Page 212 of A Vow of Blood and Tears

She was shaking her head, but I didn’t stop.

“I slaughtered my own to protect my own.” The words were blunt but true. “A necessary evil, but still a great evil. Which is why I must tell you. I love you so much that I cannot let you go. I never will. I’m too selfish to allow it.”

I sighed, knowing that I had put all my happiness on the line. “But you should know what loves you, and if you can love it in return. You should at least have a choice in that.”

Cirri gazed at me, and I wondered if it was judgment that I felt burning in her eyes, a kindling hatred that would cut me down over time, piece by piece.

The minutes trickled by, until I thought I might explode. My claws tightened, pricking my own skin. A pain I deserved.

Finally she lifted her hands, and I prepared myself for the worst; the knowledge that she would despise me forever, my love her cage.

I still love you, she said.I don’t care if it’s wrong. I’m selfish, too. I love you and that’s final. But I expect you to show a little restraint in the future. Don’t let your anger add more deaths to your conscience.

I stared at her, not entirely believing what I’d heard. How could she love me, after what I’d told her?

But the selfish part of me howled with victory. She loved me, and she was mine.

“I will,” I said hoarsely. “Whatever you ask of me.” Cirri touched my cheek, smiling slightly.

I have so much to tell you, she said.But please, Bane, take me home.

I raised her hand to my lips and kissed it, tasting newly-spun skin. It already smelled like her, the familiar scent I craved.

“As you command, my lady.”

We leftthe sea of thorns by moonlight, nothing but blood and trampled grass left to mark our passage.

No wargs came, nor human Forian soldiers; the end of the wargs, and our people’s plight, had ended as a secret drama enacted behind a curtain. One day I was sure I would receive a letter from Radomil, demanding to know why the bloodroses of the vampires were growing on his territory, but it could be many years before anyone came to this blighted corner of Foria where the wargs had held sway. This was dead land now, a cursed territory.

My legions moved quickly, desperate to leave the brambles behind. Every knight was disturbed by them, and Wyn and Andrus alone seemed fascinated by the things.

My brother had turned back to gaze at them as we marched towards the mountains.

“It’s not the answer,” I told him.

He was burning his fingertips again, rubbing his thumb on the pendant. His silver eyes were distant. “Don’t fear, Bane. I have many years left in me.”

But I was sure he’d marked the location in his mind, hoarding the knowledge for later; for a day when he gave up on his quest for salvation and chose a bloody penitence.

I wanted to tell him that giving himself up to the thorns would not erase his deeds. They would not wash him clean.

But that was something he needed to come to terms with on his own. I had learned that myself.

It was only a day later, as the legions marched upwards on the mountain trail and the horses pulled the wagons behind them, that Andrus gave one last look to the north, and bowed his head to me.

“I part from you here,” he said. “And I wish you both nothing but happiness.”

I embraced him, and we walked down to the last wagon, where I’d piled pillows and blankets and tucked Cirri into the nest.

Leaving us already?She asked, and I translated her words for him. Her fingers were shiny, greasy with a balm Wyn had given her; in the boredom of being carted home, she was massaging her knuckles and tendons, exercising her fingers’ movements. They grew more limber by the day.

“Someone must spread the news across Veladar.” Andrus smiled at her. “Cirrien the Wargbinder. Now families will sleep easily, at peace in the knowledge that the time of the wolves is over.”

She stared up at him, and flushed a deep red.That’s… a bit much for someone like me.

Andrus laughed when I translated. “We all earned our names,” he told her. “Now you’ve earned yours. I’ll see you again one day, my lady, but home calls. The Mother smiles on you.”

He bowed to her, and she raised a hand in farewell. Andrus slipped off on his own, scaling the mountains far more quickly than the legions could.

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