it served her ends.”
“I saw!” Bercola’s large hands clenched into fists. “She healed me afterward, and despite that I was near death, she gave up nothing of herself to make me whole. Because she was only giving up what she’d stolen!”
“The only thing she did wrong was not letting you die!”
Bercola closed her eyes, taking a measured breath. Then the giantess who had watched over him most of his life took one step back. And another.
“They say there is some of the Six in all of us,” she said when she reached the top of the slope. “But so is there some of the Seventh. Even in the Marked.”
“Go!” he screamed, reaching down to retrieve his sword. “This is your last chance, Bercola. That I’m giving you a chance at all is only because we were once friends.”
Her eyes glistened with tears, but the sight only hardened his heart.
“The days grow darker, Killian,” she said. “And I think it will be in the absence of light that we all see who we truly are.”
And without another word, she disappeared.
3MARCUS
His head throbbed.
A dull, merciless ache had spread from his shoulders, up his neck, and across his skull to his temples, where it had then begun to squeeze. It was merciless. And it made it so very hard to think.
“Do you wish for me to send in men to quell the mob, sir?” Felix asked as they walked through the streets of Aracam.
Like Galinha, the buildings were made of stone, the entrances small, and the streets narrow. It smelled like rain, rock, and piss, and other than a few dogs rummaging through trash, the streets were empty. Not that it would last. “No. Let it burn itself out.”
“There will be casualties.”
“Some. But there will be more violence if they perceive us as standing in the way of their revenge. Give it an hour, then have patrols move into the city.” He turned his head back toward the towers of the god circle, not needing to push his imagination too hard to picture what was happening to Urcon’s corpse. “The people did not receive the satisfaction they hoped for in that execution, and many will look for release in other pursuits.”
“Because Ereni botched it.”
Marcus shook his head, for the reason was far deeper than that. “Regardless of the reasons, our men are to keep the peace, not add to the violence.”
Even though speaking made his injured throat ache, he continued to detail his orders, growing more specific by the second despite the way Felix’s jaw tightened, despite knowing that his friend’s ears would be turning red beneath his helmet the way they always did when he was angry.
Don’t act until you have proof, Teriana had made him promise. But the fact of the matter was that either Felix or Titus had stabbed him in the back, which meant Marcus could trust neither of them.
“Anything else, sir?” Felix’s voice was stilted. “Or may I go?”
“Go.” Not waiting to see if he listened, Marcus turned to Titus. “Start the men with clearing the debris where we blasted the wall. Then get them to work on rebuilding. Tomorrow, I want a call to employ masons and other skilled laborers to take over the repairs of all structures damaged in the battle. Be clear they will be paid.”
“By whom?” Titus asked. “Our coffers grow thinner by the day.”
“The goodwill will be worth the expense. Once the work is underway, I want you to…” As with Felix, he delved down into the minutiae, part of him wanting one of them to disobey him in some way, thus allowing him to act.
But unlike Felix, Titus only nodded, saluting sharply before departing with his escort.
“I was
