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“But you shouldn’t have exhausted yourself like that. Using all your Graces at once. You could die of you push yourself beyond your limits, Liana. Please don’t scare us like that again.”
She scowled, crossing her arms over her chest, “I’ll need to push myself harder than that if we’re going to win,” she said with a note of defiance, “When I’m on the front line, I’ll have—”
My stomach leapt into my throat, “The front lines?”
“Liana, are you mad?” Tiernan said, his green eyes widening.
“You will not be going anywherenearthe front lines.”
Her jaw tightened, and she glared at me. At all of us. Moving to stand on wobbly feet with her hands on her hips. “If you think forone secondthat I will stay here twiddling my thumbs while the denizens ofmycourt fight for our freedom,you lotare the mad ones!”
“Liana,” Finn started, holding his hands out toward her in a calming gesture, but the wild-eyed Liana before us was beyond being calmed. I could sense her building rage and frustration crashing into me like an assault on my mind.
“Listen,” Finn said, “I know it’s hard to accept, but you have to understand—if you were to…” he cringed, his adams apple bobbing as he swallowed, “If you were tofallin the battle. He’ll win.”
I could see the gears turning in her mind, but her fury didn’t dissipate, it only grew with her frustration. “But I can make a difference,” she yelled, “What good am I here? Morgana bestowed her Graces on me so I couldfight. Not so I could sit here on my ass.”
She swiped the glass of water from my hand and took a long swallow, wiping the droplets off her face with the back of her hand, “Well?” she said, “Is that what you all would have me do?”
I shook my head, “No, of course not.”
She looked at me with something like disappointment and it pooled in my stomach like poison, reaching up to wrap a shadowy hand around my heart.
“We’ve talked about it,” Tiernan said, casting a cursory glance at me, Finn, and Kade. “Healer Loris will arrive in the morning to set up an infirmary. Another healer has heard our call for aid, too and will arrive shortly after. But two healers to tend to possibly hundreds of wounded…”
Her face pinched, her eyes turning from orange to something more like red, “So that’s it then,” she said, exasperated, throwing her hands up in defeat, “You’d have me stay here, healing the wounded instead of—”
“Instead of killing Fae?” Kade barked, finally speaking up. “Yes. Wewouldhave you here using your healing Grace to save the lives of your people instead of taking the lives of your enemies.”
She staggered back as though the Draconian’s words were a physical blow.
Raking a clawed hand over my skull, I cut my gaze back to Liana, imploring her to listen. “It’s not that we think you can’t handle it—you’ve killed before…” she winced at the memory of Thana, her emotions turning rancid with guilt and nausea. “But you are the strongest healer in all the Night Court. Think of how many lives you could save.”
The muscles in her jaw tightened and twitched. She dropped her gaze, falling back onto the makeshift bed with a heavy sigh.
“The battle will not be won in one day,” Finn offered.
“No, it won’t,” affirmed Kade.
I pulled her hand into mine, and she let me, but didn’t squeeze back, sending a sliver of ice shooting into my heart. “There may come a time when you’ll have to fight, Liana,” I told her, “But the most bloodshed will happen on the first day of battle. Just for that one day—pleaseagree to stay here. If anything happened to you out there, you’d be handing your kingdom over tohim.”
She nodded solemnly, rising to pull on her boots and grab her jacket. One part of my mind prayed she would listen to reason. But the other part wondered if we were making a mistake by convincing her to stay. Were we being selfish?
No… every reason we had was sound and true, but that didn’t mean it was therightpath.
Liana finished buttoning her long jacket and turned just before she walked out of the tent, “I’m going to get some air,” she announced to no one in particular, her head bent, and then strode from the tent into the growing dark of night outside.
“I’ll go with her,” Finn said after a moment.
“I’ll go, too,” said his twin.
I nodded to them, “Make sure she’s alright.”
Kade came to rest a hand on my shoulder, “It was the right choice,” he said, giving me a pointed look.
“Was it?”
His jaw tightened. His only reply was a squeeze to my shoulder before he followed his brother from the tent.
