darkened blade_ A fallen blade novel - Kelly McCullough Page 0,44

take the crown to someone else.”

“The crown?” I asked.

Jax nodded. “Along with the scroll, my brother sent the crown to me.”

“I left the king an hour before the battle,” said Garis. “Since I bore the crown, he sent me by gryphon back and told me to wait on the heights above Riada city to see how things fared. When the city burned I came here, arriving on Journeyman Kumi’s heels.” He bowed to Jax. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but your brother’s orders were very specific. I was to bring the crown to you, and you alone.” He lifted a slender circlet of gold studded with emeralds from the bag and held it out to her.

“I don’t want the fucking thing!” Jax snarled, slapping it out of his hands so that it hit the floor and rolled away. “There is no one in all the world who would be a worse choice for the throne of Dalridia right now. Or, hadn’t you noticed the army that is currently burning its way across the kingdom on its way to this spot? The army that is coming here to kill all of us?” She threw her hands wide to encompass the whole of the school.

“I am a poison to this realm as are all of my kind,” she continued. “When we had nowhere else to go, my brother took us in and gave us sanctuary. For that kindness he has now paid with his life and the lives of who knows how many thousands of our people. And it is only just beginning. If you wish to see anything of Dalridia survive, you will take that crown as far away from me as you possibly can, because putting it on my head is no more nor less than shoveling our people into a fire, and I have killed enough of you already. Don’t you think?”

Her back was straight, and her tone as hard as iron, but there were tears rolling down her cheeks. Suddenly, all of my worries about the politics of the order and playing things just right tasted like bitterest folly. What did any of that matter? We had not even moved directly against the Son yet, and already the dead numbered in the tens of thousands. A toll that included the much loved brother of a woman I had very nearly married. And this was only a foretaste of the wars that would follow if I killed Heaven’s Son.

I moved to put a hand on her shoulder. “Oh, Jax, I am so, so sorry. This is on me, not you. If I had not come here—”

Jax wheeled on me. “Aral. Shut. The. Fuck. Up. You did not build a school here on ground given to me by my brother. You did not collect what was left of the order and bring them here to my brother’s kingdom. You are not responsible for this.”

“But—”

“Did I, or did I not, tell you to shut up?” Her eyes burned with a cold rage that I had never seen there before—Jax normally ran hot. “Your arrival may have been the trigger that set the bolt winging from the crossbow, but this is on my shoulders and I will not share my guilt with you.

“Now, you are First fucking Blade, and what is left of your charge has an army bearing down on it. You need to get over your whole tragic angst thing, and make some decisions about what happens next. I have contingency plans about getting out of the country, but which way we go and what happens after that is all on you.”

She’s right, sent Triss.

I know.

I took a deep breath before speaking. “Roric, you’re with me. I need to know what the plans for evacuating the castle look like. Siri, Faran, go with Maryam and do whatever she tells you needs doing to get us out of here. Kelos . . . you’d better come with me, too. I need to think out what happens next, and you’re the man who taught me strategy. Jax, I’m going to the council room. I want you to take at least a few minutes of time for yourself, but come as soon as you’re ready. Doing something won’t help with the grief, but it might distract. Move, people!”

As I walked away I found that Altia had fallen in behind me. “Shouldn’t you be collecting your gear?” I asked.

“You haven’t finished your breakfast, and you may need a runner on short notice. I keep a