Page 90 of No Greater Sorrow

If she wanted to get out of its way in time, she had to jump.

The landing was rough. Aleja fell to her knees, the rocks jagged beneath her leathers, and the shockwavehurt. Even though she didn’t hear a snap of breaking bones, the pain radiated to her jaw. The one thought in Aleja’s head was not clever or especially strategic—she just had to draw the Authority far enough away from the others so that no one would be hurt when it exploded around her.

Bad idea. The voice that spoke now was entirely her own—the Aleja of the present.This isn’t some weakling. Can I burn it from the inside before it shreds me to bits?

She stopped running, waiting until the Authority’s shadow engulfed her before lighting the creature up with her fire. Her flames scorched a section of its feathers, forcing the eyes there to clamp shut, but it wasn’t enough to stop its advance. When one of the wings moved aside to reveal the gaping mouth at the creature’s center, she dropped her hands andran. She couldn't die here, not like this. The Authority would absorb her knowledge of her army’s plans, not to mention the uneasy truce she’d made with the Messenger.

A wing crashed against Aleja, knocking the air out of her lungs and her feet out from under her. She groped against the ground and threw whatever her hands met first. She didn’t expect the rock to fly directly into the Authority’s mouth or the choked noise it made in response—a brief reprieve that bought her enough time to get back on her feet.

She didn’t bother with fire this time. She just had to get the Authority away from the rest of their armies and deal with whatever happened next.

But when she looked back, Aleja gasped—not because the Authority was so close, but because it hadn’t chased her. Instead, it hovered low, wings beating out of sync, while its eyes roamed as if disoriented.

What the hell? she thought. There was no way her rock had brought an Authority down, or all the Otherlanders would have had to do in the last war was stock up on pebbles. Her heart sank when a young woman stepped out from behind its massive wings.

“Shh,” Violet soothed, even though the Authorities had never brought her anything but terror.

Fire roared to life around Aleja’s hands. “Please don’t make me hurt you,” she said.

Aleja heard Nicolas’s voice, shouting a command too garbled to make out. In a moment, their armies would be pouring over the hill to find a traitor waiting for them.

But Violet gave a wild-eyed glance over her shoulder and reached out as if to take Aleja’s arm, despite the flames. “You have to trust me right now, Al. Please come with me. I’ll explain everything once we’re out of here.”

“You betrayed us. You betrayedme,” Aleja snapped.

The Authority moaned softly as it struggled to rise. It moved as if it were bound in chains, but when Violet shushed it again, it stilled. With the realization that Violet was controlling it, came Orla’s warning. The Messenger knew Aleja well. She knew what could draw her into a trap. And this was it.

“I’ll explain everything,” Violet said again. “But if the Otherlanders find me here, they’ll kill me.”

“And the Astraelis will kill me if I go with you.”

“Fuck, Al, I’m not leaving until you listen to me. If I die here, my blood is on your hands.”

Liar. Manipulator. Traitor, Aleja thought.

Another shadow joined them, cast by one of Bonnie’s trees. It was tall enough to rise over the hill; speared atop its branches were the bodies of two impaled Principalities, still alive and struggling.

“Al, listen to me. You know I can see into their heads. And if I don’t get the chance to tell you what I know, you and Nic and Bonnie—you’re all going to die. So,please. Come with me,” Violet said frantically.

An Otherlander soldier finally crested the hill, but before Aleja could shout for him to lower the arrow pointed at Violet’s head, something dragged him back with a scream.

“This is my last chance, Al. No one is going to want to spare me after what I did.”

Aleja looked into her friend’s eyes, hoping to find honesty within them. Wanting to believe. But her heart was so full of wounds that patching one up only diverted blood to the others. “If I go, it’s not because we’re friends. And if for a second, I think you’re lying to me, I won’t hesitate to set you on fire.”

Violet gave a sigh of relief before Aleja told her, “Kill it.”

“What?”

“The Authority. Kill it. I won’t leave my armies to deal with that thing, so kill it. Then, we’ll find a place to talk.”

It was a wild proposition, but Aleja had to know what Violet was capable of. And whose side she was truly on. It was doubtful the Messenger would be happy with her for destroying one of their remaining Authorities.

Aleja expected the Authority to veer wildly in the rocks, much like the last one Violet had taken down. But it only stretched its wings, and with a shuddering breath, its eyes began closing one by one. Aleja took a step back. She’d known Violet’s connection to them was too strong for anyone’s liking, but to snuff out an Authority’s life as easily as pinching out a candle…

“Now, will you listen to me?” Violet said.

“You walk in front and do exactly as I say.”

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