Blood roared in his ears as he abruptly realized her intent. “Aren, stop her!”
The Ithicanian king was already in pursuit. “Lara, no!”
Keris twisted on his knees, the world swimming as he watched Lara pull an arrow from the quiver on her back, nocking it in her bow. “Lara!” he tried to scream, but it came out as a croak.
She loosed the arrow.
It soared across the deadly gap right as the moon peeked out from behind a cloud, illuminating the arrow as it sank into Bermin Anaphora’s throat.
“I’VE GOT YOU, girl,” a Valcottan man said as he dragged her over the edge. “You’re safe now.”
He’d been the one leading the charge at Lara’s side. There was something familiar about
his voice, his face, but there was little time to think of it as she was drawn away from the ledge. Zarrah glanced backward, but the rebels who’d closed in around her blocked her line of sight.
He came for you, her heart whispered. He still loves you.
Instead of filling Zarrah with warmth, that knowledge tightened like a vise around her chest, making it a fight to breathe as her eyes skipped over the bodies of the fallen. He loved her, but it was a love twisted by his blood and upbringing. A love that burned so hot that it destroyed anything that got in its way, leaving ash and death in its wake.
“When our spies learned Petra had sent you here, we made immediate plans for a rescue,” the Valcottan man said, his hand pressing against her back as he directed her down the path. “We figured it for a trap, so we came prepared for a fight. Even so, it was good fortune that we crossed paths with the Ithicanians.”
Zarrah swallowed the thickness in her throat.
“I’m going ahead to confirm we’ve started loading the injured, Commander,” Daria said, giving Zarrah a grim smile before she jogged forward.
Commander. This man was the leader of the rebel forces.
Yet that revelation went in one ear and out the other as she searched for Keris and found him absent. Zarrah tried to slow her pace, looking over her shoulder, but the press of warriors drove her onward.
The commander gripped her hand. “Once word you are returned to us spreads, warriors will race to join our ranks, and we will rip the crown from the Usurper’s head.”
Returned to us? She looked at the man’s face, again struck by familiarity. “Who are you? What is your name?”
He hesitated, lips opening to answer, but then a distant scream from behind caught Zarrah’s attention. Heads turned, but whatever the warriors saw did not cause them to go back. Zarrah tried to see for herself, but the commander’s grip on her arm was implacable.
“Commander,” a man shouted. “The lights on the navy ships have been spotted, all sailing in fast.
We need to hurry.”
“There is time for explanations later,” the commander said to her. “We need to get on our ship and the Ithicanians on theirs.”
They crested the cliff, dark ocean spreading out in all directions. Freedom. But that thought vanished as her eyes latched on to the two ships anchored below.
Was this the end?
Not half a day in Keris’s presence, and now they’d board separate ships and sail in opposite directions. Would she see him again? Or was this goodbye forever?
Zarrah’s feet slowed. There was no future for them together, but she couldn’t part ways with him like this. “I need to say goodbye.”
The commander looked sharply at her, then pointed out to sea, where glimmering lights drew closer. “Save goodbyes for later or spend eternity together in the grave.”
Her eyes burned, but Zarrah wasn’t reckless enough to risk more lives for the sake of her
sentiments. There was later. There had to be a later.
Moving as fast as they could on the slick steps leading down the cliffs to the guard tower, the group raced through the fortifications and onto the glowing pier stretching out into the ocean. It was littered with corpses in Valcottan uniforms, and her chest tightened.
girl,” a Valcottan man said as he dragged her over the edge. “You’re safe now.”
As though sensing her thoughts, the commander said, “They believe that Petra’s reign of terror is inevitable and inescapable, and that is why they keep fighting for her. As the rightful empress, you can give them a different future.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d been called such. “How am I the rightful empress?”
“Later.” Two soldiers caught Zarrah’s arms, lifting her into a longboat. “This will all be for nothing Instead of filling Zarrah with warmth, that knowledge tightened like a vise around her chest, makingif they catch us,” one said.
Keris knew. Had said that he’d tell her.
twisted by his blood and upbringing. A love that burned so hot that it destroyed anything that got in its
“Everyone in the boat!” Aren’s voice reached her, close, though she couldn’t see him from this angle. “This is life or death; we have to hurry.”
His panic confirmed the rebels’ fears, but it wasn’t the approaching naval vessels that had her heart pounding. Bending low, Zarrah peered under the pier, seeing the Ithicanian longboat bobbing as they good fortune that we crossed paths with climbed in. Keris had to be less than a dozen feet from her now, but she couldn’t see him. “Keris?”
she called, but his name caught in her throat, so she tried again. “Keris!”
No answer, only the shouts of Ithicanians and rebels as they filled the boats.
“Row!” the commander ordered, and the boat surged forward.
Zarrah dug her nails into the edge of the boat, her heart beating faster as they drew toward the end of the pier, the Ithicanians rowing hard on the opposite side.
When they reached the end, she’d be able to see him.
The longboat shot out past the end of the pier, bucking and plunging over the waves. Leaning over the edge, Zarrah’s eyes locked on the Ithicanian vessel. Much like the one she was in, it was packed with men and women, their faces faintly illuminated by the torches burning on the dock. She found Aren’s tall form. He was gesticulating wildly, pointing at the ship, shouting, “Faster!”
Where was Keris?
The vessel drew out of the pool of light, those inside fading to shadowy forms, her chance to see Keris lost.
“We have contacts who do business in Southwatch,” the commander said. “We will get word when they return safely. Can send word to them, if you so wish.”
Except it wasn’t Aren and Lara she was worried about.
She must have muttered as much, because the man said, “The Maridrinian who is with them … The Ithicanians didn’t tell me who he was, but you called him Keris just now.”
Of course Lara hadn’t told them Keris’s identity. Why would she, given the enmity Valcottans held for her family? But the rebels fought for an end to the Endless War, which had to mean they did not hold such hate for Maridrina. “Your suspicions are correct,” she said, watching as Aren’s longboat sped toward his ship. “He’s Keris Veliant, King of Maridrina.” She looked back at the commander.
“If you want the Endless War to end, your best chance at achieving it is about to get on that ship.”
Everyone who wasn’t rowing fell still, silent, the tension ratcheting up higher with each swipe of the oars.
No one spoke, and Zarrah’s skin crawled. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“He was hit with an arrow,” one of the rebels finally said. “I don’t think the Maridrinian is long for this world.”
Aren’s words echoed through her skull even as her chest constricted. Life or death.
Zarrah’s eyes locked on the other longboat. It had reached the ship, the Ithicanians scrambling up Moving as fast as they could on the slick steps leading down the cliffs to the guard tower, the group the rope ladder that had been tossed down while others secured lines to the fore and aft of the boat.
Only three figures remained inside as it started to rise. Aren’s large form. Lara’s much smaller one.
And …