Page 54 of Claimed By Brothers

“You seem shocked,” he says, half-smiling. “Perhaps if I explain this in layman’s terms, you will understand. I will kill the child. I no longer need him.”

My stomach drops.

25

Amber

All is fair in love and war, they say back on Earth.

It seems the same applies to Sunna, as well. I just didn’t think Umok would actually be willing to do this. Dread fills my bones with an icy-cold sensation, the tension thickening the muscles in my back as a devastating fire rages up my throat. The girls are just as stunned and horrified, gasping beside me as they’re tempted to move, to do anything in their power to stop him.

“You’re a monster!” Alicia cries out.

“You don’t have to do this!” I plead with Umok. “You have us!”

Umok laughs while the men beside him give him long, confused looks. “I also have a Fire Tribe heir who doesn’t need to see another day on Sunna,” he remarks. “Yes, we do value life, particularly after everything that has happened, but if my species is to survive, we will do so without those Fire Tribe savages and their unkempt offspring. Those lunatics can die off in the red desert, as far as I’m concerned.” He pauses and waves at his mercenaries. “I said bring the child out.”

“Umok, you can’t be serious,” one of his lieutenants mutters. “He’s just a kid.”

“Either you bring him out, or I will. And after I slit his throat, yours will be next,” Umok declares.

He doesn’t like to be challenged or questioned, but this is a moment I cannot let slip away. I can see the doubts in the eyes of so many around him. They may be warriors, trained to maim and kill at will, but even they seem to have limits, some sense of decency the recent years have yet to strip away from them. I cannot let this happen to Valen. The girls and I were supposed to barter with Umok and have the child delivered to the Fire Tribe without anyone else dying. We would’ve avoided the war if both factions were so ready to fight.

And then Jewel would’ve set the smoke bombs off for us to escape before we even made it through the front gates. We did the math on distance and the speed with which a message or a signal may travel. We were ready to escape from within the fort, too, if needed. We’ve learned enough about these people to at least try. The worst-case scenario had the four of us holding out until the Fire Tribe came for us—but then Valen would be home and safe, away from this madness.

I don’t have the stomach for this. Not for what Umok intends to do.

“Listen to your so-called leader,” I say to his men. “He wants you to murder an innocent child. It’s not bad enough that you stole Valen from his crib, from the safety of his home, in order to use him as leverage. Now you’re willing to shed his blood?”

“If we’re to carry your children, then how will you look your future sons in the eye when they hear about Valen?” Cynthia chimes in. “Where is your honor, Sky Tribe? Where is your dignity?”

“Enough with this nonsense!” Umok snarls, his tail furiously lashing around. The spiked tip scratches one of the doubtful soldiers across the face. “You! Bring the child out. Now!”

I look at Cynthia and notice her constantly stealing glances over her shoulder as if searching for something far off into the night. “We can’t run away,” I whisper. “It’s too soon.”

“I’m not running away,” Cynthia replies, giving me a guilty frown as she whispers, “I need to tell you something.”

Umok lashes his tail again, prompting his mercenaries to take a couple of steps back. “I said bring me that fucking child, or I’ll start slitting your throats open one by one!”

“What’s the matter, Umok?” Jewel scoffs, trying to buy us some time. “Have your men suddenly grown spines?”

“A little less lip from you would be beneficial in the long term,” Umok hisses, pointing the spiky tip of his tail at her.

“Fuck you, asshole,” Jewel shoots back.

“We need to do something,” I say, watching as two of Umok’s men decide to obey his order, albeit reluctantly. They’re about to go into the fort and bring the boy out, and I cannot let them do that. I cannot let anybody touch Valen until he’s back in his crib, safe, sound, and very much alive, with his whole future still ahead of him. “We have to stop them.”

This sense of urgency is too much for me to control. My blood boils as I reach for my obsidian blade, ready to attack Umok if that’s what it takes. Maybe I could manage to create some kind of diversion and keep these bastards busy long enough for Jewel to sneak in and grab Valen herself.

“Hold on,” Cynthia takes me by the wrist and pulls me back. “I said I need to tell you something.”

“What?”

Before she can answer, drums start pounding somewhere behind us. They’re close enough to make my stomach rumble as the four of us slowly turn around to face the source. Fires burn brightly against the starry night. Dozens of them are coming, ablaze all at once; the orange light cast across the dirt reveals hundreds of Fire Tribe warriors.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, as more and more of them emerge from the darkness in their red colors and wearing their battle armor. They clink their obsidian blades against their metal shields. They stomp their bare feet against the hard ground, thighs swollen with taut muscles. They bang their drums and shout their war cries as they begin their decisive approach.

“Where did they come from?” I hear myself speak, but it’s as if my spirit has somehow left my body. All I can do is stand there and stare in confusion and disbelief.

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