Page 176 of Keldori By Daybreak

“And? You were happy to try to murder Caitria, and she’s your sister. How’s it any different?”

“It’s different because I saw what Caitria did to the Firelds. I didn’t know it was her at the time, but I watched her kill them.”

I paused with my hand on the lid of a barrel. “I forgot you would’ve been there that night.”

“I should’ve tried harder to stop her.”

I snapped around to look at Tiernan where he stood between two towers of wooden boxes. The sunlight filtering through bits of visible window ringed his twisted locks in gold and turned the dark skin of his face rich and warm.

“You were just a kid,” I said.

“Caitria killed Fana’s oldest brother right in front of me. He was our age, and he was probably my only friend.”

“What was his name?”

“Fassil.” Tiernan’s lips fell into a sad smile, and he scratched the rough wood of a crate. “We’d stay up late to play games since there wasn’t much leisure time during the day for either of us, so I was with him when the killing started. They couldn’t defend themselves. Fireld magick is beautiful, but isn’t easily controlled.”

“Fana told me.” I nodded. “Her magick is linked to the sun.”

“Most of them had never used magick before. None of them even had Skal in their systems. They were defenseless. When the screams started, Fassil begged me to go find Fana. I did, but when we got back, Caitria had him by the throat. He yelled for us to run, and then—”

Tiernan cut off and looked through the sliver of window available to him between crates. Sunlight caught the flecks in his amber eyes, turning them gold.

“It’s not your fault,” I said.

“Caitria wasn’t planning on killing Fana. If I had stayed with Fassil, I could’ve protected him. But he told me to go protect Fana instead, and that’s what I’ve done for the last five years, and it’s what I’ll continue to do.” He turned his golden eyes on me. “So, no. I have no kindness left for my sister and no mercy to be spared. Maybe that makes me better than Orla. Maybe it doesn’t. Either way, I hope this ends with both Caitria and Ferrin dead.”

“And when this ends, what is your plan?”

“To continue protecting Fana.”

“There won’t be anyone hunting her in Keldori.” I laughed softly.

“She’ll still need protecting.”

“Sure.” I pried open another crate to find ropes. “But you can’t breathe down her neck for the rest of her life.”

“I made a promise to Fassil—”

“Fassil was your friend,” I interjected, letting the lid of my crate fall shut. “He wouldn’t want you to punish yourself for the rest of your life because of something your sister did.”

“You didn’t know him. You don’t know—”

“I know a friend would want you to be happy.”

“Maybe,” he conceded. “But not until Caitria is dead.”

“If that’s what it takes for you to allow yourself to loosen up a little bit, fine. We’ll kill Caitria, and we’ll set you up with a nice apartment in Keel Watch Harbor where you can watch Fana and be happy. Maybe we’ll even find you a friend.”

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Not me, of course. Someone else.”

“Of course.” He smiled, then stooped onto one knee. “Thank you, Wren.”

I rolled my eyes and moved onto the next crate. “Thank you for not calling me ‘my Lady’, but you don’t need to get down on your knee either.”

“I don’t understand why you don’t like being called Lady.”