Page 9 of A Simple Truth

“You mean, turn people to ash?” He raised his eyebrow in question, and I nodded. “Yes. And more.”

“Then...” I finally fully turned to him, taking in his piercing gaze as I said with resolution, “Then, I want to be trained. I want to be able to do the things you do.”

A flicker of surprise flashed across his face.

“You want to join the Destroyers?”

“You said I was a Destroyer, am I not?”

“Yes, but I thought you didn’t intend to associate yourself with our kind.”

“Well, things change,” I muttered as lightning flashed across the sky.

“What has changed?” he asked through the rumbling thunder that followed.

I paused, feeling the rain wash away the last remains of my hesitation.

“Truth. Truth has changed.” I pulled out a small, square-like wallet, stuffed with Kaius’s papers, which I had carried hidden with me since his death. Without another word, I handed them off to the General before marching back to the village, each stepmore confident than the last. My protective anger simmered within me, letting my determination rise with clear purpose.

I was a survivor.

I had survived many things, and I would surely endure many more.

Because, the truth was, sometimes good didn’t conquer evil. Sometimes, to win a war, to overcome the world—you’d have to be the biggest evil of them all.

4

GIDEON

Ireclined on my chair, crossing my ankles as I stared at the rumpled furs on my bed, evidence of Finn’s limp body lying there earlier today. The square tent window let in a sliver of moonlight on the thick carpets lining the floor. The cold rain outside had long subsided, bringing a certain calm to the camp as people gathered around the fires, exchanging meaningless conversations and eagerly devouring their hot food.

I glanced back to the blood-stained papers scattered around my glass desk, small shadows dancing upon them from the oil lamp.

“You called for me?” Zora walked in, chewing on a piece of bread.

“We have the Royal papers.” I gestured with my hand to the documents.

“What?! How?” She exclaimed, quickly shoving the remainder of the bread in her mouth and hastily rushing to look at them.

“Our newly discovered freckled assassin handed them off to me at Dragon's Island.”

“What? She had them all along? And you waited until after dinner to tell me?!” Zora’s brows bunched together as she anxiously scanned the foreign pages.

“It seems Kaius was successful after all.” I shrugged, taking a sip of water from my flask, for once, wishing it was something stronger. “We still need to put them together with the others and try to make some sense of their meaning. But we have them.”

“I can’t believe it…we actually have them.” Zora sat down in the chair across from me, flinching just slightly as she studied the bloodied, ancient pages. “The lost pages andyourlost ‘friend’. An interesting day, indeed.” Zora gave me a stiff smile, though that gesture was short lived as her eyes narrowed in on the little drop of blood, floating in the air between my fingers. “Yeah, about that…” she started. “Blood oath? Really, Gideon? That’s low, even for you.”

“Low would imply that there is a certain level of standard to exist, and you and I both know I don’t have one.” I watched the drop float in circles around my pointer finger.

“Ugh, stop. That freaks me out every time.” Zora’s lips turned into a thin line as she followed the speck of red. After a minute, she folded her arms. “Some days, you really do take after your mother, you know that, right?” The corner of my mouth twitched up at the jab.

“She was my birth mother, after all. It would be odd if I didn’t.”

“No, what would truly be odd is if you behaved like a normal Destroyer once in a while, and not a creepy warlock,” Zora sneered. I chuckled as I put the drop of Finn’s blood back into a small vial I kept at my desk.

“She trains with the Ten, by the way,” I added, locking my drawer as Zora opened her mouth in protest. “That is an order, Zora,” I casually commanded before she could object.

“You…” Zora’s face turned sour. Her sharp, black eyes piercing me as she calmly stated, “She passes out from a little spark, Gideon. She can’t summon anything. She is terrified of Destroyers, and you want her to train with the Ten? It’s a bad idea.”

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