Page 67 of The Sundered Blade

Until Kyrion spoke again. “I owe you thanks, Princeling. I have controlled my rage poorly since I set foot in this city, and without your aid, I might have done many things I would come to regret.”

“No need for thanks,” Vaniell said quietly. “Not between friends.”

Kyrion eyed him for a moment before answering with a fierce and feral smile. “Then let us hunt together…friend.”

CHAPTER18

Karreya watched as Vaniell disappeared into the vast golden maw of the castle, then turned to confront the dragon. The road between them lay empty, except for the body of the faceless man in armor, which remained face down in a pool of blood.

But as Karreya reached the bottom of the steps and drew a dagger from her belt, she had eyes only for the woman who slid from the dragon’s saddle and stepped forward to meet her.

To Karreya, she had always been simply Madame Inci—stern, unyielding preceptress of the Enclave. Perhaps the most deadly assassin Karreya had ever known, and one of those who had trained her since she was a child.

But here and now, she functioned as the hands and voice of her Empress, and everyone who survived the Enclave would know the difference.

In a strange and silent dance, they moved towards one another almost in unison, until they stood just out of reach of each other’s blades, their faces lit by the eerie orange glow of the dragon’s fire.

“Why have you come?” Karreya thought she knew the answer, but wondered how much her former teacher would be willing to tell her.

Inci did not reply at once, but regarded her student impassively, as if cataloging her appearance, her actions, her failures, and her potential futures, all in one piercing glance.

The assassin was likely around fifty years old—and had ruled the Enclave for over fifteen of those years—but Karreya would never make the mistake of believing the older woman was weak or vulnerable. Despite the gray in her blonde hair, she was a perfectly honed blade, tempered to a killing edge and cloaked in emotionless serenity.

But it was her unique tracking magic that made her of particular use to the Empress. Once she had met a person, she could find them no matter where in the world they fled, and Karreya could only wonder…

“I have come for you,” Inci said, and Karreya felt less surprise than resignation.

“Not for my father?”

For the first time in Karreya’s memory, a hint of something like feeling crossed the older woman’s face.

“No. You are the one our Empress has chosen to continue her line.”

Perhaps her grandmother had grown tired of waiting on Modrevin to meet her demands. Or perhaps she had decided not to honor her promise. Either way, the outcome was the same, and Karreya felt an unwelcome swell of panic begin to fill her chest.

“But she knows I do not have the magic she requires.”

Inci remained impassive. “I am her messenger and the hand that does her bidding. What she knows or does not know is not mine to determine, or to judge.”

It seemed Modrevin could no longer be the heir, and Senayawouldnot. And there was no one else. No one but Karreya.

She had already asked herself many times whether she ought not be willing to make this sacrifice—to accept what her grandmother offered and use it to change the Empire for good. It even sounded like the right answer—the path of self-sacrifice and noble intentions.

But what was the gain in sacrificing one’s self to a fire that burned everything in its path? If she threw herself into this life that she knew would destroy her, how did it help anyone?

“I do not have the temperament or the skills to be Empress,” she told Inci, and she knew every word to be true. “Should I accept the throne, the Empire will fall into chaos and war.”

“If it is not mine to judge, then neither is it yours,” Inci persisted. “This is but your next mission. The Empress’s will is all, and we live according to her wishes and her commands.”

It had not been so very long ago that those words would have lived in Karreya’s own heart. She had believed and followed them with the utmost faith, spoken them aloud with unwavering conviction.

But no more. She could no longer imagine a world without the simple joy of friendship, the wonder of discovery, and the freedom to choose her own sacrifices.

And so, despite the uncertain future, despite the danger, and despite the voice that insisted she had no place in this world, Karreya knew her answer.

“No,” she said quietly. “I will not go with you.”

Inci’s face did not change. “It was not a request, but a command,” she said. “We are but extensions of the Empress and we do not choose.”

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