Page 147 of Vengeance of the Gods

“They’re my parents… not the enemy.” Meyer seethed, his finger tips glowing.

“Hmm, I’m sorry. I must have confused them for the people who plotted with Marlena behind everyone’s back.” Khort looked like he was ready to spit on Meyer’s grave. “Oh, wait.”

“You shut the f—” Meyer raced towards Khort with fire burning behind his eyes. Bridger grabbed him by the collar of his suit and yanked him back.

Meyer was a big dude, and if Bridger weren’t who he was, Meyer would be stronger than him by a lot… but he wasn’t, and Bridger hadn’t had to use much effort to stop him in his tracks. “You two are giving me fucking hives,” Bridger groaned, using the words Vega had said to him back on Earth while he stepped in between Meyer and Khort.

A crack exploded inside the ring, and this time the fight was over. Vega landed what would have been the killing blow. Arlet’s mirage faded away as Vega pressed one of the tips of Arlet’s swallow—her double-edged sword—over her heart.

Vega twisted the handle and held it outstretched for Arlet to take as she helped her best friend up.

Bridger made sure neither Meyer nor Khort were going to jump at each other the second he moved out of the way and hit the button to bring the shield down. It fell like someone had popped a bubble.

“You bitch!” Arlet said with a laugh, wiping the water from Vega’s storm out of her eyes. “How did you do that?”

Vega threw her head back, laughing like that was the most fun she’d had in years. “I can see through your mirage when I’m in your head.” Vega hugged Arlet, pulling her back to inspect her for injuries.

Bridger let them have their moment, but he didn’t miss the way Khort watched every move Vega made—the way his eyes longed for her to look his way.

“Meyer, we need Ardor. All of Ardor. We have to claim something Marlena can’t have. A place to set up the rebellion, to house the people who flee. A place for the people in the mines to recover. If your parents are going to stay with Marlena, they can go be with her in Aeris.”

Through an almost locked jaw, Meyer said, “I get it when you say it like that, but when Scales over here starts talking, nothing but a bunch of bullshit spews out.”

“Getting along for fifteen minutes was too hard?” Arlet asked, her hands resting on her hips as the girls approached, soaked from head to toe like they’d survived a tornado. Vega pushed her wet hair off her forehead, raising a brow at Bridger.

The shield Bridger had slid around himself, Khort, and Meyer extended to let Vega and Arlet in, but no one else. The rest of the room was silent around them, despite the training facility buzzing with early morning activity.

“Toddlers. Everyone keeps acting like toddlers.” He grumbled his annoyance.

Vega smiled softly, rolling her eyes. She was healing quickly, her split lip barely swollen.

“Fine. We take Ardor,” Meyer agreed with a grumble, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Do you think the people in the mines are going to be on our side just because we set them free?” Khort asked, actually bringing up a great point. “No offense, but I can imagine you’re not one of their favorites.”

Bridger had sentenced a few people to the fates of the mines…

It was either that or death—some would call his decision merciful.

“I think with the right person there to lead them, they’ll remember who the real enemy is,” Bridger answered, having already thought this through.

“Leo,” Khort said with a surety Bridger was glad he had.

“Leo,” he agreed. “A person for them to follow. The one who escaped back to save them.”

Everyone needs a martyr.

Bridger had learned a lot about what people wanted and what they needed over the course of his time as commander of Tolevarre. People wanted something to fight for and to believe in… no matter what side of the line they lay on.

People believed Marlena would keep them safe. So they stayed.

Others saw through her facade and got out as fast as they could because they believed in a different type of world.

But the one thing above all else was that the people of Tolevarre wanted to feel seen, to know they weren’t forgotten.

The people, the criminals, deemed so by Marlena, who were locked away to mine coal to fuel Tolevarre’s richest and most powerful, were going to fight—Bridger had to make sure they were fighting for the right side, not becoming another problem they had to fix.

“We need bodies in this war.” Bridger held a hand out, stopping Khort from arguing what he knew he was going to: These are people, not bodies! “And their lives are no less important than all the others we are going to lose. The people in the mines are some of the strongest fire-wielders and metallurgists ever. We don’t want to have them as a separate enemy, but leading an army isn’t easy, Khort. You have to make decisions based on the overall likelihood you’re going to win. You have to make decisions based on the fact people are going to die and you can’t control who it’s going to be or when.” Bridger didn’t feel fear when it came to leading armies. He knew what happened in wars. His entire existence was based around leading people into them… but there was one life he was set on saving over all others—and it went against everything he’d been bred to believe. I will save her. “You have to stop thinking you can save everyone, or you’ll lose the war.”