Page 19 of Lies That Blemish (The Ember War #3)

Aisling

Nerves ate a hole in my stomach as I stood on Alek’s doorstep and knocked. He’d still be in town from the Lottery. We weren’t called to be back in Sky Reach until tomorrow.

When he answered, he grinned hugely. “Aisling. Come in.” He opened the door wider, and his mother scurried from the couch to stand. “Empress.” She fumbled with a curtsy, and I hated myself for what I was about to do.

I shook my head. “Sorry. I need to talk to you privately, actually.” I waved to his mom.

Alek stepped outside, looking expectantly at me as he shut the door behind him. “What’s up?”

My heart leaped into my throat. I hated this. I hated that he was such a great guy.

“You’re amazing,” I said, unable to keep the tears from my eyes and the emotion from clogging my throat.

His face fell.

“But…?”

My chest heaved. I didn’t want this to break him like Jace broke me. “But I can’t marry you.” I pulled the small ring from my pocket and handed it to him.

He froze, not taking it.

“Why? I thought we had an agreement. For the future of Amersea.”

If anyone deserved the truth, it was Alek.

“We did. But I have selfishly decided to follow my heart and put my wants before that of my country.”

He looked down at me. “Kohen?”

I nodded.

He yanked the ring from my fingers. “Aisling, he killed your father. He killed you . Have you lost your mind?”

I sighed. “Listen, this is beyond classified, but I feel you deserve the truth. If you were to tell anyone, my life could be in danger.”

He appeared concerned, then and nodded. “I’d never do anything to put you in danger, Aisling.”

He was so sweet. I hoped he found someone good to erase all the damage I was no doubt doing right now. “I have evidence that my father was the one who caused the Great Blackout. He pinned it on Ravi Badshah on purpose to take over their land.”

Alek gasped. “Holy crap.”

I nodded. “Kohen was protecting me. My father was behind the attacks on me at boot camp.” I knew that now. Even without the evidence, it was there all along.

“I don’t even know what to say,” he said.

“Say you’re happy for me, that you’ll support me, and we’ll stay friends.”

He smiled sadly then, slipping the ring into his pocket. “If you’re happy, I’m happy, Aisling.”

His comment broke my heart just a little bit more, and I pulled him in for a tight hug. “One day, you’ll find a woman who deserves you.”

He squeezed me back, inhaling as if remembering my scent for the last time.

We pulled apart, and I walked away without another word.

I had to call a meeting and clear Kohen’s family name. If it was the only thing I did, it would be worth it.

Over the next hour, I told the admirals the truth about the night of the blackout. Most of them were in Riverine, and it was easy to call the meeting at my father’s house. I produced the safe with all the papers and maps. They were in shock and disbelief, trying to make a case for how this could be anything else, but ultimately, the note in his handwriting sealed their decision.

We can call it the Great Blackout. Blame Imbria. Kill Badshah. Take over. Double our land.

Those few sentences caused an uproar within the meeting room.

Commander Ledger slammed a fist on the table. “That bastard!”

“I can’t believe it,” Admiral Caruso said.

“I want you to question everyone in this room and make sure they weren’t party to it,” I told her in front of the ten people present.

There was a minor outroar at that, but in the end, they relented, saying they understood. If my father had help, I wanted that person out of our leadership.

“Draft a peace treaty with Imbria. They will join us again. We will become one nation.”

Commander Ledger’s brows bunched together. “How can you be so sure? Especially if they get wind of this? They’ll want your head on a stick.”

“Kohen Badshah will sign it. Trust me,” I said. “We need to be united now more than ever before. After the recent Riverine attack from Luska, and tearing down the Wall, we have no idea what they will do next.”

Commander Ledger shook his head. “Hang on, Empress. It’s our job to advise you on what’s best for your safety and our country. We cannot draft a reunification with Imbria on a, ‘ trust me’ . We’ve burned half their country. If Kohen Badshah has told you he will join us again and sign a peace treaty, it could be a trap.”

“It’s not a trap,” I said.

“How can you be sure?” Admiral Caruso said.

“Yeah, just because young Badshah might have agreed to a peace treaty verbally doesn’t mean he’ll sign,” Admiral Blade echoed.

“He’ll sign it!” I shouted.

“But how are you sure?” Commander Ledger asked.

“Because I married him last night!” I screamed, and the entire room went silent.

Crap . I hadn’t intended for that to get out.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Blade said in disbelief.

“Why not? He, his family, his country—they are not the enemy. My father was!”

More silence.

“The people won’t accept this,” Caruso said. “This doesn’t leave the room.”

The next hour was spent convincing them I had, in fact, married Kohen Badshah and that a priest was present and it was legally binding. They went into “damage control,” as if I was some angry teen who had gone off and done something rash.

Had I? Maybe. But it felt like the best decision I ever made.

I showed them the ring, and half the men in the room rolled their eyes. “Don’t wear that in public. Tell no one,” Admiral Blade said.

Why was everyone treating this like some big mistake? I guess prejudices didn’t die right away, even with evidence that you were wrong. Maybe they had to slowly be starved of oxygen and fade away. It would take time.

“What if the people did accept it? What if this is what finally brings our two countries together? Like actually together as equals. Not like last time when they were seen as beneath us. Not as a conquered nation. This would be a mutual merging of two nations. Stronger together.”

Commander Ledger hung his head into his hands, and rubbed his temples, and then looked up into my eyes. It was like looking at an older Jace. “The people aren’t ready for this. You tell them you married Kohen Badshah, and they will have you hanging from a tree in Emberlane Park by nightfall.”

“He’s right,” Admiral Caruso said.

My heart fell. “But we have evidence of what my father did.”

Blade nodded. “We also have a confession that Badshah killed your father and then killed you. Even if it was to retaliate for what your father did to his. People won’t see him in a good light. He’s still a killer.”

They were right. How did you overcome years of prejudice and smear campaigns? They would hold anything they could against Kohen, against his people. Even armed with the truth. The very men and women in this room were doing it. They were still judging Kohen on his past, on rumors, on where he was from.

“He didn’t kill my father to retaliate. He did it to protect me. My father was also behind the attack on my life at boot camp,” I declared. Might as well just let the whole truth out there, at least with everyone in this room.

Gasps, more shocked expressions.

I opened my mouth to say more when Liana burst into my mind with frantic energy. ‘Get outside. Zara is here without Valor.’

It felt like the entire room spun as I bolted up from my chair, muttering something about my sister’s creature being outside, and then I ran. Down the hall, past the kitchen, and out the front door, I burst into the yard of my father’s palatial mansion and skidded to a halt when I saw Zara, bloody gashes all along her left side, her right wing burned slightly.

‘Luskins took Victory on our way to Sky Reach,’ she rambled into my mind. ‘Elaine fought with all she had but will die without help. Vespa died. Valor and Virtue are safe and hiding in the woods where I left them.’

A sob, which turned into an angry roar, ripped from my throat.

Admiral Caruso burst outside behind me. “What’s wrong?”

I felt out of my body, unsure how I got from where I was standing to Liana’s back.

“Luska took Victory. Vespa is dead. Elaine is dying,” I managed to say before Liana took off after Zara, who was leading the way.

Vespa was the first creature who’d ever let me touch her. I’d grown up as a young child with her in my bed every night as Elaine put me to sleep.

‘You’re sure Vespa is gone, not just injured?’ I managed to ask Zara, finding I could speak to her as easily as I could with Liana.

‘ I’m sure. She’s… dead,’ was all she said.

‘Did they hurt Victory? Did they leave demands?’ So much rushed through my head. Kohen saying he saw a future where Victory had been taken. Elaine being hurt and wondering if Valor could heal her.

‘Victory was unhurt when I last saw her. They left a letter.’

Stars, I felt sick—my sweet little sister carted off into Luska. Would they torture her? Of course they would. She might be fourteen, but she was an Everhart. The sick feeling became too much, and I leaned over Liana and vomited into the sky.

‘They might not have plans to harm her. Wait until you read the letter,’ Liana told me.

It was good advice, but I couldn’t calm my mind. I was already mentally living in a terrible future without Vespa, Elaine, or Victory.

It took a nerve-racking two hours of flying before we got close to my sisters. Zara was a fast flyer, but not as fast as Liana, and we had to follow her. She couldn’t explain where in the woods they were hiding, but she remembered how to get there.

When we stumbled upon our family car, flipped over on the road, and smoking, I gasped. There was blood… tire marks—so much blood.

Six bodies. I counted six bodies. Dizziness washed over me as I identified our driver, Verik.

‘Sorry. Your driver lost his life fighting. I forgot to tell you. The others are Luskin. Elaine killed them.’

Verik. He’d been our driver for as long as I could remember.

I peered over at her. ‘It’s okay, you’ve been through a lot. You did the right thing hiding the girls and Elaine in the woods and then getting me.’

I could see the pain in her eyes. She was hurting because Valor was hurting. Valor, a triplet who had scarcely ever been without her sister, had just witnessed a live kidnapping, and her mother figure was near death.

I realized I hadn’t thought enough to stop and get a med-kit, and prayed that Elaine was still alive. I couldn’t go through Victory being kidnapped and mourning Elaine’s death at the same time. It would end me.

I glanced back at the five bodies. Elaine was a badass fighter; she taught me everything I knew. They must have had over a dozen soldiers to overpower her.

I clutched the ring that hung from my necklace, the one Kohen had given me, and wished he were here. I needed a hug. I needed him to hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay. I was spiraling out of control.

If Maxim laid a single finger on my sister, I’d burn the entire world down.

‘As will I,’ Liana agreed.

Okay, breathe. Just take it one step at a time. I told myself as I fought off a panic. I wanted to blindly fly to Luska and look for my sister, but I had to take this one step at a time.

Step one: make sure Elaine was still alive.

Step two: read the letter Maxim left for me.

Step three: get my sister back at any cost.

I scanned the space frantically as we began to descend into an open clearing.

‘She said they are hidden in thick trees. We have to walk from here,’ Liana told me. We were feet from the ground when Liana cocked her head to the side.

‘Onyx and Kohen are on their way, too.’

Relief rushed through me at that. I needed someone to mentally process all of this with. He must have had a vision and was now on his way to help.

The second Liana hit the ground and Zara pointed in the direction of where my sisters and Elaine were, I took off running.

“Valor!” I bellowed, pulling my sword. “Virtue!”

“Aisling!” one of my sisters sobbed. Her voice was so distorted I couldn’t tell if it was Valor or Virtue. My heart beat madly as I leaped over fallen trees and ferns to find the girls. I skidded to a stop when I saw them. Elaine was sprawled out in Valor’s lap. Tears were streaming down her face as she held her hands over blood-encrusted wounds on Elaine’s body, plugging holes in our governess with her fingers. Virtue was beside them, hugging her knees and staring off into the forest.

“I can’t fix it,” Valor said. “I can’t see it. The picture isn’t clear, not like with Tetra… I can’t…” Valor mumbled.

She was in shock. They both were. There was so much blood. I sheathed my sword and kneeled down, placing my fingers over Elaine’s neck. She was so pale; there was a very faint pulse, and her chest was barely rising. Off to the side was a letter with bloody fingerprints and my name on the front.

“Vespa died,” Virtue sobbed. “Right in front of us.”

I felt out-of-body. I had to wall up every emotion and turn into a machine. Otherwise, nothing would get done.

“That’s okay. Elaine’s alive,” I said brightly, trying to put some life into my voice.

Virtue and Valor’s head snapped to look at me for the first time.

“She is?” Valor said. “I wasn’t sure.”

I nodded. “You did so good.”

I began ripping strips off my shirt as I triaged the situation. Some kind of bolt shooter had been used. I could tell by how big the puncture wounds were, but there were gashes, too, like that of a creature. And burn marks.

Oh stars, it was bad.

I peeled Valor’s hands one at a time, shoving balls of linen cloth in the holes to stop the bleeding and then tying tight strips over it.

“You did so good, Valor,” I praised her again.

“Don’t lie!” she screamed, still hysterical. “I’m a healer, and I can’t heal her. Elaine…” The way she said her name caused a lump to form in my throat.

Virtue said what we were all thinking: “Mom…”

To these girls, who never met the mother who birthed us, she was their mother.

I couldn’t lose it. Not here in front of them, but tears were clouding my vision, so I blinked them back. “We don’t know how your gift works yet, Val. You need time and training. You did great. Can you go take Virtue to the creek over there, wash your hands, and bring me some water? There is a canteen in Liana’s saddlebag.”

Part of my training included shock. Getting the person to focus on a task away from the trauma was best.

Valor nodded, gently moving Elaine’s head as she stood.

“I don’t want to leave her,” Virtue whined.

“We’re just going to wash our hands and get water,” Valor said. She sounded more alert and calm. Giving her the task was a good idea. They were both covered in blood. I had no doubt they’d witnessed a gruesome scene. Elaine had killed five Luskin soldiers, protecting them. I couldn’t imagine how many they sent to overwhelm her, Vespa, and Verik. A dozen? I didn’t want to ask; my sisters had finally started to focus on something else.

‘They tried to take all three girls and leave a message with Elaine,’ Zara told me. ‘A dozen in total. Four had flying Talanagi with baskets to drop the rest. I helped Elaine as much as I could with the flying ones, but… there were just so many.’

‘You did great,’ I assured her as I plugged hole after hole in the body of the woman who’d raised me.

Leaning forward, I whispered in her ear. “Don’t you die on me. I need you.” I had to get her stable enough that she would survive a flight to Sky Reach, where we had a surgeon. One jerky move, and she could bleed out.

Liana cocked her head to the side. ‘Kohen is meeting resistance with the Fleet. They’ve spotted him.’

My eyes widened. If they shot him down, this would really be the worst day of my life. ‘Can you go up there and settle things down? I can’t leave Elaine.’

She nodded.

‘I will go, too, and speak to their minds,’ Zara said.

That was a big help.

‘Thank you,’ I told them.

I’d barely had time to tell the admirals to draft up a peace treaty with Luska. If my Fleet saw Kohen flying here, they would shoot him down.

I couldn’t worry about that right now. There was so much blood, and even with my aggressively packing holes in Elaine, which had to hurt, she wasn’t even flinching.

Stars, don’t take her from me , I begged.

“We got the water.” Valor handed it out to me. I hadn’t even heard her approach.

I took it, taking a swig, even though I didn’t need it, and peered at my sisters. They were wet but mostly clean of blood on their skin. Their clothes were another matter.

“Remember the story Elaine used to tell you when you were really little? The one with the bunny and the horse?” I asked the girls. “Tell it to me. I need something else to focus on,” I said while I watched the plugs I’d created in Elaine’s body for any leaks. Like she was a car leaking oil and not precious lifeblood.

Valor seemed to know what I was doing. Trying to keep things calm, she told the story.

It was a silly story about a friendship between a bunny and a horse, and how the bunny and horse fought over carrots on the farm they lived at until they teamed up and stole all of the carrots and made the farmer mad. It was a cute story that took about ten minutes to tell.

When she finished, I heard the thumping of feet behind me, and I craned my neck to see Kohen, his two brothers, and a stranger I didn’t know. He was a tall Imbrian man with a small fox creature that reminded me of Vespa. Liana, Zara, and the other two dragons, who belonged to Arjun and Tej, walked through the forest behind them.

I had no words for Kohen. I didn’t even know what to say. My hands were encrusted with drying blood from Elaine, and one of my sisters was gone. There was a hole in my heart the size of Amersea.

“Please save her,” Kohen asked the Imbrian man in his forties with the fox creature.

“Yes, my king.” The man nodded, walking over to kneel at my feet.

“Are you a surgeon? If she can travel, we have supplies at the army base,” I asked him.

“No, Empress, I’m not a surgeon. I’m a healer. I need you to step away so your energy doesn’t influence the situation,” he said kindly but firmly.

I stood, hands shaking, as I stepped away from Elaine.

‘His energy is pure and kind-hearted, but he is sad. He’s seen a lot of death,’ Liana told me.

Hopefully not because he wasn’t a good healer.

I watched as he scanned his hands over Elaine’s body, grimacing as he did. His fox creature walked up and down the side of Elaine’s body, sniffing as she went. The irony that Elaine had lost Vespa, her fox, only to hopefully be healed by a man with a fox creature was not lost on me.

The man began to hum, a pretty rhythmic sound, and I watched in fascination as small threads of white silver light left his fingers and went into Elaine’s body. I glanced over at Valor to see if she could see it too, and her jaw was dropped open. Everyone’s was. It looked like his gift was similar to hers, and thank the stars for that.

‘He’s also using sound to help heal,’ Liana told me as she watched the man curiously.

I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t care, so long as it meant Elaine would survive.

Kohen picked up the white letter from the ground and approached me, pulling me off to the side to speak privately. His voice filled with compassion. “This will take a while. He works slowly, but he’s the best healer we have.”

I nodded, taking the letter, knowing I had to not only worry about Elaine but also Victory.

Whatever was in this letter would be some type of ransom or demand for her, and I had to deal with that.

“Do you want my brothers to fly your sisters to Sorak and keep them safe?” Kohen asked, pulling me from my thoughts. “No one will look for them there.”

Take them out of Amersea? I hadn’t even thought about that.

I met his eyes and saw so much compassion there. But something else, too, something that scared me.

Sadness .

Why was he sad? What did he know?

“Did you see her die, Kohen?” I asked. “Just tell me.”

He shook his head. “I think she makes it out. I’ve seen her in future visions.”

I frowned. “Then why do you look so sad?”

He gestured to the letter in my hands. “Why don’t you read that? Let’s focus on Victory. I’m going to have my brothers take your sisters to Sorak, okay? I think that’s best.”

He was treating me a bit like I couldn’t think for myself, and I was starting to wonder if I couldn’t. Was I in shock? I felt frozen, and it honestly was a relief to have someone to lean on who could make decisions right now.

Why hadn’t I read the letter yet? Why didn’t I tear it open and start barking orders and rallying the troops to get my sister back?

“Okay,” I said, trying to fight through the grief and panic that were clawing their way inside my body.

I told my sisters to go with Arjun and Tej and that Elaine was going to be fine. They happily obliged. It seemed like they would do anything to get out of here. Virtue sat behind Valor on Zara, and they left. Seeing the three dragons fly off into the sky made me question if I was making a mistake.

“Won’t your people hurt them if they find out who they are?” I asked.

Kohen looked offended. “My people don’t have the same prejudices as yours.”

Ouch .

But he was right. Maybe his people were more forgiving and accepting than mine. Maybe they saw my sisters as separate from my father and me. I hoped so. Because Imbria might be the only safe place for them now.

I looked up at Kohen and then at the letter. “I’m scared to open it.”

What if it said they killed her? What if it said they stuck her head on a spike on the Wall? I felt paralyzed at the thought.

Kohen peered over his shoulder at the healer, who was still humming and waving his hands over Elaine, weaving silver strings up and down her body.

Kohen pulled me aside even farther so that the tree was mostly blocking us, and then he took me into his arms. When the weight of his body crushed against me, I finally let myself relax. The buzzing shock that had me frozen this whole time melted into pure panic and grief.

“Elaine is like my mother,” I whispered against his neck.

“I know.” He rubbed small circles on my back.

“And Victory, she’s the sweetest of all of them. This will change her forever, even if I get her back.”

“You’ll get her back,” he said confidently, and I pulled back, my heart lifting for the first time in days.

“Have you seen that?”

His face fell. “I don’t know anymore. Everything is so… converged.”

I frowned. “Converged?”

“I don’t know which path leads to what anymore, but I do know that I will never let anything bad happen to you, okay?” He took my face in his hands. “No matter what that letter says, no matter what you have to do, you’ll always be my wife.”

You’ll always be my wife.

At that moment, I was sure that Kohen did know something awful, and he just didn’t want to tell me. Maybe it was better that way.

“Let me clean up real fast,” I told him and walked over to the creek, plunging my hands into the cool water and scrubbing off Elaine’s blood. As the creek ran red, I steeled myself to open the letter. When I was done, I walked back over to Kohen, who patiently waited for me, and then, without wasting another second, I ripped the letter open.

Beloved Aisling,

I’ve decided I’m done playing games. You deprived me of my sister, so now I’m taking yours. Come to Luska and become my wife, and I’ll keep her alive. Surrender your country to me and join our lands, and there will be peace. If you do not immediately do this, I’ll skin your sister alive and drop the biggest bomb you’ve ever seen on Riverine. I will have Amersea either by force or marriage. Your choice.

Maxim

I looked over at Kohen, who had been reading over my shoulder, and though his jaw muscle was ticcing, he didn’t look too surprised. I remembered then something he had said. It ends with you married to Maxim .

“Was it always going to end like this? Me with Maxim? Is that how Virtue and my people stay safe?”

Kohen’s fists clenched. He looked tortured by whatever visions he must have seen.

“Kohen, just tell me what you’ve seen. I can handle it. I’m a big girl.” Though my heart was breaking at the idea of surrendering to Maxim, signing over my lands and my body to him—forever—I would do it in a second to save my sister.

Kohen’s voice was hollow. “I’ve seen many outcomes. In some, Amersea is a crater with no life. In others, it thrives.”

It was hard to hear, but I had to. “In the one where it thrives?”

Kohen sighed. “You marry Maxim. I don’t know for how long, but there is a wedding.” He sounded so pained that I knew this must be tearing him apart.

“And if we fight? Rally our army and storm the wall?”

Kohen swallowed hard. “Virtue dies, and Maxim makes good on the bomb threat. It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. Riverine is no longer on maps in the future after that.”

I gasped at his comment. No longer on maps! How big was this bomb?

“So I have to marry him?” I felt like a child with the way my voice cracked. “That’s the only way?”

Kohen looked like he was going to explode with rage and punch a tree, but he just gritted his jaw, chest heaving. “Right now, they have every flying creature in their army in the sky. If you try to sneak even one assassin in, they kill Victory. If you try to kill Maxim before the wedding, they kill Victory. Aisling, I’ve seen a dozen scenarios, and as much as it pains me to say this… you… have to marry him.”

Tears filled my eyes. Having my will taken from me, which is exactly what this was, was my worst nightmare. That’s why I didn’t like using my power on others. I would hate for the same to be done to me.

Kohen leaned his head against my forehead. “Just know that it won’t be real. Because we married first, it won’t be legitimate.”

That didn’t mean I wanted to do it. A tear slipped down my cheek, and Kohen grasped my chin, tilting my face up to meet his eyes. “I won’t let him hurt you or Victory, do you understand?”

“You can’t say that,” I told him.

He grasped my chin a little tighter, lacing a finality in his words. “I. Won’t. Let. You. Be. Harmed,” he growled out.

I believed that he believed that, that he would probably get himself killed trying to plan some big rescue mission.

“Okay,” I said to make him feel better. “But I need to ask you a favor, one that I have no business asking after what I put your people through. After what my father put your people through…”

“If you want something from me, Aisling, my answer is always yes.”

I laughed, but it turned into a weird sob. They spoke about love like ours in romance books. But in those, they had happy endings, and in mine… I ended up with Maxim and my sister was a prisoner. I’d only ever really had Kohen for one night. That’s all we got.

I swallowed hard.

“What is your request, my love?” Kohen asked, brushing his finger over my bottom lip, sending tendrils of warmth down my spine.

“Take my people. Protect them? Please. I’ll order a mass evacuation. That way, if Maxim hurts Victory and I get triggered and rip his throat out, and then he makes good on his threat… no one will die.”

Kohen didn’t falter even for a second. “Absolutely. Your people, your sisters, Elaine, they will be safe in Imbria.”

“I don’t deserve you. I never did.” The way I treated him from day one, it made me sick to think about. And all the while, my father was the one who made their life hell and steal their land and enslave their people. It was wrong, and I didn’t even know how to go about making it right.

“We deserve each other.” He pulled my chin forward and kissed my mouth.

“Is there even any place left to send my people? I’ve burned half your country and bombed so many villages,” I said distraughtly.

Kohen nodded. “You have, but my country is bigger than I think you ever thought it was. Sorak is fine, and our great capital Nimra, as well. Anything east of the open plains is thriving and we are rebuilding. My men are signing up for the reserve army, and we will be okay. There’s room for everyone. They will need to bring tents and help farm, but there’s room.”

There’s room . He wasn’t saying no. He was saying he would make room, and I realized at that moment another prophecy he’d spoken had come true.

One day, you’ll beg me to protect you . Except it wasn’t me, it was everyone I cared about and had pledged to protect.

“Thank you.” I didn’t know what to say now. The letter indicated that I should leave now. That I stop at nothing to reach Maxim and just sign over my country and my life. “I need to write a letter to my admirals and to Valor,” I told him.

He nodded and pulled a pen and paper from his pack.

Crouching down, I wrote a letter to the admirals telling them what I had to do in order to keep Victory alive and to keep Riverine from being wiped off the map. I told them to order a mass evacuation to Imbria and that Maxim had a huge bomb.

Then I wrote a letter to Valor, one that broke my heart.

Finally, I reached up to my neck and unclasped the locket that held my mother’s picture and my wedding ring from Kohen. “Give this to Valor one day,” I told him, clasping it around his neck and tucking it into his shirt as I tried to fight the emotions threatening to take hold of me.

His bottom lip shook as he met my gaze. “You’ll give it to her yourself. We will find a way out of this. I just have to see a vision that shows me the steps to take.”

I cupped my hand to his face and stroked his cheek. “Sometimes there’s nothing you can do. Sometimes, you make your bed, and you have to lie in it.”

I killed Maxim’s sister. The reckoning of that day had come. “My admirals know we married. They know the truth about what my father did, and that yours was innocent. If you go to them with this letter, they will follow my orders.”

“I hate this,” he breathed.

I nodded. “Not more than I do.” My voice cracked.

I peered over at the healer. He was still working over Elaine, and I had no idea if she would make it.

“Please take care of her,” I told him.

“You know I will. I’ll take care of everyone, Aisling—and you. Please trust me. I’ll find a way to kill this bastard. I don’t know why, but when you marry him, all of the visions I have make him seem untouchable. I have to find out why, and then I’ll save you and Victory.”

Untouchable. Great .

I turned around then because I sensed her.

Liana.

‘I don’t want to argue. I know you hate Maxim, but it’s for Victory,’ I told her.

She nodded . ‘I’ll fly you, though I doubt he will let me stay.’

She understood, of course she did. I grasped her neck, hugging her tightly, and then turned to face Kohen, who stood like a stone, eyes wide.

“I’ll figure this out,” he said, as if in a dream. “I just need to have a vision that shows me the way.”

I nodded, “Okay,” I told him because now he needed my comfort.

“Don’t lose hope. I’ll come for you,” he said.

“Okay,” I repeated, lying through my teeth and clinging to him once more.

I needed to get out of here. I needed to get to Victory and make sure she wasn’t hurt.

“Kohen, get my people out of here. If Maxim has hurt my sister, I’ll rip his throat out with my teeth, and then he’ll level Amersea.”

Fear flashed across Kohen’s face as if that was exactly what he was afraid of. “I will. I’ll get everyone out, but it will take a few days. You have to keep the peace until then.”

Keep the peace? That bastard had my sister.

“No promises,” I told him. “And if your visions are wrong and I do have access to my power around him, I’ll make him cut his own throat,” I growled.

Kohen just stayed silent as if he knew that wasn’t possible.

I didn’t care. I’d reached the angry portion of this reality.

The woman whom we loved as a mother was on her deathbed, my innocent sister had been brutally kidnapped, and I was being forced into an arranged marriage.

All at the hands of Maxim Vlek.

If there was a way, I would make this bastard pay.

I slipped my leg onto Liana and peered at Kohen one last time. “I’m grateful for the time we had.” My throat pinched with emotion. “For as long as I live, I’ll wish we had more. Thank you for being gracious to me and my people. Goodbye, Kohen.”

Liana kicked off the ground, and Kohen fell to his knees, punching the earth and screaming into the sky.

It was the cry of a broken man, helpless to do anything for a woman he loved. At that moment, I accepted my fate. I knew he was so distraught because he’d probably seen a hundred different versions of this play out, each one keeping me from him.

But that’s how life was sometimes. Sometimes we had to make do with the cards we were dealt and not the ones we wanted.