Page 49 of An Empress of Earth & Darkness

“Torin,” the chief commander almost pleaded when the door closed again. “This is your last chance to back out of the challenge. Tensions always boil over in clans, but we work it out. Are you absolutely positive that you are unable to bend the knee to your father, your commander?”

Torin swallowed and looked down at the woman leaning into his arm. Her eyes were black with concern and her face was scrunched with fear. When neither of the Blacksteel men even flinched and no words came to evade the duel, the chief said, “Okay, Blacksteels, should you require a duel with weapons or bare fists?”

Torin wasn’t surprised when both he and his father served the same answer, “Weapons.”

It was easier to kill with a weapon. If they chose fists, it could mean hours of fighting, and he wasn’t in the pits anymore. He wanted this over with as soon as he could make the killing blow.

The chief commander stood in between both Viktir and Torin, taking a glance at them both. “So it shall be done. The prime will see you both tomorrow at the first light of dawn. The duel for commandership in the Blacksteel Clan shall be fought for. May the best warrior win.”

Gideon found Torin on the rooftop of the Tower, his inky black hair shining in the sunset, his face highlighted by the lowering sun. Torin was leaning against the railing, a glass in one hand and the other firmly around the barricade.

Gideon was surprised he was still in the Tower at all.

“Bourbon?” Gideon asked as he walked slowly towards him. “No rum? That’s not like you.”

He looked over his shoulder, and it was then that Gideon saw the raw torment of today’s decision in his eyes. But he answered in true Torin fashion. “Finished the rum.”

A laugh scraped against his throat as he held on to the railing and looked out to the city below. “I suppose that’s more like you.”

Torin let out a small huff and swallowed the remainder of his bourbon.

Gideon took a moment letting the silence settle between them. Growing up, it had always been the two of them fighting, playing, and arguing. Torin had always been there for him in his weird Torin ways. He had never let Gideon fear anything or anyone because he had always been at his side. Even when they were going head-to-head, he knew that his brother still loved him. And it was the same for Kellen even though he had come into their world a little later.

“I can’t let you go down to the duel tomorrow without saying something.” Gideon surprised himself with how much emotion had already swelled in his throat. Torin’s eyes narrowed. “I am proud of you, big brother. I am proud of you for standing up for what you believe in, and I am in awe of you for finally admitting what is in your heart. You said today that Emara doesn’t deserve a man like you, but that’s exactly what she deserves. You.”

Torin swivelled, his attention now on Gideon’s face. “Gideon—”

“Hear me out,” Gideon said as a gentle breeze coasted between them. “It took everything for you to stand up there today and do what you did, and I should have done the same a long time ago.”

Torin swallowed and looked down at his glass, his huge hand surrounding it.

“But I didn’t. I have watched Father take our happiness for a long time. Mother tried to protect us all from it, as did you.” Gideon’s tongue rolled into his cheek as he took an unsteady breath. “I remember it, Torin. I remember, even as a child, you would stand up for us all and he would beat you. He would beat you just for standing in front of us as his fists came down. Even when you were young, you stood as though you were eight feet tall, unafraid, and I have always admired that.”

Torin turned away from him, his glittering sapphire eyes on the view.

“But you would always pay the price,” Gideon choked out. “And tomorrow, I will be praying to the Gods that you win, because you are the kind of commander I want leading this clan. There is no one braver, and there is no one that I trust more. You will be a marvellous commander.”

Torin stood up, his spine straightening. “I would rather die than let Emara down, and that is just how it is. I couldn’t have gone on and lived my life the way it was headed—the pits, the taverns, the misery…And she reminded me why it was all worth it. She has saved me time and time again, although she will never truly know it. I need to fight for commandership. And if I don’t win, then I will know at least that I have fought for something worthy and I can die an honourable death. I can die knowing that I tried to protect you and your honour too. You don’t deserve to be pushed into my punishment and have your heart messed with too. I stood up there today to pledge my allegiance to House Air and its empress, but I have never not thought of you in that process. You are my brother, my blood. And I will not allow him to terrorise us any longer.”

A few moments passed before Gideon said, “Seeing what I see now, I couldn’t have gone through with the marriage. But I should have said something sooner. I should have fought harder.”

Guilt ran through his body, causing him to shake again.

Torin lowered his head for a second, looking at the half-empty crystal bottle on the ground before pouring a splash of bourbon into his glass and passing it to him. “It’s okay to do what your commander asks of you. That’s what has been drilled into us since birth.”

“Not if it’s not right,” Gideon replied. “Not if it ruins people’s hearts. You have shown me that.”

Torin gave a silent acknowledgement. “I suppose that’s the fucked-up thing about being a hunter. You are expected to blindly follow someone with no questions asked.”

Gideon let him work through his thoughts for a few moments as he took a sip of his drink.

“You heard what Emara said today,” Torin said finally. “She doesn’t want a treaty that tells her who she should marry. She doesn’t want anything in place that tells her where her heart should lie.” He turned to Gideon, and he nodded at his brother. “That’s why I am fighting for my life tomorrow; I want to be able to give her that choice back. It’s not so that she can marry me by the order of the original treaty. I will burn that piece of paper if I ever make it into his office. It is so that her heart can be free to choose who she wants, when she wants.”

Torin’s selflessness hit him harder than his fists ever had. He wasn’t fighting the commander of the Blacksteel Hunting Clan out of his own want for Emara, but so he could hand her back every drop of power she had lost when the first empress had signed the treaty for their coven.

Gideon had never been more in awe of an act in all his life. “You are a better man than I will ever be, brother,” he announced, his heart squeezing. He took a swing of bourbon.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Torin scoffed, sounding a little more like himself. “Are you forgetting that I must try to kill our father in the morning? Surely, you must resent me in some way.”

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