Page 114 of Ash and Feather

For every bit of pressure I inflicted against him, he countered with a tighter hold, crushing my windpipe and threatening to choke the breath from my lungs.

We remained in this stalemate for a long, tense moment, until a lantern flickered to life in the house and briefly drew our gazes toward it.

“I wonder what your sister will say if she finds us like this?” Andrel mused.

“I have no problems explaining myself to her.”

“You think she would listen to you?”

“Of course, she—”

“Are you sure about that?”

I inhaled a little too sharply, a little too painfully, as I realized: Iwasn’tsure.

Who would she side with? The one she had apparently spent years plotting a revolution with? Or me? Me—who she believed was deliriously confused, a victim of the gods being forced to attack my own kind against my will.

“For her sake, let’s hope shedoesn’tlisten to you,” Andrel said. “I’m running out of patience for those who test my loyalty. So keep that in mind if you’re going to try and win her over to your side.”

“My sister is not a fool. She’ll realize the truth about you before the end. I am going to make certain of that.”

“The truth can be a tricky thing,” he replied, relaxing his stance and calmly stepping away as though we hadn’t just been locked in a deadly embrace.

I remained tense, claws extended, even once he’d put considerable space between us.

He eyed those claws for a long moment before he said, “Stop this. Stop fighting and come home for good. Stop breaking your sister’s heart.”

What aboutmyheart?

It was a question I wouldn’t have been able to ask months ago, but now it was all I could think in response.

“You don’t belong with the gods,” he said. “You belong with us.”

It was almost refreshing compared to my conversations with Cillian and my sister—because Andrel was not asking me whose side I was on.

He wastellingme.

Which made it so much easier to lift my head up and say, “No. I don’t.”

I might not have known exactly who I was yet, but I was beginning to understand who Iwasn’t.

The light in the house brightened. Beckoning me. Andrel’s gaze followed me as I started toward it, though he remained perfectly still, holding like a predator tensing and waiting for the exact moment to pounce on its prey.

“I have worked very hard to prepare for the grand ending we’re now approaching,” he called after me. “Your sister is a large part my plans, and I will be watching both of you more closely, now, making sure neither of you does anything to derail things.”

I paused, one foot on the porch steps, and tilted my head just enough to keep him in my sight.

“So if I were you,” he said, “I would rethink my loyalty one more time, and I would choose my next steps very carefully. For Savna’s sake, if nothing else.” His gaze finally left me, slidinginstead to where my sister’s silhouette had appeared in the kitchen window.

I couldn’t reply over the lump forming in my throat.

“You’ve already lost enough,” he said. “I would sohatefor you to lose anything else.”

Chapter 28

Dravyn

The soundof a distant door opening vaulted me from my restless, reluctant attempt at sleep.

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