Kingdom of Sea and Stone (Crown of Coral and Pearl #2) - Mara Rutherford Page 0,96
single Varenian neck.
“What’s happening?” I shrieked as Zadie and I reached each other.
“It’s a trap,” Zadie breathed, dismounting from Titania just before I leaped from my mare into Titania’s saddle.
“I can see that! Are you hurt? How is your arm?”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about me. Where are Talin and his men? Shouldn’t they be here?”
I looked across the field, where the Varenians stood in even rows, knives and other makeshift weapons in their hands, waiting for Ceren’s command. Grig and his men had pulled up their horses and circled back to us as soon as they realized what was happening.
Where was Talin? He should have arrived by now. What if Ceren had spotted them and they’d already been defeated? What if Ceren had seen through all our plans and beaten us at our own game?
“I’m so sorry, Nor,” Zadie said. “I wanted to help, and I’ve only gone and made things worse.”
“You’re wrong, Zadie. Ceren was planning this regardless of which one of us came.”
Grig and his men had clustered around us. “We should retreat to Old Castle. We can’t defeat that many people, regardless of their lack of training.”
The thought of even trying to fight people I’d known my whole life, including small children, was horrifying. I was about to turn Titania back toward the castle when I saw one of the Varenians step forward from the others.
He walked to Ceren and knelt down. I couldn’t make out the man’s features, but he was fair-haired. Not Father or Kristos. As we watched, Ceren pulled out a blade and ran it across the kneeling man’s throat. He collapsed onto the field without any sign of struggle. Zadie screamed, but I was frozen with fear. The other Varenians hadn’t even moved.
Ceren turned to look at me then, and I felt something horrible pass between us, something I had no control over. He wanted me to know what he was capable of, that this wasn’t a game. I clutched at my head, wishing I could tear him free of it.
Suddenly, a rider burst out of the trees behind us. For a moment, I was afraid Ceren had planned an ambush, but I recognized the horse immediately as Xander. What was Talin doing behind us?
He reached us quickly, pulling Xander up alongside Titania.
“What happened?” I demanded. “Why didn’t you attack?”
“I’m sorry, Nor. We watched in the early morning hours as Ceren brought out the Varenians from the bottom of the mountain and led them into the tents. But when we saw they were wearing the bloodstones, we knew that if we attacked, Ceren could order them to do anything. We sent a scout to warn you, but I’m assuming he was intercepted.”
While Talin spoke, Ceren had called another Varenian forward, this one a woman.
Zadie gasped. “Thalos, is that—”
“Phaedra,” I said, recognizing her by the bright red, curly hair that went down to her waist.
“No!” I screamed as Ceren once again lifted his blade, slashing her throat. I had despised Phaedra for what she did to my family, but she was a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend. She meant something to the people in her life, and she didn’t deserve to die this way. No one did.
Zadie moaned and turned away. “I can’t watch. Someone has to do something.”
Talin looked up at me, despair in his eyes. “If I send my men in to attack, we could lose all of the Varenians.”
I nodded, a numbness washing over me at the realization of what I had to do. There was only one thing that was going to make Ceren stop this madness.
Talin must have seen the resolve in my face. “Wait, no. Nor, that’s not what I meant.” He tried to reach for me, but I had already moved out of his grasp.
“Nor!” Zadie cried, her voice full of anguish.
I glanced at Ceren. This time, the man kneeling in front of him had bronze skin, dark hair, and a noble forehead. Father.
“I’m so sorry,” I said to Zadie, to Talin, to myself. I had sworn I would never again be a prisoner, that I wouldn’t go back to New Castle if my life depended on it. But Ceren was right. Love was my weakness, and I could not stand by and watch my father die. I gripped the reins and squeezed Titania with my heels, and she broke into a full gallop, the protests of Talin and Zadie lost in the rush of blood in my ears.