Page 84 of The Endless War

“The rebels confirmed it.” He didn’t have the breath to say more. Except that the important part was yet to come. The part that he knew would change everything for her.

The ship rolled, tacking another direction, and outside, Aren bellowed, “We’ll lose them between the islands!”

“We don’t know these waters well enough to sail them in the dark!” Jor shouted back. “You’re going to run us up on the rocks!”

Keris squeezed his eyes shut, each bounce over the waves sending a stab of pain through his body.

“Keris?”

The alarm in Zarrah’s voice snapped his eyelids open, her dark gaze illuminated by the lamp. The most beautiful eyes in the world. “I’m fine.” He was not fine. “It was Petra who told Serin’s spies that your mother would be at a villa near the border without a bodyguard. What came next is something you know better than anyone.”

Silence.

It stretched on and on, and it was not the reaction he’d anticipated from her. Was not the wrath and promises of vengeance that he’d expected to come flowing forth from her lips. Not able to stand it, he said, “My father might have wielded the blade, but it was Petra who assassinated your mother. Her own sister, and rightful Empress of Valcotta. As her named heir,youbecame the rightful empress.”

Zarrah didn’t respond.

“You’ve said your piece.” Lara knelt next to him, a bag in her hands. “I need to remove the arrow.”

It had to come out; Keris knew that. Just as he also knew that it might be the only thing keeping him alive, and once removed, the rest of his life would spill out onto the floor. He couldn’t let that happen without certainty that she’d fight for her crown. “Zarrah?”

She didn’t so much as blink.

God help him, what if what she’d endured on that island had been too much? What if some critical part of her had been at the breaking point, and instead of giving her strength in anger, he’d broken her? “Zar—”

Without warning, Lara snapped off the arrowhead and jerked the shaft out of him.

Keris bit down on a scream, nails digging into his palms, but his eyes didn’t move from Zarrah’s. “Promise me you won’t let her get away with it,” he pleaded, jerking his head from Lara’s grasp as she tried to shove a piece of leather between his teeth. “Promise me that you’ll fight for your crown.”

“Keris, you’re bleeding to death!” Lara shouted, the ship rolling sideways, everything on the tables falling to the deck with a crash. “I have to do this now!”

He could smell the smoke of the brazier, see the crimson glow of heated steel. The thought of the pain to come should have terrified him, but it was the thought that he’d pass out and never wake that fueled his fear because he needed to know that she’d keep fighting. “Zarrah!”

Not a blink. Like her body was there, but not her mind. Desperate, he shouted, “Valcotta!”

Her eyes snapped into focus.

Keris tangled his fingers in her dark curls, pulling her close. “Your mother wanted peace, and Petra killed her for it. Honor her by taking back the crown and liberating Valcotta.”

“Fuck honor,” she whispered. “I want blood.”

“Zarrah,” Lara snarled, “unless it’s his blood you want, hold him down.”

Zarrah didn’t move, and Keris swore he felt his heart stutter as it began to fail. Then she was straddling him, fingers digging into his biceps as she threw her weight against him. “Close your eyes.”

“I’d rather your face be the last thing I see.”

Lara made a noise of disgust. “I should let you bite off your tongue and spare the world your nonsense.” She shoved the leather strap between his teeth. “You ready?”

Fire burned in Zarrah’s eyes, and he prayed to God and fate and the stars that it would not burn her alive.

Lara gave no warning.

First came the sizzle, then the smell of burning blood.

The pain struck like an avalanche, agony beyond anything he’d ever known, and Keris screamed.

Then there was nothing at all.

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