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Chapter

Forty-Five

Liv

Hope is dangerous. I learned that long ago.

It was much easier to be angry. Because when someone inevitably disappointed or betrayed you, you half expected it.

I had been hopeful with Stephen. I had been hopeful following the Guards and with him.

I was hopeful with the twins and with Nuo’s change of heart. What good did that hope do for me?

M aev and I wasted no time leaving the flat lands in the canyon. It was harder than I thought, watching the Guards hold Brekt down, knowing I wouldn’t see them for a long time.

“Why are you smiling?” Maev gave me a sour look.

“It’s creepy after what just happened. You were aware, right?

The Southlanders, the Guards, then the Desert Eagle.

I am in shock, Livy. Speechless. Did you see the magic coming out of you?

” Her hands flew through the air, reenacting the Eagle swooping down and taking on the beast.

“I would hardly say you’re speechless.” I checked around the bend we had reached to make sure we didn’t run into any more Aethar, but only walls of red and white rock lay ahead.

Bones littered the ground. Why did the Eagle kill everyone who came here? And how did so many Aethar make it across to Veydes?

“So why the smile?” Maev asked again. “I swear, you need to fear death more than you do.”

“He saved me.”

Apparently, I wasn’t listening to my own advice because hope was precisely what was tangled around my stupid heart.

“The Interrogator? Did you miss the part where he said that he’ll still hunt you when he’s done back there?”

I shook my head. “It’s a lie. Nuo is great at lying. Not a trait to brag about, but I learned to see it. He was putting up a front. He’s doubting himself.”

“Well, lucky you. Must be nice to have a bully as a friend.”

I rounded on her. “He’s not a bully. He’s a good man who said a lot of bad things. He was hurt after his closest friend died. I know he’s killed a lot of people, but he didn’t kill you.”

“Um, hello.” Maev pointed to the blood running down her neck.

Dirt covered her, muddying her blue skin and matting her hair, and I imagined I looked much the same.

“He stole my tracker. I have worked years on that tech. I had entered it into a competition back home. My professor said I was likely to win first prize. My work will have meant nothing now since my prototype is in the vest of the Interrogator.”

I bit my tongue. She was right to be upset.

As for the blood, I remembered the magycris Bastane passed her.“Use the medicine on your neck. The one Bas gave you.”

“Bas,” she said, snorting. Then, she blushed. “He wasn’t so bad, I guess. A golden Day-leg, but still. He was kinda sweet.”

I lifted my head to the sky, a laugh escaping. “Oh, no.”

“I’m not saying anything.” She held up her hands. “Other than, you know, he’s really good-looking.”

“Better than your guy from home?”

She considered it. “Would I be a traitor to my people if I said yes?” She failed at hiding her smile.

“You’re giving me shit about not being afraid that we almost died, and you’re blushing from being attracted to a Guard . Ollo was right—women are kind of crazy.”

Maev’s face fell.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought him up.

” I fidgeted with my pack, trying to keep my hands busy.

“We will still look for him. Find answers on where he may have been taken. But I also have a question to ask … I want you to explain why you never mentioned the planned attack on the Guardian City. You knew that Ollo was going to lead me back to the people who would want me to be a part of that. Not only that, I have a feeling you are hiding information about the scrolls your friend has.”

Maev bit her lip, applying the magycris to her head where she had hit it against the rock. “You must be angry with me.”

“I would say we are equally angry. I wanted to ask you before but knew you were worried about Ollo.”

“I’m still worried.”

The heat of the day dissipated as we trudged through the canyons, making it easier to keep going after losing so much energy.

Maev was re-braiding her hair as we walked.

“The scrolls talked of how the Guardian City used to be where a ruler once sat. Veydes used to be a kingdom, much like Rydavas was before our matriarchy disappeared over two hundred years ago. The scrolls show a map, and a crown sits where the Guardian city is now.”

“Why is that important to me?”

“It’s important because the Council sits there now. How and why? It could mean there’s a royal family missing. Ollo believes that’s where the Rydavian aerial units will be sent to attack. If an attack is properly planned. He thinks that’s what the Elders will ask you to help with.”

And now all the Guardians from South Aspis were heading to the Guardian City.

“No. Is it possible the fires at the south camp were started by the Elders? To send them north where they plan to attack.”

Maev’s eyes went wide with fury. “No. I do not think that.” She blew a breath out through her nose. “But that’s not all.”

She gave me a sideways glance, and I gestured for her to continue.

She smirked. “I think I’ve been rubbing off on you. Anyways. Another scroll my friend uncovered, which was badly damaged, talked of the gods and possibly how to bring them together. I think it tells how to get Erabas to return.” She frowned, expecting my anger.

“What?” My heart pounded with this information. “You’ve been hiding this from me while knowing I wanted to find the gods?”

“I don’t know if that’s exactly what the scrolls say. My friend hadn’t translated everything before I left. I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure what you were trying to accomplish, and why bother risking my friend’s safety if …” Her cheeks turned pink.

“If I was unstable?”

She tied off one of her braids, sighing. “Yes.”

“Well, you are risking your friend. I have been unstable. So what’s your plan now?”

“I can confidently warn him of the risks. Like the possibility that you might spontaneously combust.”

“I what now?”

Maev was about to reply when a black blur of wings landed hard on the ground before us. I screamed and grabbed her arm, and Maev held out the bottle of magycris as defence.

The Desert Eagle went still, statuesque like the rock around us, and I realized the black hair pulled back from his cruel face was more like feathers. “The Ikhor doesn’t use magic, and the Northerner defends herself with a tiny glass bottle. This is not promising.”

“Are you going to kill us? Kazhi said to let us free.” Maev’s voice shook.

The Eagle’s feathers were the only thing that moved when a light breeze passed between us. It was intimidating. Lethal. “Kazhi doesn’t control these lands. I do. No one escapes without my say.”

“And what is your say?” I itched to grab my swords but didn’t dare.

Maev was shaking under my grip.

“I say you follow me.”

“Why?”

The Eagle walked ahead without another word, leading us off the path and toward a narrow gap in the canyon walls. Maev pushed me forward, making a face like I shouldn’t argue. Not that I was going to.

He didn’t speak as he led us through bones and rock, silent as a ghost.

The man was a legend. According to Maev, he killed his entire clan hundreds of years ago. Seeing him and the terror he invoked on those who passed through his canyons … I believed the legacy before me capable of murdering his family.

It was also possible this wasn’t the same man from Nuo’s story.

But then I remembered the Alchemist I met in Bellum who told me he was over three hundred years old.

Perhaps the Eagle was a descendant of the first children.

Maybe his tale transformed over time, moulding it into something legendary—much like the tales of the Aspis and Ikhor.

Some time later, Maev asked, “Can’t you fly us there?” Her feet dragged against the ground as the sun lowered in the sky, but still he ignored us.

The farther we went, the more my feet hurt and the more my irritation grew. “I need to take a break.”

Silence.

He marched on, wings tight to his back, his clawed feet making no sound as he moved over the rocks. This man before us had taken on the Aspis, then the half-beast, and remained standing. It had taken three Guards to hold Brekt, yet the Eagle had done it single-handedly.

I checked to see if Maev was as afraid as I was, then I decided I no longer cared if I angered the Eagle. I was in pain, and I was going to stop.

I set my bag down, plopping myself on a rock.

The Eagle didn’t stop walking. He didn’t wait, disappearing around a bend.

“Are you kidding me?” Maev gaped after him. “Do we follow?”

I sighed, anger rising. “Yes.” I sprung up, running over the uneven rocky land, angry for not standing my ground more often.

We rounded the same corner and found him walking up a slope that led to the top of the canyon walls.

We hurried to catch up. I tripped on a stone and cursed as the gravel dug into my knee through my pants.

When I stood, the Eagle was in front of me, looking down his curved nose, and I nearly shrieked.

“Put that anger away, Ikhor. I will not have you use magic while behind my back.”

I took a step back. “You can feel it?”

So he was one of the first children.

“Though the Aspis stole some of it, what remains within you is vibrating violently. I do not care if you are angry with me. I don’t care if you bleed, if you live, or if you escape my canyons. I am doing this for a favour in return,” he said and continued to walk.

The orange rays of the setting sun hit my face as we reached the top of the canyon walls. This high up, the wind threatened to blow me off the side.

The Eagle continued to where a fire burned far ahead in a small alcove.

Maev reached the top, stood beside me and whistled. “This is quite the view. Look to the distance there, Liv, the southern sea. That’s where the Eagle’s island was. The old Feather territory.”

The horizon sparkled when the setting sun hit the vast expanse of water. The wind tousled my braids, and some of the anger that had been building in my chest dissipated.

“What does the wind feel like to you?” I asked Maev.

“The wind? What do you mean?”

“What emotion do you feel when it gusts around you?” I closed my eyes, savouring the sun on my face.

“I don’t know. Adventurous maybe. What do you feel?”

I held my hands to the wind, letting it flow through my fingers. “Freedom.”

The wind hummed, answering my heart’s call. It was a feeling I had always wanted a taste of. And here I was, transformed from the girl who was alone, hiding in her woods. I stood on top of the world, basking in the sunlight as if nothing could touch me here.

Hope soared through me, breaking me free of the heavy chains that were made by his death and Nuo’s promise. Things were changing. Healing. I had hope, and I was going to save them. Though the road ahead was dangerous, it would be worth it. My friends were waiting at the end of this journey.

I made a mental note of the moment so that I could capture the feeling in the future.

I had another element I could control.

Fire had been easy, with the anger I carried from my past. Water, too, when I thought of him . Vines were nearly impossible, as I never felt grounded or in touch with the earth below.

Could I easily feel freedom? Would the wind answer my heart’s call when I needed it?

A huge gust of air told me yes.

I may be angry.

I may be sad.

But I was free, and no one would take that from me.

Ever.