Page 96 of An Honored Vow

He itched the scar above his magic eye. “I’m here in spirit.”

“But not in person.” I tucked my hands behind my head. “Meaning by your measure, you arenota good leader.”

Damien shot me an annoyed look. “You have come to make your plea?”

“You wouldn’t grant my plea even if it was to your benefit.” I leaned forward on my knees as he sipped from his goblet. “Why attack Volcar and leave your city unguarded?”

Damien huffed a laugh. “My city isverywell guarded, I assure you.” He tucked a hand behind his back, looking up at the smoking mountain. “But Volcar is crawling with vermin.”

“Even you can see that attacking Volcar is not the strategic play.”

Damien raised the brow over his black eye. “Isn’t it?” He turned to me. “I have a full armada and ten thousand soldiers ready to invade every home, nook, and cranny. They will find every Halfling within a league of Volcar.” He sipped his wine. “And they’re paid too handsomely to leave any for you to turn against me.”

“Turn against you?” I scoffed. “I can spot one of your ploys, Damien. You can’t bait us into battling you in Volcar so you can observe what gifts myHalflingshave been given.”

His lip twitched, but the rest of his face remained entirely resolved. “You won’t leave an entire city to burn in smoke and ash. You aren’t ruthless enough to make that call.” Damien’s tone was a mix of disappointed judgment.

I gritted my teeth. “Don’t tempt me, Damien. We both know I have the strength to fight you in Volcar tomorrow and Koratha the next.”

“Perhaps,” he conceded. “But will Gerarda make it there? That worthless Shield? Would they survive? What if one of your comrades is struck down mid-battle?” Damien licked his lips. His last question wasn’t just coy banter, but a threat. He knew what we had found along Nikolai’s wrist.

He smirked into his wineglass and sat down.

“They will not fall.” I lifted my chin. I wouldn’t let them.

Damien’s grin turned wicked. “And what about Gwyn? What if I order one of my beasts to cut her through the belly for all of you to watch?”

“She will fight alongside me until I take your last breath.”

Damien giggled. “Isthatwhat you’ve been fighting for? My head on a spike?” He paced across the room to fill his cup with more wine. “Not very original, Keera.”

His eyes lingered on my arm as he sipped, and I knew that he could see the name written there because I was allowing it. He could finally see some part of the truth.

But not all of it.

“Is that why you switched sides?” He jutted his chin at my forearm. “The guilt of what you did finally broke you? One taste of my brother’s half-breed lips, and you swap allegiances to fight against your king?”

I blinked in disbelief. Damien was not so self-assured to not see the truth. But as I studied him, it was obvious that Brenna’s name was the only one he could see. Feron’s ring continued to mask the rest.

I huffed a laugh. “You think that is when I switched sides?” Now it was me pacing around the room, carving a large circle around him so Damien had no choice but to be pinned to the chair. “I wasnevera loyal servant. Not to your father and certainly not to you.”

His jade eye glinted with curiosity. He licked his lips as he looked at me in a new light. “You mean to tell me that you killed your roommate, your dearest friend, yourlover, to falsify your loyalties?” Damien broke into a sarcastic grin. “I’ve never thought so well of you, Keera. Masterfully devious.”

I returned his grin. “It was. But I can’t take credit—it wasn’t my idea.”

Damien’s mouth fell to a straight line as he realized this was not a jest.

“Brenna was the one who figured it out,” I continued. “The night before the Trial.” A twinge of satisfaction pulled across my chest as Damien scowled. “She knew that you thought we were too strong as a pair, that you would convince your father of it. She knew you well enough to devise just how vile you would be.”

Damien waved his goblet across his mouth but didn’t drink. “And yet she is the one who is dead.”

I stopped pacing. “Because she decided to be.”

His breath caught.

“You think I made that decision easily? That I chose myself in that moment instead of her?” I snorted. “She had made the decision before either of us had stepped into that room. She had swallowed a poison and stained her lips just enough for me to see.” I lifted my chin. “She was dead before you ever tied her to that chair.”

“That can’t be true,” Damien sputtered.

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