Page 131 of Keldori By Daybreak

A soldier forced me into one of the chairs nearest the middle of the tent and pulled my hands behind me. Heat swathed my wrists, and Skal buzzed in the air as he bound my hands with bonds of magick.

I made a show of tugging at the bonds and hissing at their heat. I wanted them to think they had bested me.

The soldiers exited, but through the tent canvas I heard one of them command the others to keep watch outside. I blinked away the retina guard, and my vision returned to normal.

“How’s it going?” I asked Ciarán.

“I’m almost there. I can see their fires. Did you see the Skal on the way in?”

“No. It’s probably in one of the tents. They wouldn’t keep that out in the open.”

Something rustled outside the tent, and I straightened up just as Caitria, disheveled and bruised, pushed through the tent flap and strode past me without as much as a glance. One of her pant legs had been ripped away, and claw marks raked down the side of her thigh.

Mom had made sure to leave her mark.

Caitria fell into the wooden chair behind the desk, pulled a paper and pen from a satchel, and began scribbling away.

I strained against the glowing bonds of gold that bound my wrists behind me, more for show than any real attempt at escape.

“Your brother said to tell you hi,” I said. Caitria’s eyes flitted up from her paper.

“No, he didn’t.”

“Okay, fine. He wishes you were dead.”

“Charming.”

“He was pretty cut up when he thought you were dead,” I continued. “He tried to murder me over it. Twice. He knew I’d come back, but still. Dying as a Nightmare still sucks.”

“Then you should’ve left him in the Second Sentinel.”

“No.” I shook my head and gave my bonds another theatrical yank. “Because I get it. He blamed me for your death, and he tried to temporarily kill me for it. You know why? Because Tiernan is loyal. He was loyal to you. He took it out on me. He was wrong, and you weren’t really dead, but the loyalty still matters. I take it you don’t know much about loyalty, considering what happened to Fana’s family.”

Caitria pretended to ignore me, returning to her writings.

“Did you kill them?” I pressed. “Or did you just let Ferrin in through the window and sit back while he did all the murdering?”

“We split the work.” Caitria sat back in her seat. “Is that what you want to hear? That I muddied my hands? I did. There were eleven Firelds. Together, we removed ten. Of those ten, I dealt with six. Of those six, only four were adults. Of the two that weren’t, one of them was Tiernan’s best friend. He watched me do it, but he didn’t know it was me under the cloak. If he had attacked me, I would’ve killed him too.”

She listed the details off as casually as if she was recounting a trip to the grocery store, and my stomach churned.

“You’re horrible.”

“I'm committed. Or, as you might say, loyal. Not to the Firelds, and definitely not to my fool brother, but to Ferrin and his vision for Skalterra and Keldori alike.”

“And what’s that vision look like?” I pushed back on my toes, letting my chair tilt a few inches.

“Skalterra has its problems. I’m sure you’ve noticed. Ferrin says Keldori is flawed in many ways too. But with Skalterra’s more capable Magicians and the endless supply of magick waiting in Keldori, we are certain we can unify and strengthen both our worlds.”

“Ferrin is an idiot, and he’s going to get himself nuked by at least four different countries the second he tries to bring Magicians into Keldori.”

“And you are free to tell him so when he arrives.” She smiled wanly.

My stomach dropped, and I let the front legs of my seat slam back into the ground. “He survived?”

“Nervous?”

“Disappointed.” In my head, I added to Ciarán, “I told you he might’ve survived.”