Page 77 of The Sundered Blade

“Thank you for returning,” she said. “I have not seen Leisa, but I am certain she is all right.”

“She probably believed that I truly abandoned her,” Senaya said heavily. “Perhaps it is best if I do not see her. It will be enough to know that she is safe before I…”

“Survive,” Karreya returned sternly. “We will defeat these invaders, and you will survive. You will meet her again, and explain that you left because you knew, didn’t you? You rode south because you knew they were coming.”

“I guessed,” Senaya admitted with a sigh. “But I was not certain until I saw the smoke and realized they were slaughtering everything as they came. And I did not lie, as I am sure you know. I couldnotwatch my child tempt fate as she did. There seemed a better way to protect her, and so I took it.”

“Mother?” Leisa’s shocked question came from behind them, accompanied by the sounds of running feet. “How are you here?”

“The usual way,” Senaya replied, looking twenty years older as she regarded her daughter cautiously. “I rode, and then I walked.”

“I’m glad,” Leisa said fiercely, and then, to everyone’s surprise, walked up and threw her arms around her mother’s shoulders. “He’s dead,” she said softly, her voice trembling with emotion. “He’s dead and he can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

Karreya heard those words as if through a fog, realizing with a strange sense of detachment that both her parents were truly gone. After they’d been missing from her life for so many years, they had died together, in a foreign land, within moments of each other, and for entirely different reasons.

Her father had died in a desperate attempt to claim power.

Her mother had died in a desperate bid to protect her.

And now perhaps it was her turn to die. But for what? Die here protecting a land and a people not her own? Or return home and sacrifice her life to the cause of overthrowing her grandmother’s rule?

“Karreya?”

It was Niell. She heard the fear in his voice, heard his concern for her, and turned to reassure him that the blood was not hers. But when she saw him…

She knew. Not merely by the blood on his hands and his coat. There were new lines on his forehead, and a new gravity in his gray eyes. It was the face of a man who had seen death and now carried the weight of it on his shoulders.

There was so much to tell him. So much she needed to say, and no time for any of it. Not if they were going to save his city and his people.

“I am well enough,” she said simply. “But there are battle mages in the city. Also, an entire battalion of troops, together with one of my grandmother’s most trusted generals. One of the dragons is now an ally, but there will be more. Lord Kellan is gathering what forces he can, but they will be entirely outmatched unless we can accomplish the impossible.”

“I suppose that is my specialty,” Vaniell said with a grimace. “But I have never felt less capable of a miracle in my life.”

“Then it is a lucky thing you’re not alone,” Leisa chimed in, shooting him a wry look. “You seem to forget your allies rather quickly.”

“Force of habit,” he confessed. “I’ve been fighting alone for… a very long time. But since you offered, is there anything you mirror mages can do to protect the palace?”

Leisa cast a cursory glance at the shattered stones and timbers of the gate. “I think so,” she said. “Though I’ve never attempted anything of this magnitude before. Mother?”

Senaya appeared rather startled to be addressed so, but nodded, despite seeming distracted. “It is a fairly simple task,” she said. “We can reconstruct the gates, though it will not be proof against them being broken a second time.”

“If it will delay any ground troops, that will serve well enough, thank you.” Vaniell threw them a grateful nod. “Once the gates are whole, we will have a defensible place to begin sending refugees from the streets of the city. The palace steward is encouraging the staff to take shelter in the dungeons, and will be expecting to receive more survivors as we find them.”

He looked at Kyrion. “I ask because I do not know, not because I would have you throw your life away. How effective will your wyvern or your magic be against the imperial battle mages?”

Kyrion bared his teeth in a feral smile. “I have never encountered one, but now is as good a time as any to discover my limits.”

“Kyrion.” Leisa addressed him sharply. “Not without me, you don’t.”

The two shared a look of fierce affection that brought an ache to Karreya’s heart, but there was no time to examine the feeling.

“Once we have repaired the gates, I should be able to hold them against all but the most determined assault.” Senaya did not look at Leisa, but it was clear to whom she was speaking. “Aid me, and then go. But use caution. Yvane will be planning to intercept the other dragons, but their riders’ control is not absolute, and should they slip, it will be even more dangerous for anyone sharing these skies.”

Leisa tilted her head. “I should dearly love to know how Yvane came to be here, but we can share that story later. Be safe, Mother. I expect to find you here—well and whole—when we return. There is still so much I need to tell you.”

Had the situation been any less dire, Karreya might have smiled as her aunt and her cousin finally seemed to reach an understanding. They had achieved acceptance, at least, and perhaps even a tacit admission of love.

But she had her own task.

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