Page 10 of Lies That Blemish (The Ember War #3)

Aisling

I felt half dead on my feet, so tired I could sleep for a week, but at the same time, I was alert, fueled by anxiety for my sister.

She was probably in the Luskin Wilds right now. It was nearly midnight and no flares, no contact. We’d driven by car even farther north, just outside Sky Reach, nearly at the Wall. If she was going into Luska, I wanted to be close in case she needed me.

“Alek, can you send Iniki to go look for her again?” I begged him. He was right by my side, getting me coffee and telling me Valor was strong and would be okay. I’d pulled him out of bed after Valor stopped sending flares, and he’d never complained.

Iniki peered at Alek, then at the two guards who stood at the fence line.

“I will if you want, but it might seem like preferential treatment.” Alek offered.

I glared at the guards, reporting back everything to the admirals so they could say Valor had no help. I wanted to throttle them right now and go check on my sister.

“No, you’re right. Let’s wait a bit,” I agreed.

Liana came up behind me then, nuzzling my side with her head. ‘Want to go for a fly over Sky Reach? Take your mind off of things? You may not see her until morning. It’s a far walk that deep north.’

I heard what Liana said, but I also sensed something else behind her words. Like maybe if we were high in the sky, I might be able to peek over into the Wilds and see Valor?

“No harm in a night ride,” I told her.

I walked over to the guards. “I’m going for a flight over Sky Reach. Report to me immediately if you have any word on my sister.”

They nodded.

Elaine assured me she would also keep watch and be here for Valor if she got out.

“Mind if Iniki joins you?” Alek asked.

Having Alek here and being able to depend on him in my time of need spoke volumes about the person he was.

“I’d like that,” I told him, and Iniki leaped for the skies. I knew she could report back to him anything I wanted.

I slid onto Liana’s back, resting in the saddle, and then we were off.

The second we hit above the trees, I craned my neck for any sign of my sister. The trees in the Wilds were so thick, coupled with the glow of the fire sky—like a burning vein down the countryside—it made it hard to see anything.

Iniki soared alongside us as Liana made slow circles around the base. I peered at the Wall, and it felt so weird to see only two men patrolling it. Normally, it was packed with our soldiers. But since the Luska front had died down, we’d put our resources into other things.

I was just about to look back over at the Wilds when a shot of red caught my attention. A flare shot up into the sky.

Red flare. Valor .

Without even asking, Liana shot through the sky in that direction.

My heart raced as I thought of all the different scenarios. Valor’s flare had come from the other side of the wall, in Luska. She was captured. I knew it.

We flew faster than normal, sailed over the Wall, and then shot downward. Instantly, I saw a scene that my brain could barely comprehend.

There were four figures scattered in the air, all riders on dragons. When I looked closer, I saw two of them were Arjun and Tej, Kohan’s little brothers. And I gasped when I noticed my little sister riding a small red dragon.

‘She bonded a Talanagi,’ I said with absolute pride, but it quickly quenched when I noticed she was clawing at her throat, lips purple.

I found the fourth rider, and my blood boiled.

“Stop!” I shouted at the red rider, throwing out my power. Her gaze flew towards me, wide-eyed, and I knew she was remembering the last time we met when I’d likely broken both of her legs by making her jump from her dragon. Not something I was proud of.

The silvery cord shot out of me and wrapped around her, and then I heard my sister gasping for air beside me. The red rider yanked her dragon’s neck and fled the scene, no doubt wanting to avoid my forcing her to jump again. I wanted to go after her, to kill her so she couldn’t be a problem anymore, especially now that I knew she was Maxim’s twin sister.

But I needed to get Valor and Kohen’s little brothers out of here before she got backup. We were still at war with her people, just taking a suspiciously long break that I wasn’t questioning.

I peered at Valor, wondering if she’d put two and two together that I’d just made her stop or if it had looked like I’d just arrived and she’d fled in fear.

“Can we get out of here?” Valor asked me, peering anxiously over her shoulder.

I nodded, then looked to Arjun and Tej.

“Follow me!” I told them all, my mind spinning with the fact that they all rode dragons!

I couldn’t land us at Sky Reach, not with two Badshahs! Kohen’s little brothers would be taken into custody, and I didn’t want to explain why I hadn’t arrested them yet. They were the perfect pawns to lure Kohen to me. If I threw them in the brig, then sent word to Kohen that I would set them free if he surrendered himself, he would come. I knew he would. And yet… I couldn’t do that. I wanted justice for my father’s murder, but not at the hand of kidnapping children.

I flew over the base, and Iniki was suddenly there in the sky. “Tell our men these people are with me and not to blow the horn,” I told her.

She zoomed downward to the base and over to the guard tower, which watched the skies. Three dragons and a firebird flying over Amersea was a sight to behold, something my people were not used to. They had barely just gotten used to me—and Colt bonded to his griffin. Valor’s dragon bonding was good, very good for our people, but it would take time for them to know not to shoot her down.

I peered over at my sister. Her face was covered in mud, she was shivering from cold, and she looked like hell, but she was grinning. The wind whipped her short hair around her face as she stroked her dragon. I shook my head.

“Are you hurt?” I screamed over the wind. “Need medical?”

She looked at me and shook her head.

“I’m proud of you!” I told her, and she smiled wider.

“Thanks!”

“Go and present yourself to Elaine and the two guards at the northern gate to the Wilds. They will report to the admirals that you have legally bonded a Talanagi.”

She nodded and peered over at Arjun and Tej.

“Thank you,” she told them.

Both boys nodded to her. Thank you? Did they help her? Of course, they did . They’d been in there two days together.

“Follow me!” I told the boys and veered left over the Wilds, just below the fire sky. The moment we entered the dome of protection, the small pieces of ember fell around us, and I tried not to be taken with how beautiful it was.

I lowered Liana to the ground in an open clearing, and the boys followed.

‘What are you doing, Aisling?’ Liana asked.

‘I have no idea,’ I told her honestly.

They had Talanagi now, who I could tell from one look were very powerful. Maybe not as powerful as Liana, but together, I wouldn’t doubt they were going to be powerful men in Kohen’s army one day.

I stepped off of Liana and looked up at the boys, who slid down off their green and blue dragons.

“Why did you help my sister?” I asked them.

“Kohen told us to,” Tej said.

“Why? So that you could ask her things? Ferret out our secrets? Gain her trust?”

Tej glared at me, and Arjun looked hurt.

“You’re stupid, you know that?” Arjun said bluntly.

“Excuse me?”

“Yes. You heard me. You’re constantly thinking the worst of us, and all we were trying to do was protect Valor.”

“Which makes me stupid?” I asked. “We’re at war, Arjun! The enemy doesn’t just send over his brothers and crown princes to look after my sister. That’s not normal enemy behavior. What’s the catch?”

“You’re right.” Tej stepped closer to me, and my heart pinched—he looked so much like Kohen. “The enemy doesn’t send his heirs into enemy territory normally. That’s because Kohen isn’t your enemy, Aisling. You’ve been barking up the wrong tree this whole time.”

“He killed my father!”

“Who was trying to kill you!” Tej roared back at me. “My brother told me everything. You’re empress now. You could open a full investigation over who tried to kill you in boot camp, who attacked the train. Why haven’t you?”

Shock ripped through me at that assessment. I was empress now. I could command anything. Didn’t I want to know who was in charge of the attempt on my life? Who tried to kill us all by derailing the train and sending those Luskins to attack?

Deep down inside of me, among the darkest part of myself, I heard the answer.

No. I didn’t want to know. I was scared of the truth. I was scared it was my very own father.

My bottom lip shook, and Tej backed down, stepping away from me.

“My brother tells everyone you will be our future queen, that you will be our future sister-in-law.” Tej looked disgusted with me. “Stop bombing us and find out the truth for yourself.”

Kohen shouldn’t be telling people that.

“Have you ever thought that maybe your brother lies to you?” I snapped.

Tej leveled his gaze at me. “Ever thought your father lied to you?”

That one sentence ripped me open inside, and without another word, they got on their dragons and left, heading for Imbria.

The dam I had built around my emotions, around my sanity, fissured then. The harsh words of a seventeen-year-old boy had broken me. Tears leaked from my eyes, and a numb pain spread throughout my chest. I sank to my knees.

Liana walked closer to me until her head was nuzzled into my neck. A sob built in my throat. Emotional agony I hadn’t thought possible to hurt so much tore through my chest.

I grabbed my arms and rocked back and forth. Kohen, my father, Kohen, my father. Who to believe, who to trust? One of them was gaslighting me. I felt my mind fraying at the edges, as I feared losing myself to darkness.

‘Shhh, stay with me, young one. We will figure this out together, ’ Liana told me.

‘What if Kohen was right, and I’ve lit half of his country on fire in anger?’

‘ He killed your father and lied about it. Even if he was protecting you, he should have handled it differently. Call a ceasefire for a week. Let’s do an investigation and find the truth.’

It was good advice. ‘What if he was wrong? What if Kohen has been playing a game with me this entire time?’

Liana stood to her full height. ‘Then no more messing around. We send a letter to Kohen saying we believe him and want to meet him, then we gut him open like a fish.’

Considering he was impervious to my power, that was about our only option. I nodded and then wiped my eyes, sliding onto her back as we took to the skies. As I peered over my shoulder, I saw that most of Imbria was burning, and guilt sank into my stomach like a stone.