Page 37 of Triplets for the Barbarians

“You’ll see them soon enough,” Blaze mutters.

I give him a hard glare. “What do you mean?”

“We’ve scheduled the execution for this afternoon,” Shaytan says, holding back a most satisfied grin. Nausea climbs up to the back of my throat, and I have a hard time keeping the sickness down as my guts tighten into painful pretzels. “You’ll see them then.”

“No,” I manage, my voice trembling as a fresh round of tears pricks my eyes. “You can’t do that.”

“There’s a lot we can do now that we have you and the Kreek brothers,” Shaytan says. “For instance, we’re finally ready to launch our starship, free of any Fire Tribe interference. At midnight, we’ll be headed for the neighboring stars once again, and this time, our brave explorers will return with hundreds of Earthly women for our men.”

“What do you mean you’re launching tonight?” I croak.

Blaze and Shaytan exchange knowing glances before the general stands up and proudly towers over me. “It’s done, Jewel, as I was trying to tell you last night, even though you refused to listen. It’s done. We are going to win this war. And once we bring the women of Earth to Sunna, your measly Fire Tribe acolytes will understand that their cause will be to no avail. There will be no favorable conclusion. It all ends tonight.”

It cannot end tonight. No. Not like this. Not after everything we’ve done to keep these fuckers from launching their starship in the first place. No. I need to do something. I have to do something. I cannot let them win.

Shaytan is right, though. If they launch that starship, it’ll demoralize our troops, devastate Amber, Cynthia, and Alicia, and put everyone at risk because the more neutral parties of Sunna will consider the Sky Tribe victors. We’ll have no allies left, no possible friends, nothing. All our progress will be lost.

And the people we’ve buried along the way will have died for nothing.

An hour later, I’m left on my own in the private quarters again. A servant comes in every now and then to check on me and to bring a fresh carafe of water. I find I’m neither thirsty nor hungry. My body needs nourishment, but my heart needs something else, something they can’t provide.

Desperate, I start considering escaping through one of the windows. I could climb down the decorative lattice on the eastern corner of the building. The soft grass at the bottom might dampen my fall if I slip.

But the guards will catch me before I even reach the fence.

I could try walking out, but the door is locked. I could pick the lock, though someone might hear me. This place is bustling with servants, especially at this hour, when preparations are underway for the Kreek brothers’ execution.

I can’t let that happen. But how the fuck do I stop it?

Despair threatens to cripple my senses altogether as I fall to my knees, doubling over from the sheer emotional agony; I cry my very soul out in complete desolation. I’ve never felt this way before; I’ve never been so lost and alone. In all honesty, I can handle captivity and torture, but I don’t know how to handle grief; I don’t know how to handle the inevitability of a fate I fought so hard to change.

I hear a subtle knock on the door, and I freeze on the spot. I give it a few seconds, then take a deep breath. The second knock startles me, and I shoot to my feet, wiping the tears away and straightening my shirt and pants.

“Yes?” I call out.

“Might I come in?” a familiar voice replies.

My heart skips a beat. “Who’s there?”

“I bring tea, ma’am,” he says.

“Come in,” I reply, my skin tingling all over.

A key turns in the lock. The door opens and I see Kai Hadana walk in. It feels as though the greatest weight has just been lifted from my shoulders. Tears quickly burst from my eyes as he comes in wearing servant’s clothing and pushing a tea cart. I have no idea how and when he made it into Pearl City, but he made it.

I’m not alone anymore.

14

Jewel

“Don’t say a word yet,” Kai whispers as he turns around and smiles and nods to someone. I’ll handle this,” he tells the other servant. You take the food over to General Hull’s office, don’t worry.”

“I’ll see you back in the kitchen,” I hear the servant reply.

“Sure thing.”

Kai watches the guy vanish from his field of vision, then closes the door and turns to face me. “I can’t stay long,” he says, his voice low.

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