Page 265 of Of Empires and Dust

As Dayne stood once more, Mera grabbed him by the shoulders. “You’re not going.”

“He’s my brother, Mera. I won’t leave him there.”

“It’s a trap. Loren is just going to kill you on sight.”

“Of course it’s a trap. But no.” Dayne shook his head. “Loren gains nothing from that. If he kills me, this army will march on Achyron’s Keep. Thousands will die. Loren, for all that he is, doesn’t want more Valtarans dead. He wants control. That’s what he’s always wanted. He knows I will come for Baren. He will keep me alive to use me, to force Alina to stand down.”

“Then why would you doexactlywhat he wants? Dayne, this is madness.”

“Because Loren thinks he’s smarter than he is. He thinks he knows me, and he doesn’t. He has no idea what I am.”

“Dayne—”

“No.” Dayne rested one hand on Mera’s shoulder, the other on her belly. “I willneverleave my family again. Never. And I refuse to allow my child to live a life like we did. It’s all different now, Mera. There is no more room for mercy, no more room for mistakes.” Dayne moved in closer and stared into Mera’s eyes. “Do you trust me?”

“With my life.”

Alina leanedon the table at the back of the command tent, her thumbs tucked inside her fists. Her jaw trembled. Savrin and Olivian stood at her side, while Mera and Belina were on the opposite side of the table.

“And you just let him go?” She drew a sharp breath through her nose, slowly out through her mouth. “Just let him walk away…”

“His mind was set, Alina. You know what Dayne is like.”

“How could you let him go?” Alina hadn’t felt this way since she was a girl, since she’d realised Dayne was gone and wasn’t coming back. She hated it to her core.

“Alina—”

“Loren destroyed my family! He hung my parents’ bodies on hooks until the birds picked the bones clean. And now he will take Dayne too?”

Alina roared, unleashing the fury within her heart. She slammed her fists into the table, cracking the wood, then swepther hands across the surface, knocking everything to the ground, paper flapping in the air, stone markers thumping into the dirt. And when it all settled, she just stood there, her throat tight, each breath shaking. “He is my brother, Mera. I cannot lose him again. I only just got him back.Weonly just got him back. And you let him walk right into Loren’s hands like the fucking idiot he is? For what? For Baren? No. I will not allow it. That monster cannot have any more of the people I love.”

“Alina, where are you going?” Mera grabbed Alina’s arm as she made to storm from the tent.

“I’m taking Rynvar to the skies, and I’m going to stop my brother before he gets himself killed. If we’re going to die, we’re going to do it side by side, fighting.” She held Mera’s gaze. “I will not let him die alone with Loren standing over him. He’s spent too long alone. I will not allow it.”

Alina turned back to towards the tent flap, finding Belina Louna standing between her and the exit.

“You will not lose him,” the woman said, her stare unflinching.

“And what do you know?Belina Louna. You are not Valtaran. You are not of this House. Why are you even here?” As soon as the words had left her lips, Alina regretted them. Her anger was not at this woman, or at Dayne, but at the world, at the gods and whatever unseen powers deigned to rip away everything and everyone she loved.

Belina remained silent for a few heartbeats, then spoke with as soft a voice as Alina had ever heard. “I know that there is nothing in this world that means more to Dayne than his family – than you and Mera and Baren. You and I do not know each other well, but I know that when you’re angry, you tuck your thumbs into your fists.”

Alina looked down at her hands and yanked her thumbs free.

“I know that your favourite smell is that of freshly peeled orange. I know that when you were a child, you wore a sapphire pendant around your neck that your mother gave you. I know that you used to climb the trees at the farm in Myrefall and then realise you couldn’t climb back down, and your father would send Dayne to get you. I know that you had seen twelve summers when your mother and father were killed.”

Belina stepped past her, bent down, and collected the loose sheets of parchment and a small map from the floor, laying them on the table.

“I know all these things because Dayne never stopped talking about you. For twelve years, all I heard was ‘Alina, Mera, Baren. Alina, Mera, Baren.’ He loves you with a ferocity I’ve never seen in my life. He loves you in a way I had always wished my family would have loved me. And that love is what made me love him. Now, seeing as I know so much about you, let me tell you a little bit about me.

“I was brought here from Narvona as a child by my father. My father who murdered my mother. My father who trained me to kill from the moment I could hold a knife. He abused me, he beat me, he tortured me, all to make me ‘stronger’. He sold my life to the Hand when I was twelve. I was raised in blood, to kill without question, to not be human, but to be a tool, a weapon. Dayne broke me free of that, and he showed me a kindness I didn’t deserve. And I would kill the gods themselves if it meant protecting him. I believe all three of us have that in common.”

Alina held her tears at bay, clenched her jaw, and shook her head softly. “All this and you let him walk to his death?”

“That man never does anything without a plan.”

“And what is this plan of his, as he walks right into Loren’s jaws?”

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