Page 2 of Daughter of No Worlds

He felt something encroach at the edge of his thoughts — a brush of her presence. Her magic reaching into his mind. “Don’t do that,” he growled.

The voice chuckled something disgusting, far away.

“I’m just checking on you.” Her presence retreated as the line between the young woman’s eyebrows deepened. “I went to the west end of the city. So many dead.”

So many dead.

The young man blinked away the image of the little faces peering from shattered windows.

“We have to retreat,” he said. “There are too many townspeople here for this. I can take the fire as we go.”

“Their leadership is here. Retreating isn’t an option. Too good of an opportunity.”

He almost laughed. Bitter and ugly and humorless. “Opportunity? No, this is—“

“They chose to start this here, in one of their cities,” she spat. “If they want to shit in their own beds, they can lie in it.”

The words hit him like a strike to his gut. He wasn’t sure it was her callousness or the blood loss that made his stomach clench with nausea.

“These are still civilians,” he shot back. “Rebellion or no. These arepeople.”

“We have options.”

“Not with what I’ve seen.”

“We haveyou,”she whispered. One hand traveled to his face, hovering over the muscles that clenched his jaw. “We have you.”

A shiver shuddered through his deepest recesses. He stood there, lips parted but unable to conjure words strong enough to match his revulsion.

The best he managed was, “Hell,no.”

Her mouth thinned. If he had been paying attention, he might have noticed her caress migrating to his temple, pushing aside strands of black hair.

“We don’t have a choice,” she whispered. “Please.”

“No. We’re in the middle of a city. And—“

And what? And so many things. Too many to encapsulate in words. Just the thought of it prickled shards of icy horror in his veins.

“I’m sorry,” he said, quietly. “But the destruction would be— and I— “

It was probably the first time he had ever failed to do what was in the Orders’ best interest. But all he could think about were those little faces in the windows.

She looked for a moment as if she might push further, but then something shifted, softened, in her expression. Her lips twisted into a sad smile. “That bleeding heart will get you killed one day, you know.”

Maybe,the young man thought.

{Likely},the voice whispered.

There was a long silence. And then, finally, she simply said, “I am your commanding officer.”

He almost questioned his sanity, questioned whether he heard her correctly. “You’re— what?”

A laugh skittered through his thoughts, jeering at the dread that clenched his heart.

“Targis is dead. I saw him.” She looked up at him with bright eyes. Reflections of flames glittered in their dampness — the only sign of emotion. “With him gone, I am your commanding officer. And I command you to utilize the full extent of your abilities.”

Her words split him in two, a pain so sharp that it felt as if someone had grabbed the top of his spine and ripped it through his skin. “Nura—“

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