The Wind's Call (The Broken Lands #4) - T.A. White Page 0,89

forgiving of traitors."

"Traitor? What are you talking about?" Eva asked in disbelief.

Darius didn't answer, flicking a glance at the men behind her. "Secure her. We'll take her back with us."

"Wait, you can't. Caden needs your help," Eva said desperately.

She didn't know what had happened in her absence or why they seemed convinced of her guilt, but they were Caden's only hope.

Darius turned with a snarl. "You're not to say his name. You're the reason he's dead."

"He's not dead," she fired back. "I don't know why you think that or what idiotic notion is in your brain, but he's alive. At least for the moment. I can't guarantee that state of being will last."

He scoffed. "I won’t believe the lies of one who is proven a traitor."

Eva growled. "Don't be an idiot. Why would I betray you? It makes no sense and you're not a stupid man."

Darius's eyes narrowed. Sensing an opening, Eva stopped struggling. "Sebastian saved me during the fight and then got scared and flew away. Ollie can tell you. He was there when I nearly drowned."

"Ollie was injured." Jason's quiet voice came from the edge of the crowd.

Eva felt her heart stop and she looked frantically around trying to spot him. "Is he alright?"

Jason hesitated before starting to answer.

Darius cut him off. "It doesn't matter."

"It damn well matters to me," Eva snapped. He was her friend. With the way things were looking, perhaps her only friend. Family in every way that counted.

"He's healing, but he got pretty banged up," Jason rushed to say before the general could put her in her place.

Eva took a deep breath, calming. That was good then.

"I want to see him," she said.

"Not yet," Darius said, still looking like he'd gladly murder Eva with his own hands.

Eva nodded. He was right. She needed to finish what she'd come here to do. "Caden followed Sebastian and found me. We were making our way back when we were attacked by the same men who’d captured Sebastian. Caden thought there was a better chance of each of us surviving if he sent me ahead to find you. He stayed behind, but there are too many for him to fight alone. He'll die unless you help."

The suspicion in Darius's expression didn't relent.

"Perhaps we should check her story out," Fiona suggested, appearing from the darkness.

She spared a brief glance for Eva before focusing on the general.

"You believe her?" he asked.

Eva felt hope leap inside.

Fiona lifted one shoulder as she scratched her cheek, her expression closed-off and uncertain. "I don't know what to believe. She didn't seem the sort to do what the throwaways insisted she did, but then how well do we ever know a person?"

Eva spun to face Darius again. “Vincent? You’re taking Vincent’s word over mine? Are you idiots?”

Those around them winced slightly and shifted uneasily.

“He’s had it out for me since we started,” Eva continued.

“Are you saying he lied?” Drake asked sharply.

Eva’s eyes were wide and disbelieving as she faced Caden’s Anateri. She hadn’t noticed him and Jane at the fringes of the group until now. “Yes. A million times yes.”

Jane’s lips twitched but the expression was gone almost before Eva was sure she’d seen it.

“She does have a point,” Jane said.

The hope that had started to wither, bloomed again. They were willing to listen. It would have to be enough for now. All that mattered was saving Caden; everything else could wait.

Darius sighed, looking up at the sky before shaking his head. "Bring them into the camp. We'll see what they have to say."

Drake and Jane took Eva from Roscoe’s hold, their jaws clenched and expressions impassive.

Eva might have instilled doubt into them about her role in events, but she wasn’t in the clear yet.

They released her, allowing her to walk ahead of them, confident they could easily capture her if she tried to flee. Eva wrapped her arms around herself, feeling more alone than she had since making the Trateri her home.

Being suspected of betrayal hurt—more than she liked to admit. She'd thought she'd kept her distance from people, enough so their actions wouldn’t hold the power to hurt her. She'd been wrong. Seeing the distrust in their faces hurt worse than learning she'd been selected as the sacrifice.

Her spine straightened. What did she care what the Trateri thought of her? She had Sebastian and Caia and countless others. If need be, she'd make her way alone. It wouldn't be the first time.

She'd do her duty to Caden, and then she was gone. Better