Page 71 of The Sundered Blade

“There are other paths,” Senaya insisted.

“There is only the path where I return to Zulle with Karreya, hand her over to the Empress, and wait.” There was no lie in Inci’s words. She believed them wholeheartedly. “Wait for her magic to break her. Wait for the vultures to descend. And wait for the Empire to collapse into chaos, bloodshed, and war.”

When Senaya did not respond, she bent her head, and drew a slender dagger from within her boot.

“Then you have made your choice. But now that my collar is gone, I too, have a choice. And I…” Her hand shook, but her voice remained steady. “I will not do it. I have been forced too many times in my life, and now I can at last choose for myself.” She shifted then, to face Karreya, and locked eyes with her.

“Know this then. What I have not been able to tell you before today.”

Karreya braced herself, but nothing could have prepared her for the truth.

“Twenty-three years ago, the Empress chose me for my magic.” Inci’s face remained expressionless, but her eyes were haunted. “She used her power to change my appearance, bonded me with her son, and demanded that I bear an heir to continue her line.” She swallowed once, then forged ahead. “After you were born, she changed me back, returned me to the Enclave, and then I never saw you again—not until you entered my walls at the age of twelve.”

Her voice was flat and uninflected, as if she felt nothing at the words, even as shock and horror pulsed through Karreya in time with her heartbeat.

This… This woman was hermother? The one who had trained her with unflinching and unrelenting discipline—the one who had forged her into a living weapon—was the same person she’d longed to find for so many years?

Senaya had said that only a mage utterly lacking in love and compassion could change another living being, and it did not surprise Karreya to learn that her grandmother was capable of it.

“Until today,” Inci said, her voice softening ever so slightly, “I was bound to the Empress’s will. To speak no word of our relationship. To train you as any other member of the Enclave. To make of you a worthy Third Blade. And lastly, to return you to Zulle, where she will complete what I have begun and mold you into the heir she believes will continue her legacy.”

She straightened her shoulders and bowed her head.

“I will never be truly free, but here, today, I have the opportunity to make a single choice. There is but one thing that I can do for you, and that is to put you beyond my own reach. Forever.”

Her movement was so swift, so utterly soundless. She moved with the speed that had made her a legend to be feared, only this time, there was no mission. There was only her own tragic determination not to be used, and she struck at the heart that beat beneath her own ribs with the same unerring accuracy that she had instilled in Karreya through thousands of hours of training.

And only when Karreya caught her and lowered her gently to the ground did her lips finally curve in a defiant smile.

“I have defied my Empress at last,” she whispered. “Do not waste this, my child. And do not underestimate what she will do to reclaim you. Fight wisely. Fight well. And know that I have loved you with whatever pieces of my heart this world has left me.”

And then she was gone.

There was only the roar of the flames, and the stones beneath Karreya’s knees, and the strange pull of a distant grief that made no sense. How did one mourn for a mother who had been ever present and yet unknown? How did one move on from a tragic sacrifice like this one?

Blood spread across the front of Inci’s tunic, staining Karreya’s hands, dripping on the stones, and still she did not know what to do with those last words.

She was loved? Could that have been love?

“What do I do?” The words tore from her throat, a question asked of no one in particular, because who could answer it?

“You live.” The woman named Yvane appeared as if by magic, standing there unchanged in the midst of the flames and the violence. She was a plain, still figure in her simple robe, but Karreya’s magic insisted there was so much more hiding behind those unwavering dark eyes. “As she said, you live wisely, and you live well, because that is all any parent desires for their child.”

And then she turned to Senaya, who stared at Inci’s body as though unable to grasp the reality of her death. “Once, we were the same as these two. I was charged with returning you to your mother at all costs, and I chose to run from that command. I believed that you, too, deserved to live and to know love. But so did Avincia. So does your daughter, and your niece. So do all the people across the vast reaches of the Empire who have known nothing but cruelty and subjugation. No one deserves to feel as though there is only freedom in death. I know you believe you have nothing left to give, but consider this… You have lived, you have suffered, and you have survived. You have known love and fought for your freedom to choose it. Fought to save the ones who matter to you. Do not discount the strength that comes from these simple things.”

She reached out and rested a gentle hand on Senaya’s shoulder. “I choose to repay my many debts by taking on the battle that is to come. Whether I prevail or whether I fall, the rest is up to you.”

With a nod for Karreya, she raised her hood and turned away. Returned to the dragon and settled herself in the saddle between its shoulders. After a few simple words and a gentle pat, it spread its wings and launched itself into the sky, higher and higher until it disappeared into the darkness entirely.

CHAPTER19

It was home, and yet it was not home. The opulent halls of the palace where Vaniell had spent his youth seemed oddly empty, and not only because there were no guards or elaborately dressed courtiers to fill them with life and color.

The people who had always given this place meaning were gone, and Vaniell felt their absence with every breath he took, every stride that carried him deeper into the palace.

At least Danric and Aunt Pip were happy and safe. At least there was no one left that he needed to protect. No one who could be used against him.

“Where would he be hiding?” Kyrion muttered. “Where does he feel safest?”

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