Page 102

I’ll protect you.

She’d sworn it from the depths of her soul. What a horrible lie. How many times had she failed him? How long would she continue to fail him?

“He didn’t.” Saoirse’s voice was barely audible.

Alec clenched his jaw and rolled his eyes. “Saoirse, your love—”

“He didn’t,” she cleared her throat, “because I did.” The entire room fell silent and slowly, as if in a daze, Alec turned toward his little sister. “I killed our father.”

His lips parted, searching for the lie in her words. Almost as if he hoped for it. “Why?”

Saoirse shook off her tears. “Because I watched a father try to kill his son for no other reason than being different. Then I watched a nation rise against a child who’d done no wrong. A brother who, at ten years old, understood the need to protect his sister. And then I let him. Like a coward, I let that child suffer from pain and exile.”

Alec stood in shocked silence then fell back in his seat. She remained standing, her heart beating hard and fast. There, she’d finally confessed her greatest sin. Not that she’d killed her father, but that she’d hurt her sibling in the process. She should have been the one to suffer as an outcast, not him.

“I owe this to him Alec.” Her brother didn’t respond. “I owe our little brother a debt I can never repay, and I’ve never asked you for anything, but I’m asking you for this. Aid Móirín, rekindle our lost allegiance with them.”

Alec stayed silent for a time. “I can’t change our entire course based on a rumor.”

“It’s not a rumor,” Rion said. Alec looked at him, really looked at him for the first time in almost a century. “If not for her, I’d be dead. She healed me, along with hundreds of others in that camp.”

“She’s The Divine,” Saoirse said, still not quite believing it herself. “That female Rion has been with is The Divine. Even Eoghan attests to it.”

“He’s alive?” Alec eyed Rion.

“He made it out.” When Alec didn’t speak again, Saoirse continued. “You can’t believe in one part of the ancient texts without believing in the other. You have an entire unit of warriors claiming her existence and a duty to the people of Brónach to uphold your faith.”

Alec let out a long breath and studied the map again. “If I refuse to aid Móirín, I might very well be killing the queen we’ve waited on for centuries. If her existence turns out to be a rumor, then I’ll look like an incompetent fool.”

“Better to be branded the fool,” Saoirse said.

Alec studied his maps again. “All right.”

“All right?”

He gave her a crooked smile. “It’s not a though you twisted my arm or anything.” His face turned serious. “I trust you. You’ve always stood by my side and if you feel this is the right move, then I’ll stand by yours.” Alec glared at Rion. “As for you.” He jerked his head in Saoirse’s direction. “You’ll bring her back alive.”

Rion nodded. “Understood.”

Saoirse let out an exasperated sigh but couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her lips. Maybe they could reconcile after all. One day. One tiny step at a time.

Chapter Forty-Two

Arianna

Arianna ran straight into the chaos of smoke and flames, tugging at the magic racing beneath her skin. Five unarmed civilians stood against two warriors, pulling the water from the spiraling nooks that ran throughout the city to defend themselves. She launched her magic toward the warriors, encasing their bodies in a wall of ice that left them immobile. The civilians grabbed fallen debris and shattered those warriors into a thousand pieces.

Arianna kept running. She didn’t have time to consider the part she’d played in their deaths. Fire burst from a storefront to her left, sending heat and glass flying in all directions. She shielded her face, but shards bit into her arms and stuck. Her ears rang, but Arianna still didn’t stop. The panic rising in her chest wouldn’t let her.

Ellie. Ellie. Ellie.

Flames consumed nearly half the storefronts and the heat and smoke made discerning her location nearly impossible. She coughed, her throat burning. Arianna tore the bottom of her shirt and covered her nose, but it did little to keep the harsh smoke from her invading her lungs.

Another scream had her whipping around. Three half-breeds fled with one pursuer. She lunged toward them, placing herself between him and the innocents. The warrior’s magic roared to life.

Not greenery, as she’d expected, but shadows. Hot, flesh-melting shadows.

Arianna yanked water from the surrounding fountains, wrapped herself in ice, and cringed when the shadows slammed into her magic. Steam rose on impact, but she sent ice running down those shadowy arms, all the way to the one who wielded them and silenced the weaver forever.