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Liliana vacillated between sobbing uncontrollably in my arms and trembling like a newborn deer. Slowly, I stripped out of my armor, tossing it away before hooking my leg over hers and holding her closer. A healer stopped by to make sure we were okay, but I waved her off. She returned with a blanket, and once she departed for the second time, I pushed Liliana up and peeled the metal from her body, then wrapped the thick fur around her.
“I’m the worst sister in the history of Északi,” she hiccuped, tightening her grip on the soft brown and gray fur.
“You’re not. He worried about you the whole time you were separated. He never stopped loving you or held it against you that you stayed behind. You are as loyal as Vadim is…” My throat thickened, and I swallowed down my own grief to comfort the female I was desperately in love with, “...was, and he knew your loyalties were with Izidora first.”
She turned into me, burying her face in my shoulder. I wrapped my arms tight around her and pulled her backward until we nestled together on the cot. “And you,” she whimpered,clearing her throat before continuing, “you are hurting too. I’m so selfish.”
“Shh,” I murmured, stroking her matted, braided hair. We were both filthy, but the wound in my heart was so fresh I didn’t give a fuck about it.
Kriztof.
Zekari.
Krigin.
Vadim.
All gone. All my brothers, gone.
And Kazimir?
He was next.
Would both Viktor and I be left standing at the end of this?
Or would one, or both, of us be dead?
Vadim’s last request filled my ears.“You have to kill him.”
Had he and Viktor had a change of heart?
“Yes,” Liliana whispered, and I realized then that I had voiced my thoughts out loud. “He told me I was right and that he should have listened to me last year, when we were all still together. Vadim said that he, Viktor, and Kaztar were working to put Kazimir in harm’s way… so he would be killed.”
I gritted my teeth and pushed myself to sit. “Then we have to honor his last wish and ensure that happens.”
Liliana joined me, her seafoam green eyes red rimmed and watery. “What do you mean?”
I swiped a tear that tracked down her cheek, cleaning away a mix of blood and sweat with it. “We can save thousands of lives by killing Kazimir. If he dies, Viktor and Kaztar will stop the battle.”
A slight squaring of Liliana’s shoulders told me I’d lit something in her – something that mirrored the anger rising to mask my grief like a wall of smoke. “What are we lying here for? We have to tell Izidora and Ruslan.”
“Get dressed,” I told her, already rushing around her to grab my own armor.
She didn’t protest, hurriedly fastening the metal plates all over her body. Before she could race into the sunshine, I grabbed her hand and pulled her to me, capturing her mouth for a kiss. Her scent overwhelmed me, the sweet berries and hint of spice cutting through the pain and relieving a tiny ache in my heart. “I love you, Liliana. You are the most incredible female I’ve ever met, and I am choosing you right now like I will choose you every day for the rest of our lives.”
“Stop,” she whimpered, her eyes flooding again.
“No, I need to say it, because I may never get a chance to,” I snapped, a little too forcefully. My grip on her hip tightened, and she sucked in a sharp breath. Her eyes went from brilliant green to black as her pupils dilated.
“Have me, have Drazen, have more than us. I don’t care. I choose you, no matter what.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, and then I sucked her bottom lip into my mouth, nipping it with my teeth and eliciting another delicious whimper from her. With wild eyes, we broke apart, breathless.
“Let’s go.”
The sun roseabove the mountain peaks, and we soared among them, searching for a trio of black, chestnut, and white hair. They had gone to the western front, opposite of us, and from deep within Zherzha Pass, we flew in that direction. I made the mistake of glancing down, only to spot the ruby river flowing forcefully in the ravine thousands and thousands of feet below. My stomach churned again as we flew over a mess of tangledbodies piled up and pinned between heavy boulders and snow-dusted pine trees.
Miniature skirmishes played out at varying altitudes, and groups of fighters popped in and out of existence as they moved across the field.
