Page 104 of The Last One Standing (Rogue X Ara #4)

DELPHIA

T his was a mistake.

Coming here, bringing Thana and Godrick—it was a mistake. I felt it in my bones, in the shift of the wind. There was a wrongness in the air that raised my hackles.

Ghosts shimmered all around Thana. A few tugged at her clothing, begging for life, but she couldn’t bring them back, and she said as such.

That didn’t matter when a dozen more felt her power and demanded the same.

Ghosts didn’t haunt me, but memories did. If I had the choice, I would prefer the souls, because these memories—they weren’t the land’s. They weren’t echoes.

They were mine.

As Godrick slipped into another tent, I stood at the door to hold the blind over him until he asked otherwise.

A little girl emerged from the darkest shadow, a soul no more than two or three. I started to smile until she turned, and I recognized myself. Doran ran after me with outstretched arms. Faint giggling filled my ears and stung my eyes.

Two more people materialized in the alleyway between tents—a woman and a man. Our parents winked at each other, grinning ear to ear. They darted forward and scooped us up as we squealed and kicked our feet.

I didn’t remember this. I hadn’t even remembered their faces.

As I moved to follow them, someone tapped my shoulder.

“Delphia?” Godrick asked. “You all right?”

I gasped and wiped my eyes before facing him. “Need me to drop the blind?”

He shook his head.

I looked beyond him into the tent, and my stomach sank. The soldier lay on the floor in a puddle of his own blood.

Godrick tossed his head and motioned for us to follow. “They still use the same war camp configuration. That was his tent location when he was my commander thirty years ago.”

I exhaled a shaky breath. “I’m sorry.”

“Me, too,” he sighed.

With just the three of us, we quickly moved through the tents.

The human rebels had tried their damnedest to glue their selves to our sides, but eventually, Godrick gave them official orders— kingly orders—and they were quick to obey.

They dispersed in pairs throughout the camp to find the grunts, the disgruntled, and the angry. “Be the match that sparks the fire under Adonis’s feet.”

Three tents later, Godrick finally found someone who could think for themselves. As he spoke with her, Thana and I waited outside.

“I wonder what time it is,” Thana whispered, pressing into my side.

I followed her gaze to the sky. The green-blue spectral light shifted into magenta, but beyond them, the stars shone bright.

I located the Northern Star, then the Lover’s Grove constellation. Two star clusters reached for each other like the hands of two lovers—or two branches, depending on how cynical their observer was.

Lover’s Grove moved through the sky while the Northern Star remained stationary. Based on the distance between the two of them… “It’s almost midnight.”

Thana’s amethyst eyes glowed beneath the rich purple sky, and I had the sudden overwhelming urge to take her and run. We could be far away from all of this before anyone ever noticed—far and safe.

With a soft lilt to her lips, she asked, “How do you know that?”

“I have an affinity for stars,” I murmured. “You know this, aster.”

I originally called her that because of the violet flowers, but it also meant star in the ancient language. No name had ever been so accurate.

Godrick emerged from the tent, steps stiff and quick as we followed him around the corner. After checking for prying eyes or ears, he hunched over on an exhale.

I crouched in front of him as Thana asked, “Are you all right?”

He shook his head slowly and rose to his full height. I stood, too, scanning our surroundings as I siphoned more energy from Ara’s ring—the last of it.

“They can’t leave,” Godrick whispered. “Those who do are never seen again.”

“So, even if people turn against him…”

“Many already have. They have no choice: they fight and hopefully live to see another day, or they disappear.” His head tipped to the sky, his fingers running down his thick beard. “They’re trapped between Adonis and whatever ominous fate befalls them if they try to escape.”

Thana covered her mouth. “What do we do?”

“What can we do?” I asked. There had to be something. If those who deserted were killed, it meant there were men for that—men we could eliminate.

Another answer echoed in my head, though, a more gruesome yet glaringly obvious one.

“He keeps them well fed,” I uttered. “That was what Finley said in the tunnel.”

Thana closed her eyes.

“If we dismantle the Puer Mortis horde, they could leave.” A heartbeat passed, and Godrick scoffed. “At that rate, killing Adonis himself would be easier.”

“Severance can kill them,” Thana said. “Ara and Rogue need to know now, though, before it’s too late.”

Anxiety coiled in my chest.

We started toward the Bloodsworn. Auryna’s camp passed by in a blur—tents, firepits, men, women, a glimpse of Adonis.

I halted. Backtracked a few steps. I slipped into the narrow gap between two tents to get a better look, despite my instincts screaming to run.

I need a stiff drink.

Adonis paced along the shore, stones and shells crunching under his boots, a black horizon beyond him. He pulled at his hair, muttering as he walked back and forth, back and forth.

Off to the side, Ara sat with a scarf shoved in her mouth, tied around the back of her head. Her narrowed eyes tracked his every step.

“What do you see?” Godrick asked, towering over me to peek through the gap above my head. “Oh.”

Thana pressed in. “Doran?”

“Yes,” I breathed.

The dagger at Adonis’s hip pulsed, and he stopped. As if listening, he glanced down at his hip and unsheathed the dagger to run his thumb over the bloodstone.

Adonis turned to Doran and crouched beside him.

My heart pounded against my sternum, blood roaring. I tensed, ready to tackle him to the ground, or take Doran’s place, or do everything that I hadn’t been able to last time.

He skated the dagger tip around Ara’s eye— Doran’s eye—down the slope of her nose, over her cheek.

Godrick grabbed my shoulder as I stepped toward them. I tore myself free, and Doran’s gaze darted toward us. He saw through my blind as easily as he had Rogue’s blood oath.

His eyes flared. When Adonis tipped his face to the sky, Doran gave a tight shake of his head.

What could I do?

My stomach twisted, bile burning in my throat. My body screamed for a swig of whiskey.

I couldn’t help Doran. I couldn’t stop Adonis. Not now. Not yet.

The only useful thing we could do was relay what we learned to Rogue and Ara.

I had almost come to terms with leaving my brother behind when a soul appeared before them. It almost looked like…but it couldn’t be…

Thana gasped, and I watched as fear rooted her to the spot, eyes wide and unblinking. “Adrastus?”

I slapped a hand over her mouth and held her to my front.

Adonis stood motionless, then exploded forward with a roar, his spelled dagger cutting a sharp arc through the air.

It wasn’t Sacrifice—did he know that?

Adrastus stepped aside and drove an elbow into his son’s spine. Adonis crumpled to a knee, sputtering for breath before he surged up with a snarl, blade flashing again.

“Halt, you fool!”

Adonis froze mid-strike, chest heaving, shoulders rigid. Adrastus said something too low for us to hear, but whatever it was, it hit like a slap. A tremor passed over Adonis’s face, disbelief pulling at his features before he reared back with a scowl. His knuckles whitened around the hilt.

A heartbeat later, he spun to Doran. The bloodstone in his dagger flared, and white eyes swallowed Ara’s silver irises.

One large stride and a quick thrust of his arm, he buried the dagger in Doran’s chest. Ara melted into Doran’s true form, and I screwed my eyes shut before I could see his decay.

A hand covered my mouth this time. Godrick kept it firmly in place as he dragged me down the narrow alley, back the way we’d come. I sobbed into his palm, tripping over my own feet until he lifted me and ran, Thana on his heels.

Doran was alive. We just reunited with him.

He was alive. Now, he was dead.

No.

No, no, no.

We couldn’t leave him here. I couldn’t leave him. Not again.

But I couldn’t die here, nor could I cost these two their lives.

I’m sorry, Doran. I’m sorry. I’m so ? —

We crashed into the ground. I tumbled away from Godrick and scrambled to my feet as he groaned, sprawled in the slushy mud.

An axe lodged in his back.

I couldn’t look away, couldn’t understand.

Boots pounded on frozen ground, armor and weapons clanking. Shouts broke out. A horn blew.

Thana grabbed my arm.

“Go,” Godrick croaked, then sucked in a gargling breath. “Tell my girls… I love them. I love you , Delphia. Be brave… Go!”

Thana’s fingers dug into my sleeve as she pulled me, but I couldn’t look away from him.

We were still hidden behind my blind, though exhaustion had settled in my bones. Had I let it slip before? Had they seen him?

Was this my fault?

Blood flowed from Godrick in heavy rivers, filling the divots and footprints in the path.

I can’t breathe.

“Our footsteps,” I rasped.

They’d sunk into the ground. We left a trail for them to follow.

I knew better.

I fucking knew better—but it was too late.

He was dead. They both were.

“Please,” Thana sobbed, her voice so heartbroken and desperate, I blinked at her. Blinked again. “Please.”

I nodded and followed her on numb legs, stealing one last glance at Godrick.

He was dead before his attacker ever reached him.

Something inside of me cracked wide open. I wanted to cry, to scream, to run back and drag them out of there—but my body didn’t listen.

It kept moving, betraying Doran and Godrick with every step as we sprinted toward the Bloodsworn with everything we had.