The Beauty of Darkness - Mary E. Pearson Page 0,63

hold, “but not with the Komizar either.” He’d been cut loose from the only life he knew—for a second time. His focus shifted to the far wall and then his head fell back against his chair, his eyes closed and his mouth open, finally succumbing to his exhaustion. He started to fall to the side, but Rafe grabbed him, scooping his limp body into his arms.

“I’ll be right back,” he said saying he was taking him to the physician’s barracks to bunk, and to check on the soldier Eben had slashed.

“Be sure to post a guard on the urchin,” Sven reminded him as he walked out.

Rafe’s footsteps faded, and the room was heavy with silence, then a few mumbled words erupted among the officers. Unimportant words. Nothing like the ones that pounded in my head.

The Komizar rules Venda.

It was the truth I had known all along.

The truth Rafe had tried to deny.

The truth even the Komizar knew as he lay bleeding: It’s not over.

Even Dihara whispered to me, jei zinterr. Be brave.

She knew it was only beginning.

He wants us all dead.

The vision I’d had of Civica when I was back in the Sanctum seeped into the air before me again, like fingers of curling smoke that had been waiting just outside my field of vision. The citadelle was destroyed, the ruins only broken fangs on the horizon, and piles upon piles of bodies lined the roads like stacked stones in a wall. The cries of a shackled few, to be taken back to Venda as prisoners, hung in the smoky air.

Their moans wove through other voices, Rafe’s, the Komizar’s, the priest’s, Venda’s, and Dihara’s too.

We’ll send word. I promise.

It’s my turn now to sit on a golden throne in Morrighan.

The bridge is destroyed. They can’t even get across.

The Dragon knows only hunger.

Trust your gifts, Arabella, whatever they might be.

We call them our Death Steeds.

Sometimes a gift requires great sacrifice.

You’ll know what you need to do.

Don’t tarry, Miz.

Or they will all die. This last a knowing within me as certain as a sunrise. They will die.

The smoky haze before my eyes vanished, and I met the stares of everyone seated around the table.

“Your Highness?” Jeb asked cautiously, his pupils, pinpoints. Everyone else’s gaze looked much the same. What had they seen in my face?

I stood. “Colonel Bodeen, I’ll be leaving first thing in the morning, along with Kaden.” I turned to Griz, “Once you’re completely healed, you and Eben can catch up with us somewhere in Morrighan, but you can’t ride yet. I need you fit and healthy—not as an added worry.” I spoke quickly and firmly, not giving Griz or anyone else a chance to protest. “Colonel, we’ll need our horses readied and additional supplies, including weapons if you can spare them. I promise that I’ll repay—”

“What are you talking about?”

Everyone’s attention turned toward the doorway of the dining room. Rafe stood there, tall and formidable, his eyes blazing. By his strained tone, it was obvious he had heard me, but I said it again anyway.

“I was just telling Colonel Bodeen that I’m returning to Morrighan in the morning. Any doubt about the Komizar and his intentions are gone now, and I—”

“Lia, you and I will discuss this later. For now—”

“No,” I said. “We’ve already talked, Rafe, and I can’t put it off any longer. I’m leaving.”

He walked across the room and took hold of my elbow. “May I speak with you in private, please?”

“Talking is not going to change—”

“Excuse us, please,” he said to everyone as he led me out of the dining room, his grip tight on my arm. He shut the doors behind us and turned on the veranda to face me. “Just what do you think you were doing in there? You can’t go around giving my officers orders behind my back!”

I blinked, taken aback by his immediate anger. “It was hardly behind your back, Rafe. You were only gone for a few minutes.”

“It doesn’t matter how long I was gone! I return and you’re shouting orders for horses?”

I struggled to keep my voice even. “I was not shouting—as you are now.”

“If I’m shouting, it’s because we’ve gone over this already, and you don’t seem to be listening! I told you I need time.”

“And time is a luxury I don’t have. I will remind you it is my kingdom they are descending upon—not yours. I have a duty to—”

“Now?” he said, throwing his hands in the air. “Now you suddenly decide that duty matters? You didn’t