Page 31 of Kingdom of Darkness and Dragons (Empire of Vengeance #4)

I moved away before I could hear Jalend's response, but his questions echoed in my mind.

There had been something in his voice—doubt, certainly, but also a kind of anguish that spoke of deeper knowledge.

He knew something, I was certain of it. The question was what, and whether it would help or hurt us when the time came.

The rest of my reconnaissance painted a picture that filled me with dread.

The Imperial force wasn't just large—it was supremely professional.

These soldiers had trained together, fought together, bled together.

They moved like parts of a single organism, responding to commands with instantaneous precision.

Their equipment was the finest the Empire could provide, their tactics proven through generations of conquest.

Against such a force, what chance did the Talfen have? They were defending their homeland, yes, and that would count for something. But raw courage and righteous anger could only take you so far against superior numbers, better equipment, and decades of military experience.

I found myself thinking of Tarshi and Septimus, somewhere out there in the wilderness with whatever forces the Talfen had managed to assemble. Were they safe? Were they even still alive? The not knowing was its own special kind of torture.

By the time I made it back to our section of camp, full darkness had fallen.

Cooking fires dotted the landscape like fallen stars, and the sounds of thousands of soldiers settling in for the night created a constant background murmur.

I found Livia exactly where I'd left her, curled against Sirrax's side with her eyes fixed on the distant mountains.

"Learn anything interesting?" Antonius asked quietly as I settled beside him.

I glanced around to make sure we weren't being overheard, then leaned closer. "They're talking about shadow mages. Apparently the Talfen have them, and the Imperial command is worried."

Antonius raised an eyebrow. "Shadow mages?"

"Magic users who can manipulate darkness itself. The Empire supposedly wiped them out years ago, but there are reports of Imperial patrols disappearing without a trace." I kept my voice low, mindful of the other soldiers nearby. "Could be our friends have more allies than we thought."

"Or could be wishful thinking," Antonius replied pragmatically. "What else?"

I sighed, the weight of what I'd observed settling on my shoulders. "This is a professional army, Antonius. Not garrison troops or green recruits—veterans. Disciplined, well-equipped, experienced. If the Talfen try to meet them in open battle..."

I didn't need to finish. Antonius understood military realities as well as I did.

"What about Jalend?" he asked after a moment.

I considered how to answer that. "He's... conflicted. I heard him questioning the whole campaign, asking if we might be wrong about the Talfen. The other commanders weren't pleased."

"That's something, at least."

"Is it?" I looked over at Livia, who was still staring into the distance with unseeing eyes. "Or is it just making everything harder for her?"

We sat in silence for a while, each lost in our own thoughts. Finally, Antonius spoke up.

"She's barely eaten today. Or yesterday, for that matter."

I'd noticed that too. Livia was running on nervous energy and stubbornness, pushing herself harder than anyone should in preparation for what was coming. But how did you tell someone to take care of themselves when the world was falling apart around them?

"We should talk to her," I said finally.

Antonius nodded, and together we approached where she sat. Sirrax's great head turned toward us as we drew near, those golden eyes seeming more alert than usual. Almost as if he was standing guard.

"Liv," I said softly, settling beside her. "You need to eat something."

"I'm not hungry," she replied without looking at us.

"That's not the point," Antonius said with characteristic bluntness. "You're going to need your strength for what's coming."

She finally turned to look at us, and I was struck by how young she seemed in the firelight.

Sometimes I forgot that despite everything she'd been through, despite the strength and skill that had kept her alive in the arena, she was still barely past twenty five.

Still just a girl who'd been forced to grow up too fast in a world that seemed determined to break her.

"I don't know what to do," she whispered, and the vulnerability in her voice made my chest tight. "When the fighting starts, I mean. How can I raise my sword against people who are just defending their homes? But how can I not, when refusing means death for all of us?"

It was the question that had been haunting all of us, though none of us had voiced it so directly. What did you do when every choice was a betrayal of something you held dear?

"You do what you have to do to survive," I said gently. "And you trust that we'll find a way through this together."

"But what if there is no way through?" The pain in her voice was almost unbearable. "What if this whole thing is just... hopeless?"

Antonius leaned forward, his expression fierce. "Then we make our own hope. The way we always have."

"He's right," I added. "We've survived impossible odds before. The ludus, the escape, building new lives in the capital—none of that should have been possible either. But we did it, because we had each other."

"And we still have each other," Antonius continued. "Whatever happens in this war, whatever choices we have to make, we face them together."

I saw some of the tension leave her shoulders at our words. It wasn't a solution to the impossible situation we found ourselves in, but it was a reminder that she wasn't facing it alone.

"What about Jalend?" she asked quietly.

The question hung in the air between us, heavy with all the complications of her feelings for the man who was now leading us into war. I thought about what I'd overheard, about the doubt and anguish in his voice when he'd questioned the righteousness of their cause.

"He's a good man," I said finally. "I'm more certain of that than ever."

"How can you say that?" The hurt in her voice was raw, immediate. "He accepted the promotion, Marcus. He's leading us into battle against innocent people."

"Because he loves you," Antonius said simply. "And because sometimes good men are forced into impossible positions."

I nodded, thinking of my own experience with Imperial service. "I served the Empire for fifteen years, Liv. I followed orders I knew were wrong, fought battles I didn't believe in, because the alternative was death or worse. It doesn't make you evil—it makes you human."

"But this is different," she protested. "This is genocide. This is—"

"This is exactly the kind of situation that breaks good people," I interrupted gently. "The kind where there are no clean choices, no perfect solutions. Just survival and compromise and the hope that somehow, some way, you can make a difference from within the system."

"You think that's what he's doing?"

I considered the question carefully. "I think he's trying to protect you the only way he knows how.

And I think he's carrying secrets that are eating him alive.

" I reached out and squeezed her hand. "The man I've watched these past months, the one who looks at you like you're his whole world—that's not someone who's chosen the Empire over love.

That's someone who's trying to find a way to have both. "

"And if he can't?"

The question hung in the air, unanswered and perhaps unanswerable. But I saw something shift in her expression—not hope, exactly, but a willingness to consider that the situation might be more complex than it appeared.

"Then we trust that when the moment comes, he'll make the right choice," Antonius said quietly. "The way we're all going to have to."

We sat together in the firelight, three people bound by shared history and mutual love, trying to find courage for the trials ahead. Around us, the great machine of Imperial warfare prepared for battle, but for this moment, we had each other. And sometimes, that had to be enough.

As the night deepened, Livia finally ate the food we pressed on her and even managed a few hours of sleep curled against Sirrax's warm side. But I remained awake, staring up at the stars and wondering if Tarshi and Septimus were looking at the same sky somewhere out there in the darkness.

Tomorrow we would march deeper into Talfen territory. Tomorrow the killing would begin. But tonight, my family was safe and together, and I would hold onto that for as long as I could.

Because I had a feeling it might be the last peaceful moment any of us would know for a very long time.