Page 5 of Lies That Blemish (The Ember War #3)

Valor

As the night grew longer, the boys slowed, yawning.

“Let’s rest our legs for a bit,” Tej said.

“I’m not sleeping,” I declared as he set his pack down and rolled out his shoulders.

He pinned me with a glare. “Neither am I. I’m not an idiot.”

“I’ll sleep,” Arjun shrugged. “That way, when you’re both dragging, I’ll be the most alert. Wake me when we leave.” He yawned and pulled out his sleeping bag.

Tej and I shared a look, and we both tried to hide our smiles. Arjun was growing on me, but I still most definitely hated Tej.

A loud boom like a cannon rang out then, and I flinched, ducking my head. Tej and Arjun, who was getting into his sleeping bag, barely moved.

“Firebomb.” Tej pointed up. I followed his gaze and saw a giant ball of fire streak across the sky from our side to theirs.

“You’ve never seen the battlefield, have you?” Tej asked in a somewhat disgusted tone.

“I’m fourteen,” I huffed by way of answer.

Tej flicked his gaze to Arjun, who was now fully tucked into his pack. “He was a baby when your father took over our country. Age doesn’t matter.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t want to waste my breath fighting, so if that’s all you want to do, please be quiet.”

“Oh snap,” Arjun said from deep inside the sleeping bag.

Tej kicked him lightly. “Go to sleep,” he growled at his brother.

But I smiled a little and then caught myself. We weren’t friends. We had a mutually beneficial understanding, and that was it.

“I’m making a fire and some coffee,” I announced.

After gathering some of the dry wood that was around us, I made a fire from the tinder and some matches in my pack. Then I started to boil water in a steel canteen I had.

Tej watched me with an annoyed expression that was really starting to piss me off. Another boom, and I flinched, and he did not. I peered up, praying it was a retaliation firebomb from their side. It wasn’t. It was us. Again.

Tej pinned me with a glare, and I shrank under that gaze. Why was Aisling burning half their country when they barely fought back?

Because Kohen killed Father and then her, I reminded myself.

Stay strong .

But by the time my coffee was brewed, another firebomb sailed over our heads from our side to theirs, and a pit formed in my stomach.

“Why aren’t you fighting back? Don’t you have an army?” I asked.

Tej glared at me. “Because my brother doesn’t want to hurt Aisling. He loves her.”

Love! Whoa . Just what in the hell had my sister gotten into with him? I didn’t know, so I stayed silent and sipped the disgusting black coffee. It burned the back of my throat with a bitter tang.

Tej eyed the warm liquid, and I peered over at him.

“I don’t want to toss this out, but I’m done. If you have a cup, you can have the rest,” I said.

He didn’t move for a moment, as if not wanting to take anything from me, but finally pushed off of the tree he’d been leaning on and pulled a steel cup from his pack. I filled the cup, and he muttered, “Thanks.”

As he pulled it to his lips, I saw a blur of reddish fur behind him. Without thinking, I pulled my dagger and threw it, just as a large fox creature lunged from the woods and came for Tej. He saw me pull my blade and ducked just as my dagger sank into the creature’s left eye. The fox yipped in pain, landing half on Tej’s back and rolling to the ground before bolting into the woods.

Tej looked up at me with wide eyes, spilling coffee all over the ground. His hands shook, and my heart slammed against my chest. A soft snore came from Arjun’s sleeping bag.

“Blood has been drawn,” I said. “Do you think?” Once blood was drawn, a bonding started. You had to fight to the death or bond, and there was no way I was bonding a small fox creature.

“Go after it,” Tej encouraged.

Without another thought, I bolted into the forest the way the fox had come and found it lying on the ground, struggling for its last breath.

It was incredibly sad, and suddenly, I didn’t feel cut out for this. If Aisling were here, she’d pull the blade out of its eye and slice its throat to end its pain, but I wasn’t Aisling. My dagger was embedded in its skull. To pull it out would be gross and traumatic. I… wasn’t ready for this. All this blood and killing and torture.

There was no way I could bond a Talanagi by tomorrow night. I placed a hand on the fox’s little chest just as it breathed its last breath, exhaling into the night. The red ember marks on its fur lit up brightly for a second before extinguishing. Tej had had no idea it was coming for him. It could have killed him. I was only trying to protect him.

I stared at the blade, unable to bring myself to pull it out.

Aisling would do it without hesitation , I told myself.

“Compassion isn’t a bad thing,” Tej said from behind me, and I stood, spinning.

When I could find my voice, I peered at the fallen fox. “That is my only weapon,” I said.

Tej nodded, still seemingly in shock, and pulled a small dagger from the pack slung around his shoulder. It was almost identical in size to the one I’d lost. It was gorgeous, with a golden hilt and Imbrian engravings. He handed it to me, hilt first.

“Kohen said that would happen and to bring this for you. I… thanks for saving me,” he said, seemingly in shock.

Kohen knew a fox would attack his brother, and I’d lose my dagger trying to help him? That I’d be too weak to pull it out of the dead creature?

What the hell?

I stared back at the dead creature. My blade was stuck so far into its eye that only the hilt showed. I didn’t have the nerve to pull it out, which shamed me.

Turning back to Tej, I took the blade gratefully from him, sheathing it. “What else does he know?” I asked.

“A lot he won’t tell me,” Tej offered as we walked out of the thick brush and back to where his brother was still sleeping soundly. “He also said you won’t tell anyone about his gift… so can you please keep it a secret?”

Keep a secret for an Imbrian? “I’ll have to tell my sister, but no one else,” I promised, still shaken by what had just transpired.

He nodded. “She already knows.”

She did?

I sat back on my heels, blowing out a breath. How much did Aisling know and didn’t tell me? She still treated me like a child.

Tej cast a wary glance over his shoulder. “Blood might attract the others. We should keep moving.”

I sighed, nodding. He woke Arjun while I put out the fire and we kept heading north to the Wall. Did I just protect an Imbrian? Not just any Imbrian, but a Badshah? And why hadn’t I retrieved my blade, the one my sister gave me, and was now instead carrying an Imbrian blade? I was going to look like a traitor.

But as I watched Tej ruffle Arjun’s dark hair and call him silly names, I realized I didn’t care. Hating Imbria was Father’s thing, and now my sister’s thing. But if Kohen’s letter was right and Father had been about to hurt Aisling, then he did us a favor.

I wasn’t going to live in the past.