Page 160 of Red Ruin

“I give the orders. I don’t take them from….” His lip curls as his gaze flicks up and down, taking in my rumpled hair and Remy’s shirt. “What are you? My brother’s blood maid? Or his whore?”

“I’m his Guide,” I hiss.

He rolls his eyes. “Azrids don’t imprint.”

“We didn’t—”Godsdamnit.What does it even matter? “We’re facing anApocalypse. You can’t just abandon?—”

“The Farguard was decommissioned twenty years ago,” he says matter-of-factly. “What remains is an unfunded wilderness outpost in a sacrificial territory that buffers any actual civilization and serves as a dumping ground for defective warriors. We won’t lose the north. We’ll simply continue to withdraw. That’s the palace’s stance, and the Azrid family’s as well. I suggest you run. A loose little consort like you will always find herself welcomed. Perhaps, in my bed?—”

Krrrrrk!

The orb shatters from my grip.

I stare at my empty hand, waiting for it to hurt, but there’s no blood.

My breath comes fast and hard.

Run?

And gowhere?

Back to my mother to be sold again? To my father who’d give me away for free? To Sorrel and our other fucked up semi-siblings who’d rather kill me than see me succeed?

Am I supposed to run back to fuckingKevan?

To an empty manor, with no one to talk to but the duchess who reminds me I’ll never be worthy of her son?

To the Deathguard, who treats me like a medicine doll they can use, then ignore?

Never.

I refuse.

I can’t run to another guard.

If the border is breached, Faervaine is screwed.

Just a quick mental flick through the records inscribed in my badge, and it’s clear that the Farguard is doing more than its share to protect the shrinking empire.

They cull hordes of kobolds twice a year. They’ve kept down wyverns and flying beasts, stopped orc invasions, and found and fought more monster spawns than any other “active” guard.

They may have been abandoned, but they never abandoned their fight.

My hand finally tingles from the exploded orb.

I make a fist.

So what if the Farguard is a mess?

It’s my mess.

I don’t abandon my people.

Even if they abandon me.

Remy has orbs for contacting all the high noble houses, but it’s clear that none will help for free.

My fingers shake as I reach for the orb inset with a skull wreathed in ice-blue flames.

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