to Beatrix to take the other, which she did but not before she rolled her eyes and sighed a bit.
Gemma struggled to contain her annoyance, knowing this wasn’t the time or place.
With the toddler in her arms, she started to run back toward the house. That’s when she saw Keran and Samuel.
“Take them!” she ordered, handing the toddler to Samuel and motioning for Beatrix to give him the boy, not wanting to risk her dropping him. “Keran! Watch the younger ones! And move! Everyone move!”
When they all ran toward the house, Gemma returned to the last three men she’d killed. She crouched by them and chanted the song of death, draining the land around her of its essence and putting it into the bodies of these men. They all stood and she pointed at the remaining soldiers battling the centaurs.
The abominations ran toward the fight, their weapons drawn, and Gemma yelled out, “Laila! Get out of there!”
Then, without waiting to see if the centaurs followed her order, Gemma raced after her family.
* * *
Keeley battered another man out of her way and took off around the house to get to her family. As she cleared the corner, she ran into more enemies. Startled, she immediately raised her hammer and yelled in rage. So did her enemy.
Then they both stopped.
“Gemma?”
“Oh. It’s you.” Gemma lowered her sword. “Thank the gods.” Keeley stared at her sister. “You’re a War Monk?”
“Is this really the time to discuss it?”
“You’re right.” Keeley lifted her hammer again to strike her sister down.
“Keeley Smythe!” her mother snapped. “You put that hammer down right this second!”
“She’s a necromancer!”
“She’s your sister,” her mother reminded her.
And Keeley knew her mother was right. Despite whatever had set her sister on this path, they were still blood. And family was all.
“Fine.” Keeley lowered the hammer. “Sorry,” she bit out.
Gemma hissed and pushed past her.
But before Keeley could rip her judgey little head off, her mother grabbed her by the back of the neck and whispered against her ear, “She’s your sister, you love her, and nothing will come between you two. Understand?” When Keeley didn’t answer quick enough, her mother squeezed. “Understand?”
“Yes.”
Her mother followed after the rest, but before Keeley could move, Beatrix caught her arm.
“What’s going on?” her sister demanded.
“Beatrix—”
“Now,” she pushed.
“Fine. You’re the future queen.”
“Ahhh. I see,” Beatrix replied, her expression never changing. That reaction bothered Keeley but she didn’t have time to figure out why. “And the men attacking here today . . . ?”
“Mercenaries of Straton the Devourer.”
“Not the oldest, then?”
A strange question, but... “No. I saw the crest. It’s the Devourer.”
“Huh. Interesting.”
Was it?
Keeley took her sister’s hand. “Don’t worry. You know I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Beatrix studied Keeley’s hand, then looked up into her face. She gave a small smile. “Of course you won’t.”
* * *
“Are you sure about this, Da?” Keeley asked her father, her hand pressed against his back.
Caid wanted to give them more privacy but he stayed close. For their safety.
“I’m sure. But I can’t do it myself.”
“Don’t worry about that.” Keeley kissed her father’s cheek. “Go help Mum get on the horse. You know she hates riding.”
Angus grunted and walked away from the small farmhouse he’d bought with every penny of the money he’d saved during his time as a soldier. A house his entire family had been living in for years. Once he’d disappeared behind the stables, Keeley glanced at her War Monk sister.
“I can do it,” Caid offered.
“No,” Keeley replied. “This is up to us.”
She nocked an arrow, aimed the weapon, and waited.
Her sister placed her thumb and forefinger on the arrowhead and softly spoke a spell. A flame flared and Gemma stepped back to her sister’s side. Keeley’s gaze stayed on her the entire time until she said, “That’s completely normal.”
Gemma’s jaw tensed and she snarled, “If what you’re asking is whether I am pure evil, I’m not. But should that change at any time”—she locked a vicious glare on Keeley—“trust me when I say that you will be the first to know.”
Caid cringed a bit, worried that at some point he’d be preventing one of these sisters from killing the other.
Keeley let the arrow fly and it went through the open door of the house. Their father had doused the lower floor in ale and the entire thing was covered in flames in less than a minute. He’d already set fire to all the crops and released the animals. Only the horses that hadn’t run too far from