Page 106 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

A Drakkarian raised his blade to cut her down from behind, and I threw my dagger overhead, still wet with the queen’s blood, sinking it in his eye, numb to the kill. “Trust,” I said, the word unfeeling, a foreign concept I could not comprehend. And in a way, I couldn’t—though Tey eventually turned on her, Xinlan initially had been a part of the king’s plot. To kill me.

Beyond that, I barely knew her. My history of trusting strangers was blemished.

But I said none of that; my body tuned into the thrum of the battle around me. The roaring in my head screamed loud and deathly quiet. I looked around for the women I’d seen when they’d dragged me into the hall. But there were none. The Water magic had provided a distraction for their escape.Good, that was good.

“I have no reason to trust you. I’m not going anywhere.” The words felt far away, like they belonged to someone else.

Xinlan yanked my hands from my lap and held my chains. They turned glowing orange, and she sliced her blade through them. I didn’t have the energy to marvel at whatever magic made the cut possible. “Viribrum is lost. We have rescued every Fae we could have. We must go.Now.”

Before I could protest again, she dragged me to stand, pulling me after her so fast I barely had time to swipe back Ezren’s dagger. We made it toward an alcove on the side of the banquethall. Movement flickered in my peripheral and I ducked a left hook. Xinlan sent her blade into my assailant’s neck, removing his head from his shoulders.

The image made my stomach roil, recalling the head she’d cut down in the Skøl.

“You cut his head clean off,” I said flatly as she pulled me into the shadow of the alcove, away from the fighting.

Xinlan knew I didn’t mean the Drakkarian she’d just saved me from. “I did.”

“Who was he to you?” I whispered.

She made to protest; I could tell she wanted to urge me to run—but something in her face softened, perhaps at the grief she saw on my own. “He was my father. I did that so his soul could escape. In my house, that is a warrior’s death. His soul will be free—to leave this body and this life. To rest in Requiem.”

I looked at her in disbelief. In that moment, she’d had such clarity and strength. She hadn’t hesitated a second. And neither had he.

“You have togo now,” Xinlan begged. “Ezren is waiting.”

Again, instinct swirled in my gut, that little voice my father spoke of gnawing at the back of my mind, urging me to listen. Still, I couldn’t make myself move. My eyes wandered past her, landing on the blood that pooled on the floor of the dais. Blood that had trickled down from where I’d held the queen in my arms.

“Everywhere I go, death follows,” I said bitterly. “My family, my sire, my aunt, my handmaid—all dead. And now, the Rexi… maybe she lives, but I also might have just killed her.” I choked on those words, my throat constricting into a searing burn.

“You are so, so young Terra. But you will learn. You will learn to do difficult things, because you have to. Because so manyrelyon you. Right now—you have to make it out of here. Not just for this kingdom, but for yours, too.”

Her words sparked something inside me, and another wave of distrust ebbed. I drew my eyes back to her face.

“We will survive this,” she continued, her voice shaking with quiet anger as she surveyed the destruction in the throne room. “We will regroup. And we will take back our home.” It seemed she spoke more to herself than to me.

And then I understood. She needed me—they all did—to go back to Nebbiolo, raise an army, and help the Viri take back Viribrum.

She needed me to trust her.

And I needed her. Though I had no interest in being queen, I couldnotsit back and let these horrors go unanswered. I could not. I couldn’t stand alone against Drakkar. I’d need a court, warriors, loyalty. All resources based on trust.

That trust would have to start here. With a Fae who’d bedded my betrothed and had been paid to kill me.

“Where?” I bit out.

“East Tower.” She nodded for me to go. “Your escape route will be clear. I’ve got clean-up.” Her face held a sad smile. Despite all that had transpired between us, I almost smiled, too.

“Good luck,” I whispered.

And then I ran through the hall, using the anonymity of chaotic battle as my protection. I only had to meet the blades of two Drakkarians before I slipped out the door and ran for the east corridor.

A distinctmeowhad me skidding to a stop. “Cas?” I called out.

The figure in the shadows changed. Cas lingered in the dark, his face puffy. “They put his head on a spike,” he whispered.

I felt for him, I did. But the sound of Drakkarian footsteps nearing us squashed my sympathy.

“He said it was all to save me,” he sniffed. “All of it—what he did to you, the price on your head, the lies—was to save me from someprophecy.”

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