Page 102 of A Monarch's Fall

We travelled upriver as the winter sun rose, eventually lifting us from dark grey into a lighter grey.

“It’s a lovely day for this,” Valen commented after such a long silence.

We didn’t reply.

“Not long now, and I will have fulfilled my promise of getting you both out of Halvorsen safely,” he continued speaking, uncaring of whether we replied or not.

I had noticed when the man had stopped gargling. Noticed when his eyes had stopped searching for help that would never come. Noticed when the light had left him. And still, I couldn’t look away. I wondered who he had been. What he had been doing out on the dock that early. There wasn’t any fishing gear in his boat, but maybe it had been left back on the pier, and I hadn’t noticed it. Was there someone worried for him right now? Would he be missed?

Time passed almost endlessly until we slowed as Valen prepared to dock. Only when Ana tugged on my hand did I look away from the dead man and to our surroundings.

We weren’t docking; Valen was approaching the riverbank nose-in, nudging the bank until the bow touched mud and stopped.

“This is where we disembark,” he announced.

“Where are we?” Ana asked.

“We are firmly in Maria now,” he answered. “Let’s get a move on. I’ve got appointments to keep,” he said as he jumped out and waited for us to follow.

Ana refused his help, then turned to offer me support as I disembarked.

When we were out of the boat, it began to gently slide down along the river’s edge, the man floating away with it.

“Well, this is farewell for now,” Valen sang, happily, “I do hope you make it back to my cousin safely, Percy,” he said before he fell to his knees, clutching at his chest with one hand.

“You aren’t going to make it any further,” Ana gritted out, and I saw the grip she had of his wrist.

“Ana, what are you doing?” I asked. All her concentration was on Valen, fury in her glare.

“What needs to be done,” she said.

Valen was gasping, and his eyes were rolling back.

“Ana,” I screamed and threw myself at her, breaking her hold on Valen.

“Get off me!” Ana roared beneath me.

“Stop this!” I cried, “You can’t do this,” I pleaded.

“You saw what he did to that man! He has to be stopped!” she said, trying to push the weight of me off her, where we lay on the cold, wet ground.

“Not by you,” I told her. “Not by you,” I repeated.

“Then who else? Who else has to die before someone stops him?” she asked.

“You can’t go back from this. You can’t undo it. He isn’t attacking us. He isn’t a threat to anyone right now. If youdo this now, you might think it’s justice, but it’s not. It’s just murder. That man’s family will never know what happened to him, no one will get to have the pain and grief he’s caused them recognised, and he will never have to answer for anything he’s done. This death is too easy, too good for him. All you’ll be doing is making yourself feel better in a moment and cursing yourself to a lifetime of knowing what you did, even to someone like him,” I cried while trying to keep her down.

How could she not know what this would do to her?

“Percy, Percy,” she called. “Calm down, hey, calm down,” she said more calmly, “I won’t do it,” she agreed, “Just get off me and help me up, I’m freezing.”

“Do you promise?” I asked, embarrassed by how much I was crying.

“Yes, for now. But I hope you know what you’ve done here. We had a chance to stop him. The others he kills from this point on are on you, Percy, not me. I was willing to stop him,” she told me angrily.

I nodded in understanding as I helped her up.

“I hope you can live with yourself,” she snapped as she marched away from the riverbank.