AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Words that I would hear for the rest of my life?
I hadn’t even told him I loved him back. Hadn’t been able to muster the courage to utter a single word and an even deeper dread pooled in my belly. If Raz was dead, he’d never know how I felt about him, he’d never know…
“Anaria.” Zorander strode toward me—Tristan a pace behind—his long legs eating up the space between us, his armor dust covered, lines of exhaustion on his handsome face.
His long black hair was pulled back, his expression cold, but his eyes were on fire, emotion pouring out of them and spilling straight into me. Fury, of course, but worry and concern, too. He was in his dark battle armor, like some kind of raging war god, and the sight of him opened up something inside me I’d tried to keep locked down.
I threw myself against him, threw myself into him so hard my cheek scraped on the metal of his breastplate, and I did not notice the burn of pain as his arms came around me and squeezed tight.
“We’ll get him back,” he whispered urgently against my ear. “We’ll get him back. It’s not your fault. Him using you as bait…was a foolish idea in the first place, and I will kick his arse when I see him again.”
All around us, the war party was in complete chaos and disarray as men shouted orders, horses whinnied, and wagons creaked as they were moved into place. Zor was like an island in a storm, and I clung to him like I couldn’t let go.
“You and your men would be fighting for your lives right now if we hadn’t,” I reminded him sadly. “We didn’t have a lot of options because the Oracle trapped us. Again.”
“True,” he murmured, and I sagged in his arms, my legs barely capable of holding me up.
“I’ve known Raz longer than I’ve known anyone else. It will take more than a couple arrows to do him in.” He pressed his lips to my ear, keeping his arms tight around me. If I wasn’t shaking with fear, I might have savored his closeness, but right now, I was consumed by guilt.
“They won’t kill Raziel, Anaria. There’s a price on his head. The soldiers will keep him alive so they can collect.”
“I thought I was the one with a price on my head?”
“There’s a bounty for each of us, though you’re worth the most,” Tristan muttered, but his face was thoughtful as he studied the city rising above us. “Together, we’re worth a king’s ransom. We should get in there and—”
I lost my breath when Zor swung me up into his arms as if I weighed nothing.
“Not here, Tristan.” Zor’s dark eyes flashed in warning as the sun disappeared behind a cloud. “Tavion’s gone to take out the archers. I suggest you join him and make fast work of them. There’s an outcropping to the east that will give you a good line of sight and enough shelter to shield you from return fire.”
“How many archers?”
“A hundred—fifty of them are from Taranth.” Zor jerked his head toward the army gathered around us. “Find Tavion, he’s with our best marksmen. You’re in charge of coordinating their positions to our best advantage. Once you’re set up, Tavion will do what he does best.”
Before I could ask what that was, Zor’s grim expression softened. “Tearing them to shreds might work the edge off his anger enough to make him fit company for the next few days.”
Then we were moving, the soldiers making way as we passed, a hum of curious whispers following in our wake. I wondered if they hated me as much as everyone else seemed to. Then Zorander ducked between the flaps of a tent that smelled of mildew and medicine.
He set me down gently, as if afraid I might break.
I felt like I might.
Not in body, but in soul. As if my very being was so brittle the slightest provocation might shatter me into pieces, like those barren trees in the forest had become splinters of wood.
“Are you injured?” Zor asked gently, hands hanging at his sides, and a different kind of sorrow ached inside me, remembering how safe I’d felt a moment ago, wrapped up inside them, and how much he must have hated that.
“Is that…Raz’s blood or yours?” He quickly stripped off his armor, then his belt, laden with weapons, dropping everything onto the floor with a weighty thud.
“Not mine…this is Raz’s.” I swallowed, suddenly nauseous at the blood coating my body. “Just…I left him behind, Zor. Just left him in the dirt.” I was too fucking cold, even inside this smothering tent. “I was afraid to reach for my magic, scared I’d turn us into even bigger monsters, and let him get shot. I hesitated, when I should have fought, and everything that happened after was my fucking fault.”
“Anaria.” Zor went to reach for me, and I stepped away.
“He sacrificed himself to save me, when I could have saved us both so easily.” I chewed the inside of my lip, my thoughts a thundering roar. “But I was afraid to touch my magic.”
There was no judgment in Zor’s eyes when he gathered me against him, but this time, his warmth didn’t penetrate the coldness inside me, nor could I shake the sense that this was exactly what the Oracle wanted.
Chaos.
I refused to give her what she wanted.
