Page 15 of Of Blood and Banes (The Arterian #2)

IN LINEAGE AND PACTS

I ’m the granddaughter of the rebels’ previous leader? The realization steals my breath.

Sethan lifts his chin, looking at me through lowered lashes. “Yes. Your father and grandfather fought on our side. Do you really think so little of them, that they’d be on the wrong half of this war?”

“No,” I admit, setting the letter down on his desk and staring at the wax seal.

Despite never having met them…it still feels like an insult to not trust them.

Where my allegiances should lie has been a continuous, flickering thought at the back of my mind.

Especially after I began reading my father’s journal back in Arterias.

And especially as I became more and more intertwined with Daeja.

“We need your help, Katerina,” Sethan says softly. “We need you.”

I tear my gaze away from him to glance at Daeja, who watches me with a twitching tail. “What do you think?”

“I’ll follow you wherever you go. And I’ll stand behind you in whichever decision you make.”

I turn to Sethan as thoughts race through my head, increasing in speed and weight. When I lock gazes with him, the thoughts quiet as I murmur, “Alright.”

He takes a few steps in my direction, his boots clicking on the stone-tile floor. “Will you swear secrecy for anything you find out about the Dragon Lands, kingdom, and magic?”

I lift my chin with a sigh. “Yes. I suppose.”

“Great. And you and your squad will not leave the Dragon Lands unless I grant you permission.”

I scoff. “How do you expect me to keep an entire squad under command? I’m not even their captain?—”

“You’ll find a way. You just need to try.”

I grumble, “Can you guarantee your people won’t hurt mine?”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “Not entirely.”

“Seriously? How am I supposed to agree if you can’t even guarantee our safety?”

“There are always those who don’t believe in and won’t follow the commands of their leaders.

I’m in an elected position, and it wasn’t necessarily a unanimous vote.

Everyone is aware I was born and raised as Arterian, so not everyone trusts me.

In fact, there was a bit of an upheaval at my appointment.

But…I can agree my immediate comrades would be bound by our deal, as they’re already sealed to me by their own blood pacts. ”

I cross my arms over my chest, mirroring his stance. “Fine. But you also agree to allow us our own separate quarters outside of what is currently provided.”

“Granted, but you all have a curfew.”

“Excuse me?” I scoff. “What are we, children?”

“That’s my requirement.”

I glare at him. “What for?”

“I don’t need to express the reasons for my request, do you accept it or not?”

Tapping a finger against my arm in thought, I grumble, “Okay. But you also stop torturing Darian.”

He blows out a breath. “Not likely?—”

“Or the deal is off .”

His jaw flexes, and he runs a hand over his nose and mouth, down his short gray beard. “If…you agree you’ll do what is necessary to save this kingdom.”

It’s vague enough of a request that it doesn’t scare me. “Great. You’ll also release Darian to me.”

“No. Absolutely not. He is just as much a danger to you as he is to everyone else.”

“We can keep the manacles on him, then, but he stays with me. That’s final, and I will not negotiate on it.

” After having witnessed the brutal whipping nights ago, the idea of Darian alone with them doesn’t sit well with me.

Even if Sethan and I agree on a blood pact, and his soldiers follow his orders of not harming anyone in our squad, I know if someone else in the Dragon Lands gets Darian it’ll likely mean he’s killed.

That, and deep down I have a fierce determination I can be the one to get information out of him.

Information that might save the entire realm.

Sethan’s just been going about it the wrong way.

Sethan spins away from me, pacing about the room, his eyes glued to the floor as he considers.

After a few sets of strides, he finally whips to me.

“Very well, then. But I take no responsibility for whatever happens to him. Many may know him here in the Dragon Lands, and people will do anything they can to spill his blood. That’s not even considering his heritage. ”

I level him a look—I’m already steps ahead of him. “You and those you can commit for don’t kill him.”

Sethan rolls his eyes, clearly understanding the more time we take discussing terms, the more he must agree to. As soon as I’m about to jokingly request a dragon-sized mattress, he intercepts my thoughts by unsheathing a dagger tucked into his belt.

Slicing the blade across his palm until the blood wells, he holds his open hand out to me. “Deal?”

I stare at his hand for a long moment. There’s no going back from this. But I’m not willing to risk him killing us Arterians if he wasn’t bluffing about the two-day deal.

“Katerina, deal or not?”

With a sigh, I nod and remove one of my gloves.

He offers me the dagger, and I slice my own palm open and place my hand in his.

A tremble sparks to life in our grip before shaking up both of our arms. The initial sting in my palm after I split open the skin transforms. As his blood mixes with mine, every nerve in my body spasms. I curl up onto my toes, my spine arching and head falling back as I fail to let it take control of me.

My lips part in a strangled gasp, my hand still holding onto his as if it’s my only lifeline.

The sensation fades as quickly as it came, and I lower back onto my feet, my breath chasing after my rapid pulse. “What was that?”

“That, my dear, was your first blood pact.”

After I’ve put my glove back on, Sethan hands me the key to Darian’s manacles.

I slide it in my brassiere, regretting not having enough pockets on my pants.

He then walks me back over to the community hall, lined with the tables occupied by Arterians and rebels.

Our squad is tucked off in a corner, with a generous amount of space between them and the other rebels at the same table.

Sethan announces to the room he’ll be gone for a couple of days to speak to their council and then exchanges a few whispered words with Tawny.

Tawny nods, gathering some of her soldiers and leaves the room with Sethan following her.

I stride after them and out of the hall, meaning to ask if and when we’ll get our weapons back.

Should have negotiated that. A few steps into the street and a hand rests on my shoulder before tugging me back.

I turn, finding myself face-to-face with Cole.

His expression is soft with that signature worry and discreet longing.

“What’s going on?” he asks. “Why is Sethan leaving to speak to their council?”

“I made a pact,” I answer simply as I spin back toward the direction where Tawny and Sethan’s group slip behind a set of buildings a few blocks away.

Cole strides after me, keeping pace alongside me. “What do you mean you made a pact?”

“A blood pact to ensure our safety.”

Cole throws out an arm to stop me from walking and spins himself in front of me, blocking my path. “ What? Are you joking?”

“If I am, you’re not laughing.”

“Because it’s no laughing matter,” he growls. “What the hells, Kat? You just agreed to a blood pact with Sethan? Do you understand what a blood pact might mean?”

I tilt my chin up at him to look him in the eyes. “Oh, and I assume you do?”

“I can make some guesses.”

I move to shift around him. “Great, then I’ll leave you to it.”

He snatches my forearm to keep me from advancing, his jaw clenched in frustration. “I know you’re still mad at me but?—”

“More like pissed, yeah!” I glare. Not that I need to justify my decisions, based on whatever emotion I was feeling at the time.

I don’t dare think about our tender moment the other night when he stayed with me until I fell asleep.

Because perhaps the anger is resurfacing that the one thing we had—which used to be so pure and simple—is disastrously convoluted.

The fact is, I did this for the realm.

I drop my voice to a quick whisper. “Let’s remember you had many secretive discussions with Sethan you have yet to fill me in on. So don’t pretend like I’ve gone behind your back to make a decision without you when you’ve shown me no such consideration.”

Cole shakes his head. “But this goes beyond our relationship. He singled you out—what did he ask of you?”

“If this goes beyond our relationship, then I suppose it’s none of your business, right?”

“Wrong—I care about you.”

“And you’re scared I made the wrong decision?”

“No. But your choices affect more than just you, you know,” he murmurs, the tension in his expression softening.

That spark of anger inside of me glows. “Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think I made the decisions I have for people other than myself?”

“That’s beside my point. What did you agree to?”

I glare at him, swallowing down the tension collecting in my throat.

“Please…” he whispers. “I only want to help you.”

His gentle tone breaks down part of my wall. I am no match for those warm amber eyes. “I…swore secrecy of any sensitive information he discloses. And that the squad doesn’t leave the Dragon Lands. And…to a curfew.”

Cole screws his nose up. “Of all things, he asked for a curfew?”

“Yes. In turn we get our own quarters, safety from the rebels, and?—”

I pause, uncertain if I should share the agreement Darian is to be released. To me. That I’m the one with the key to his manacles. But at the end of the day…I’m done having to defend my decisions. “And Darian is to stay under my supervision.”

A flicker of tension resurfaces in his jaw at the mention of Darian’s name. “I’m thankful for our own beds and safety, but…Darian? Why?”

“I think he may know Aaric’s secrets. Secrets no one else would be keen to, and that may turn the tides in our favor.”

“Our favor? And now you’re fully siding with the rebels?”

I nod. “I am. I’ve seen and heard things you can’t even imagine.

I always questioned King Aaric, and part of me pushed it to the back of my mind because I didn’t want to accept the cruel reality of it.

But I don’t think the King is who he says he is, and I don’t think the rebels are the ones who’ve been setting the towns on fire. ”

He flinches. “You don’t actually believe that…do you?”

“And what do you believe?”

“I…” He scans the streets around us with townspeople meandering by. Finally, he drags his gaze back to me, his voice low and serious, “If there’s anything in this world I believe in, it’s you.”

“Then believe I’ve made the right choice.”

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Do you have a plan on how to get critical information out of someone like Darian?”

The question makes me flinch. I haven’t given it much thought, other than I’ll find a way. From a logical standpoint, I don’t know Darian, and he doesn’t know me. We aren’t friends. We aren’t…anything, really. What makes me think he’d be privy to sharing anything with me?

Cole waves the question away. “That doesn’t even matter right now. What’s most important is how are you planning to keep our squad here in the Dragon Lands? Why wouldn’t they just try to leave?”

“Because staying is the safest option for them. I made the pact with Sethan to ensure everyone’s safety. And if they do try to leave, they’ll kill them.”