Page 129 of Keldori By Daybreak

“You destroyed the Rift to save me.”

“Not on purpose,” I sniffed. “But I’d do it again. For you. Please don’t let anyone tell you aren’t worth destroying the barrier between worlds for.”

Orla’s laugh was wet and choked in my ear. “How lucky am I, to have someone so worth missing and so worth being angry with?”

“Not as lucky as I am.”

I would’ve held her there among the opal trees for forever, but the crashing of stone in the citadel forced me to let go. Orla wiped her eyes as she stepped away, and I turned to Iseult.

“Not that she needs it, but keep her safe,” I said.

Iseult, to my shock, bowed her head, white hair falling forward. “I will die ten times over before I let anything happen to her, my Lady.”

“No,” I shook my head. “Not with the ‘Lady’. Please.”

Fana stepped forward to hug me goodbye, squishing Jonquil between us. “I won’t call you Lady, Just-Wren. I don’t like it much either.”

“Make sure Jonquil makes it home, alright?”

“I will.”

“And blind anyone who gets in your way.”

Tiernan gave me a terse nod as he drew Fana away. He would miss me the least, but that simple nod said a lot about how far we’d come from our first meeting. He led the others into the opal trees, onwards towards the next city.

Orla looked back one last time, before their silhouettes blended with those of the tree trunks in the intermittent flashing of the bombardment.

My friends.

They were going to save the world. Our little group may have been short lived, but they were everything.

Orla’s words echoed in my head. How lucky am I, to have someone so worth missing?

I hoped they liked Keldori.

I kept my eyes trained on the shadows, refusing to look at the lone figure who remained at my side. The others hadn’t even questioned who he’d go with.

“They could use your help,” I said, still not looking at him.

“My allegiance is to you,” Ciarán said.

I smirked. “I thought a Grimguard’s allegiance was to the Rift.”

“Then I suppose I’m not a very good Grimguard. Now tell me, Lady Saergrim, what’s your plan for taking on an entire army? Because I know you better than to think for a moment you are handing yourself over to Ferrin’s right hand without a fight.”

I reached for Ciarán’s hand and squeezed.

“I was still working out the details. But since you’re here, how much Skal do you have?”

I finally turned to look at him, and his teeth gleamed white as he grinned at me. It was annoying having him in my head every moment of every day, but there was ease in being so in sync.

He already knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Enough, my Lady. I have enough.”

28. Strategy Management

Turning myself in was the easy part. A Barony guard found me first, and he marched me through the empty streets of Willow’s Grave with my hands over my head.