walking.” Alba marched to my side, grabbed my hand, and tugged me down the mountain, leaving the others behind. “If I knew how to make you shoes, I’d do it now,” she said to me, shooting me a concerned glance as she pulled me along. “But instead, I’ll just heal your feet as we go. How’s that?”
I heard the rumble of male voices behind us as we walked, too distant to make out the words of their conversation, but I didn’t bother straining to hear. I didn’t want to know what they were saying.
The warmth of Alba’s grip and the affection in her familiar, green eyes stabilized me, even as the world seemed certain to crumble at any moment.
“Thanks.” I squeezed her hand and followed my sister down the hill toward Asylia.
Chapter 21
“And how old were you when this all began?”
“Thirteen.”
Raven tapped her pencil to the paper, her expression stony. “That was a long time ago. Are you sure you’re remembering everything correctly?”
“Yes.” I sat stiffly across from her, the canteen of water untouched on the table before me. “I’ve thought of little else since.”
She studied her notes for a moment. We’d arrived at the city gates just before dawn, and I’d been locked in this tiny, bare room, briefing Raven, ever since. My eyes burned as I blinked at the canteen, waiting for her to speak. It had to be midday by now. I’d never been so exhausted—tired to my bones, to my very soul. All I wanted to do was go to sleep.
“I want you to tell me about this device … this statue again,” she said, flipping to a new page. “Everything you remember.”
“I already—”
“Humor me.” The acid tone of her voice was anything but humorous. “Tell me everything you remember.”
“Of course,” I whispered, unable to look at her. I’d been the reason we’d lost our three best Sentinels teams, not to mention the commander. It was probably hard enough for her to sit in the same room as me, much less talk to me about what I’d done. And it probably didn’t help that I’d come back bearing the news that we’d lost not just the battle but the war.
I repeated the events of my final two days in the crater, describing again how Piers had given up his life to activate it and how the statue had disappeared with another curse.
When I was done, Raven stared at her notes for a long, tense moment. Deep lines creased her forehead, I realized for the first time. She’d been a force of nature the entire time I’d been training, but now it hit me that with my father and Cole cursed, she was the senior Sentinel in charge. Her eyes were bloodshot as she studied the pages she’d written.
Finally, she met my eyes. “Go home and get some rest. We’ll get to work on the mission planning first thing in the morning.”
My stomach flip-flopped. “What mission?” I felt myself frowning. Hadn’t I just told her we’d lost?
“We’re going to have to go destroy that device before it reaches full strength. And get our people back, of course.” She waved her pencil. “What did you think I meant?”
I shook my head. “The Masters won,” I said slowly. “They’ve been planning this for hundreds of years, and one of the most powerful Masters just powered the device with his life. There’s no way we can stop alchemy that powerful. We don’t even know where it is.”
Raven set her pencil down. “Never thought my toughest recruit would be the first to give up the fight,” she said quietly.
I held my breath, waiting until understanding settled in her gaze as I’d known it would eventually.
Her eyes widened. “But the curse was driving you all along, wasn’t it?” For the first time in the five years she’d trained me, I heard pity in her voice. “The curse wanted you to become a Sentinel. And it made sure you did what it took to win a place on a team.”
“Yes.” The word was hoarse, and I felt my cheeks heat, shame prickling my skin. It was like I’d just been caught cheating, though it wasn’t as though the curse had helped me with magic. Just a cruel, unyielding motivation. “Besides, it doesn’t matter what I do because we can’t stop them. We can’t win. You don’t know them like I do.”
“Are you resigning from the Sentinels?”
My throat tightened, almost strangling my reply. “I think that’s for the best.”