Page 62

Amaia

I ’d been nudged every which way by Reina and Tomoe—and completely avoided by Millie. Which inevitably meant shit hit the fan. In some theoretical future, there was something they really didn’t want me to do—and I was pretty sure what it was.

We were a day out from Richmond. The weather hadn’t let up, and neither had Ronan. He’d given us a run for our money—but not his best. No, he was saving those soldiers. Those troops would come when we were tired out, starving, and absent of all hope.

Ideas not too far off from our reality, except Ronan hadn’t accounted for one thing—he was fighting for possession of something he wanted. We were fighting to keep what we needed , what we loved .

Feral beasts had formed through the past week. We’d been through hell. Most of our supplies had been destroyed, our healers killed, clothes soaked from the constantly falling snow—now stacked knee high. All odds were against us, and still, our soldiers had hope.

A great thing when their leader did not.

Right now, we had him where we wanted him. On high alert and under pressure to respond. At dawn, the beginning to the end would start, and only one army would walk away.

“I told you it wasn’t goodbye.”

Every nerve and muscle in my body went rigid. I didn’t want to turn around in fear that I was hallucinating. He was here. Riley had made it.

Dropping the plans I’d been reviewing, I whirled around, my brother standing behind me. Relief took my ability to stand—my knees giving out. Riley chuckled, pulling me in for a hug.

“Never goodbye,” I whispered, a choked sob.

Putting some distance between us, I turned him in a circle, examining him for any injuries. He spread his arms out and played into the charade with as much of a smile as I’d ever get at a time like this. He was good, in one piece. That’s all I’d hoped for at the end of the day. If my family was good, then so was I.

“Cut the tears. We can have our moment later,” he teased, pulling me toward the flap of the war tent entrance. “The others are waiting around the fire. Reina said you refused to eat.”

Others . That was reassuring, and my chest loosened as far as I was willing to unwind. We’d all made it—every single one of us—to the last stand. Tomorrow, we’d be portaled into the city, and the chances we’d all make it out of that alive were slim to none. Impossible. But still, we had tonight. So tonight, I would be happy to see them all, to share a meal one last time.

“Food is sparse, and I sent all support systems away. Ronan has no respect,” I spat, not at him, but at the mention of a monster. “They weren’t safe here. With the orders of resting our magic for the morning, no extra food to spare. They need it more than I do.”

“Too late,” Riley said, offering me what I assumed was the final remains of his trail mix. It was a miracle he still had any at all.

Miracle or planned effort? Likely the latter. He knew me. Knew it was a treat I found hard to resist. He’d saved it for this last night.

I smiled at him, resting my head on his arm, nibbling on the trial mix as we walked through worn and torn tents. Weaving through soldiers sleeping on their packs out in the open, laying as close to the fires as possible.

There was no point in freezing for the night. We wanted Ronan to know we were here. He was essentially surrounded, blocked on two sides. His troops couldn’t move without us getting the heads up first.

We rounded the bend. The glow of a dozen campfires came into view and warmth crept throughout my body—not from the fire, but from seeing the rare glimpse of joy on the faces of the people I cared for. Reina was locked in a hug with Hunter and Serenity, relief etched into every line of her face. That spark in her eyes was back now, and I found myself envying her. She still had the ability to feel.

These days, everything just… was for me. Another day to keep living, breathing, pushing. Monotonous. A chore, except when I was with him. In the last few weeks, I’d put distance there too. Not intentional—not exactly.

Alexiares stood nearby, arms crossed, mid-conversation with Tomás and Tomoe. I caught the way she leaned toward Tomás, her face softer than I’d seen it in months. They may have included Alexiares into the conversation out of politeness, but it was clear the only words being listened to were from each other. Tomás looked at her the way people watched the sunrise after a long, dark, and stormy night. Longing for the light.

I caught the shift in energy off to the side. Hunter wasn’t part of their circle, yet his attention was on them. His jaw tightened, hands fidgeting. Something ugly flickered across his face before he forced himself to turn away.

The moment shattered as Abel barreled into me, throwing his arm around my shoulders and squeezing tight. “Did you miss me?” His juvenile grin was impossible to resist.

It worked, if only for a heartbeat. I let myself succumb to the moment, let it dull the edges of everything else. But the reprieve was fleeting. A gasp of air before the weight returned, heavier than before.

That spark of warmth in the campfire’s glow dimmed, swallowed by the tension I hadn’t noticed until now. We were down a person.

“Where’s Jessa?” I asked, eyes landing on Reina.

Reina, Riley, and Tomoe exchanged a glance that let me know I’d been a topic of discussion long before Riley had announced his arrival.

Riley cleared his throat. “Gone,” he answered cautiously.

I reined in my emotions, listening to his words and watching as everyone but Alexiares and Tomoe glanced away from my glare. “ Gone ,” I said slowly. “Not dead?”

“Correct,” Riley confirmed.

The tension in Reina’s tight-lipped expression betrayed her, despite her best effort to hold steady. Her gaze darted, almost imperceptibly, and that split second was all I needed. That traitorous fucking bitch.

“I’m going to kill her.”

“Well, don’t say it out loud,” Tomoe deadpanned. Alexiares glared in response and she mumbled an apology.

I dug my nails into my palms. I was one more betrayal away from letting the entire world burn. Reina flinched at the venom in my tone but didn’t cower, only nodded slightly in resignation. As though she’d come to that understanding days before.

Ah. Fuck. I pounded my palms to the side of my head—thoughts racing. Everything fucked up, all in the blink of an eye. Plans without plans, steps within steps. I couldn’t let my mind go too far—not here, not now. Ronan would be waiting for me to overthink, to walk straight into his trap. He had me figured out, and I hated it.

Commotion broke through what was inevitably a situation meant to test my self-control, pulling every gaze toward the outskirts of camp. Two scouts dragged in a battered soldier, his face swollen, blood dripping from the matching cuts above each brow.

“He demanded to speak with you,” one of the scouts said, shoving the soldier to his knees in front of me. Nothing but complete disgust shone back in his beady eyes when he looked at me.

“I wasn’t aware we took demands from the barbarians?” I straightened my stance, putting the face of the general back on.

Alexiares scoffed, now closed in behind me. “Don’t insult the barbarians.”

The man spat blood onto the ground, then peered up, his lips curling into something too smug for someone in his position. I aimed to change that.

“Ronan has an ultimatum. Hand yourself over by dawn, or he’ll start with the Bloodhound .” His gaze went over my shoulder. “Then Riley—Malachai says welcome, by the way.” He stared Riley down then trickled his line of sight over to me. “He’ll go down the line. One by one.”

The camp erupted—protests, shouts, the harsh ring of steel as weapons cleared their sheaths. I raised a hand, and the noise died, swallowed by a tense, crackling silence. I was done with his threats. Done with all the death. I feared for Ronan this was becoming less about the territories he desired to own, the bodies he wanted to control, and more about punishing me. For putting up a fight, daring not to submit or admit defeat, challenging him and meeting him on a level playing field.

I was the greatest opponent he would ever face and even though I thought I was losing—it was clear by his desperation to single me out that I had already won. He’d seen it . Which only meant one thing, the only plan I had allowed my brain to settle on, the one no one else knew.

“I’m sure he will. How long did it take you to get here?” I asked, devoid of emotion.

His confidence faltered, “If you’re asking how long it will take them to realize I’m not making it back, forty-five minutes.”

“Forty-five minutes from the time you left?” I asked a necessary, clarifying question, my fingers tapping against my jaw.

“Does it matter, Amaia?” Serenity asked, and I could immediately tell the trip Riley’s group had made, had been haunted by the tales of our own. They hadn’t fared much better in the face of Ronan’s brutality.

The soldier’s teeth ground together, his snarl nasty as he said nothing.

I reached down, palms landing on what were now my last two blades—the rest had been given to my family, to my soldiers, they needed the protection more than myself.

“If you kill me,” he sneered, but the panic was there, “they’ll still storm this camp come dawn.”

“Kill you?” I crouched down to meet his eyes. “Why would I do that? No. I’m just going to make every last second of the next forty-five minutes, the most excruciating crawl of your life. My soldiers will meet you there to finish the job. Have fun.”

My boot connected with his chest, slamming him to the ground. Alexiares was on him before he could recover, flipping him over as my blades sliced deep into the back of his knees. The scream of a banshee tore through camp.

The jeers and chants of my soldiers were white noise as I stood over him, watching the blood pool beneath his leg. “Tell Ronan to give it his best shot. By the time he gets here, we’ll be gone.”

Without another glance, I sheathed my knives and walked away. The others fell in line behind me, their protests dying on their lips.

This wasn’t a warning. It was a reckoning.

Time had run out—and so had my mercy.

“It’s been an honor, General Bennett.” Hell had frozen over as General Clayton Harper extended such a pleasantry as he turned on his heels with pity in his eyes, headed to lead the charge of my troops.

I offered him and Trevan a tense nod at their departure. It was up to them now. We would not all face each other again. The alliance had been tense, a disastrous effort that resulted in a powerful, brutal force when it mattered most.

“One unit!” I called out, head held high as I watched the backs of every single soldier stiffen as they came to a halt, and swiveled into a salute.

“One compound!”

The roar of unity was thunderous. Swallowing became difficult in the attempt of choking down tears. They could do this. They will make it . I believed in them—each and every soldier. We hadn’t come this far to lose it all.

We would engage Ronan from north and south of the capital and push our way in. This he expected. This he knew. It was a distraction but also ensured we would be able to hold the city in the outcome of a victory. With the cavalry units focused on dividing and conquering, citizens on the outskirts of the capital would be evacuated.

Unfortunately I couldn’t say the same for the ones that resided within. Reina and Millie’s unit would prioritize getting anyone under sixteen to safety. I held no remorse for what happened to anyone else. The accounts from Outsiders in The Outskirts painted the picture of the mentality those within the capital held with such vividness, I found myself personally insulted by the atrocities that went on.

I refused to let their way of thinking survive. We would break this cycle in history—for good.

Ronan being aware of our initial plan had required some adjustments. I wanted him to see them—every recalibration, every pivot. I wanted him to react, to flail. Which now meant Lola and her coven would be left near destitute from the sheer amount of individuals that needed to be portaled in.

I needed an extra ground unit to accompany the cavalry and a tactical team with … specialized weaponry—complimentary collaboration of Tomás and the late and great Finley Thomas.

Hours. That’s how long it would take for us to lockdown the city from the outside. Hours we didn’t have unless the inside held until I could make it to Ronan. That was the goal: bait him, humiliate him, shatter his ego until his focus narrowed to finding me. By then it’d be too late.

“Ready for this?” I asked.

“Not particularly, no, but here we are I guess.” Reina covered her nervous chuckle with her hand. Her horse shifted, and Hunter placed a calming palm on its flank. He glanced at his sister with quiet reassurance. There was every bit a chance they’d have to face their father though neither had the desire.

I had made the right call trusting him. As much as Serenity grated my nerves, they were good people to have in our corner. She worked effortlessly with all of them—Alexiares, Riley, Tomoe, Abel. Add in Tomás’s mind, the weapons he’d armed them with, and Isabella’s unit—maybe, just fucking maybe, we stood a chance.

Lola appeared with her coven, shadows shrouded in ghostly black.

She drifted toward us, her coven moving ahead without pause, but Lola’s focus stayed solely on Alexiares. Her hands framed his face, her touch awkward yet deliberate, like a mother unsure how to comfort her son. The embrace that followed was stiff, neither warm nor cold, heavy with unexpressed remorse. When she stepped away, she didn’t look back—and she wouldn’t.

I’d asked her to betray him after all.

“Anyone want to exchange goodbyes?” Tomoe quipped, her humor as morbid as ever. Tomás was the only one who laughed. I couldn’t bring myself to—she had hope. It was the only reason she’d make such a joke.

“Someone besides Tomoe say the last word before we dive headfirst into a creepy black hole,” Abel said, strapping the stabilizer Reina had crafted firmly to his arm. She watched him, a glimmer of pride in her eyes but also the loosening of breath. The device fit perfectly around his forearm, its matte black plating sleek and snug, with thin lines of blue circuitry tracing its edges, faintly glowing like veins of light beneath his skin. One less fear she had to worry herself with—knowing he had that one extra way to protect himself on a battlefield that was not even under the best of circumstances.

Alexiares clapped him on the back and Abel cringed under his touch. “Sure. Don’t die. Let’s go.”

“Don’t die,” Abel muttered. “Right. Got it. I’ve only almost done that like three times since meeting you.”

“Okay, enough. Focus.” I willed myself to command their attention, but in all honesty, I could have lived in the moment of familiar banter forever. Wanted to replay it in my mind, to stay here. But I could not. We could not. And no moment, happy nor sad, could last forever. “Whatever happens once we enter the city … stick to the plan. Always stick to the plan, no matter what.” I caught the crack in my voice, nearly slipping through—my only hope being that they remembered these words, carrying them with them forever. Through the highs and lows of life. They’d been said to me after all, and Prescott had molded the general that would bring peace.

“Be fierce. Be brave. Stay alive. You are strong.” I met each of their gazes, imprinting their faces in my mind. “You are capable, and we are finishing this today, together—always together even if we are fighting apart. It’s still the same fight. If you can still breathe, you damn sure can still fight. Remember that. Keep your eyes sharp and your wits about, and yeah, don’t die. Or I’ll kill you myself.”

Abel was the first to react—he snorted nervously as if he hadn’t expected me to crack a joke in a time like this. And I supposed he may not have. We hadn’t had the gift of time to find out how we fit together as a family in a time outside of complete despair.

“Very inspiring,” Tomás broke the ice, garnering a reluctant grin from Reina through her eyes betrayed the anxiety I knew rolled through my chest.

“You all talk too much.” Serenity shook her head. “Let’s move.”

They moved to join Isabella and Millie, now engaged in what appeared to be an incredibly one sided conversation with Lola. Most of her coven had accompanied her here, the others choosing to stay behind to protect their home. Many had answered what I teased to be a recruitment call, coming to St. Paul at her request when she promised to assist us, not yet signing up for war. Her coven had grown in size tenfold.

I truly hope they made it back to them after they guided us through. This was a sacrifice I hoped history would never forget. Tomoe walked between Tomás and Hunter, glancing over her shoulder at me with knowing eyes.

“No goodbyes,” Riley said.

“Never goodbye.”

He walked away, his hand brushing mine in a fleeting, almost unconscious goodbye, and then it was just Alexiares and me. The others faded into the periphery, their movements blurring into shadow. We didn’t speak—not at first. Those honey brown eyes that I’d despised made me melt. So sharp, so piercing as they held mine unguarded, letting me see the quiet storm that lay beneath.

My chest ached. I wanted to say everything—that I loved him, that I hated that it took twenty-seven wasted years to find him, that he was everything to me, the sun, the moon, the fucking galaxy and beyond. He was beautiful to me and I meant that purely in regard to the complexity of his soul. I wanted to scream to him that he needed to come back, to survive this because I could only imagine the world a bleaker place without him. Even if I wasn’t here, even if I didn’t have the luck in life to live out those days with him. But all the words that could come to mind felt small. Hollow. I did the only thing I could.

I reached for him.

Alexiares’s hand slid into mine, and we stood there, frozen, as the world around us receded into nothingness.

“Alexiares,” I whispered, my voice barely carrying over the distance that didn’t really exist between us.

“Princess,” he said, his tone soft and edged with something close to reverence.

I squeezed his hand. “Use it all,” I said, my meaning heavy, pointed. He would understand when the time was right.

An arch of his brow was his only response, but it was enough. The portal ignited before us, a vast, black void, and without another word, we stepped forward together.

The portal flickered closed behind us. Alexiares and I released hands instinctively, both reaching for our weapons. Jax’s twin swords glinted in the morning light, their weight as familiar as the other blades lining my body.

A pristine city center stretched before our troops. Between the gleaming structures, freshly painted buildings, and pristine streets, I didn’t know what to focus on first—what disgusted me the most.

Maybe it was the cars, perfectly parked, their chrome unblemished. Or the streetlights still glowing faintly, not yet dimmed by the crisp light of a fall morning. No. I knew where to look—the people.

The healthy, well-fed civilians, their magic glowing faintly at their fingertips, dressed in starched suits and impeccable grooming. The women crouched low, their manicured nails clutching their children, those round-bellied toddlers in perfect shoes, staring at us with wide, fearful eyes.

They gaped at us like we were monsters. Yeah, I’d start there.

Not even fifty miles from here, there were children crawling through dust and rubble, begging for scraps of food while their parents broke their backs mining coal or being exploited as human power sources to keep Richmond alight. All so this place could live a cushy life. Because they deserved it, right? The blessed and the favored , as Ronan’s propaganda taunted. Fuck that.

This wasn’t just a city—it was a symbol of everything we’d been fighting against. And this revolution was where symbols must die.

Reina’s unit surged forward first, their movements swift and calculated as they ushered civilians out of the streets. Shouts of confusion mingled with the distant crack of gunfire, shaking the ground beneath us.

“Move quickly, move together!” Millie’s voice carried above the noise, the cavalry forming a protective barrier around the civilians while the tactical team worked to secure the city center. Children cried as they clung to their mothers.

I watched it all unfold and felt the weight of the choice ahead, a question that had haunted leaders throughout history. A choice that would define the type of leader I had been years into the future:

Do I let the children live and grow with the hatred in their hearts for who they would now deem their oppressor? Allow them to simmer at the hopes of rebelling in the name of their fathers and mothers that we had slain?

Or kill the weeds before they have the chance to grow.

I wanted to believe in the former, because hatred was taught—that did not mean it couldn’t be nurtured away. It was a choice I trusted those around me to make in my stead.

“Ready?” Lola’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.

I gave her a curt nod, my heart pounding. “They’ll follow the plan.” My words were steady, even though they weighed heavily on my chest.

I felt him before I saw him. The air shifted with electricity and I knew Alexiares had found me. He turned, his head snapping toward me with the precision of the Bloodhound he was. His eyes locked onto mine, reading every intention I had as though I’d laid it all out.

Shock. Betrayal. The question I couldn’t bear to hear, Why? , etched itself across his face. His steps faltered, only for a heartbeat. I could see it—the fight in him, the relentless drive that wouldn’t let me go without an answer, without a reason.

I tore my gaze away before he could close the distance, before he could speak, before I could break. If I let him reach me, if I let him ask, I knew I’d stay. For him. For us. For the selfishness of one more moment.

But war didn’t wait for goodbyes. And love couldn’t save what I had to do.

Soldiers poured from alleys and rooftops and we were forced to prepare for a fight, their armor gleaming in the dim light of the burning horizon. They came like a wave, relentless and unyielding, their shouts ringing out in unison.

“Hold them back!” Lola’s magic crackling to life. A shield of shimmering dark energy rippled around us, deflecting the first volley of attacks.

I twirled the twin swords. “Keep pushing!”

Lola’s magic-carved a path through the chaos, and I followed, slashing and weaving through the fray. The soldiers were skilled, but they lacked our desperation.

We broke through the line, though not without cost. One of Lola’s coven stumbled, blood streaming from a wound at her side. Lola caught her, her face set with grim determination.

“Go,” she urged me, her voice taut with urgency.

I hesitated, my gaze flickering to Alexiares, stuck in a fight where he was outnumbered but still in control. His vines wrapped around the necks of three soldiers. He snapped them without remorse, their bodies crumpling to the ground in broken heaps.

“Lola—”

“I’ve got this, I have enough energy for another to get out,” she said firmly, her eyes locking with mine. “You know what you need to do.”

The second portal ignited.

“Where are you sending me?” I asked, though I already knew she wouldn’t answer.

“You’ll know when you get there,” she said softly. “And he won’t follow you until it’s done.”

I clenched my fists, forcing myself to let go of everything tethering me to this moment. The others would fight. They would survive.

Alexiares would hate me for this, but it was the only way.

The portal’s hum faded, leaving a sharp stillness in its wake. My boots echoed against the empty asphalt as I stepped forward, the silence almost deafening after the roar of battle.

I slammed myself into the side of the old city hall, taking cover before I had the chance to be seen. Lola, you fucking genius. I could kiss her if it didn’t mean getting vaporized.

Its dome crowned the symmetrical colonnades that framed its central hall. The columns were thick, carved with intricate patterns that whispered of both artistic desires and dominance.

Wide marble steps led to the grand entrance, where polished steel doors reflected the morning light, their surface unmarred by the grit of war. Golden accents adorned the building’s edges.

The surrounding grounds were manicured to perfection—lush green lawns bordered by symmetrical flower beds, each bloom vivid and precise, as though the very soil obeyed its masters. Not a blade of grass dared to stray out of line.

It was beautiful, and it was a lie.

I sheathed the swords. I wouldn’t need them from this point on. This was it. The end of the path I had chosen.

I took a step forward, leaving behind everything I couldn’t carry.