Page 19 of Echoes of War

The snow crunched under my boots as I turned back the direction I’d come from. I made it to the corner of the street before she followed me. Reina stood taller now, her head high as she pretended not to see the glares and nasty words that came hurling her way.

Amaia

“You sure about this?” Alexiares asked, staring uncomfortably deep into my eyes.

I took a step back, turning away before he could read the hesitation in my eyes. Two days had passed since Tomoe had stumbled across a possible solution to making our plan work. We had everything we needed for the most part, the black tourmaline being last as that or hematite had been surprisingly hard to find.

Pretending to keep busy, I shuffled through Tomoe’s notes. “Can one be sure about anything when they’re about to be part of a blood sacrifice?”

She slammed the book closed on my fingers. I winced as Tomoe snarled. “A little respect might help the spell take easier,Maia.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks. She’d called me Maia. A name that hadn’t rolled off her tongue in three long weeks. A name I hadn’t realized I’d become desperate to hear. Tomoe didn’t linger. She moved across the room busy with preparations. I wasn’t even sure she had realized she’d let it slip.

“Fine. Yes, I’m sure,” I said, trying to reassure all the Nervous Nancy’s in the room. “If there’s anyone who needs checking in with, it’syou, asshole.”

I felt terrible about it. His decision had not been his own. It was made in a panicked, rash way. Alexiares had heard my resistance to involve anyone else in our matters and volunteered.When the hell had he become so intent on teamwork?

This was new territory for us. The last leg of our trip had forced us to work as a team, but I was used to his resistance at least a tiny bit. Pushing back on what I wanted to do or testing my limits was his thing,ourthing. What he was doing now, trying to be a partner instead of a teammate, I needed him to stop. Expeditiously.

“What? And let you have all the fun?” Alexiares teased, the corners of his soft pink lips pulled into a mischievous grin.

“Can you two please stop passive-aggressively flirting?” Reina whined from her corner of the room. “It’s making everyone uncomfortable.”

“Pretty sure that’s just you, cousin. I reluctantly find it endearing. Almost makes me want to have a soul again,” Sloan teased.

Her fiery hair pulled into a knot at the top of her head, her freckles danced across her pale face as she watched Reina carefully. Less menacing than she had in the weeks prior, lovingly almost.

I fought off a smile at the glimpse of the dark-humored, snarky friend I’d once loved. Still loved, I suppose, just in a different way. A less friendly way, distant cousin you remember their name but nothing else kind of way.

“No one’s flirting, Reina,” I said firmly. “This isn’t something we should take lightly. I’m making sure he knows what he’s getting himself into.”

Deny. Deny. Deny.I didn’t even know what flirting was anymore. That was the least of my fucking problems.

“Only person taking anything lightly is you.” Reina pushed, “Literally every single person here, except Sloan to no one’s surprise, objected to you doing this. He’s doing it becauseyou’redoing it.”

Her eyes, there was something about her eyes.Maybe it’s time to cut back on the drinking. I was clearly fucking losing it. I’d only taken a few sips before leaving my shitty apartment. Liquid courage. Who could blame me? If I was going to die, damn it, fuck being sober. But now I had half a mind to think there’d been something extra in that bottle, I needed to focus, stop reading into things. Reina’s expression was … slightly unhinged. Over the last two days, the vivid blue of her eyes was alert. Five cups of coffee alert, and shifty, but her posture remained confident.

“Reina, we’ve been over this a million times. I’m not bringing someone from outside this room into it, not before we know it’ll work. Otherwise, what’s the difference between us and Covert?” I was careful not to mention her father.

The way she flinched every time those words left someone’s mouth made my heart hurt for her. She didn’t deserve this. Reina was not her father. She was not Seth. The woman before me wouldn’t hurt anyone who didn’t try to hurt her first, which was why I didn’t know where her recent change in opinion had come from.

Whatever Alexiares had said to her had clearly changed things. She wasn’t sad anymore; now she was just angry. It scared me a bit. I’d stumbled across enough evil Marie Curies to last me a lifetime.

Reina released an exaggerated sigh, tossing her hands up toward the other side of the room Tomoe had prepared for the ritual. I glanced over, checking in on my other friend. Her silky black hair hung in a simple braid down her back. She’d shed her heavy coat and left a fitted black turtleneck in its place. She’d removed her boots too, getting comfortable for whatever was about to take place. Her toes scrunched nervously into the ground and her fingers curled in and out.

I wanted to reassure her, tell her everything would be alright, but I couldn’t. I was in over my head. All I could do was fake the composure to get people through this, pretend like I knew what I was doing, that I was brave. I couldn’t reassure her because I couldn’t even calm myself.

Tomoe would blame herself if anything went wrong today and would never forgive herself if something happened to me. To Alexiares. Her remaining family. But I couldn’t think about that now, nor could I think about her mental toughness. It was bigger than that now, bigger than any of us. There were more people to protect than the people in this room, and it was time for me to act like it. Self-preservation of my family had gotten me nowhere for six months and it wouldn’t get me anywhere now. I was general of two armies and responsible for the safety of eighty-thousand people across two compounds. Selfishness was not an option any longer. That card had played the fuck out long ago.

“I think it’s brave,” Abel said, taking in the expression of helplessness on my face.

Sloan’s head shot up, brows raised as she willed him into silence. “Of course you do.”

The smile that had creeped forward wiped from my face. I hated that for him. He’d been caught with his pants down that day on the battlefield. The little boy that had hugged me before going off on his own had been thrilled to see someone he once admired,someone familiar. Poor Abel couldn’t contain his excitement, and now his future here was in the air because of it.

“What?” Abel questioned defensively. “It is. I don’t know too many people willing to subject themselves to this kinda thing. I certainly wouldn’t.”

“That’s because you understand that bravery and stupidity are two sides of the same coin. The only difference is the outcome,” Tomoe said morbidly before grinning, conviction seeping back into her body language. “Now, you two, get in the circle.”

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