Page 79 of Caress of Fire
“Yes, my Lady.” Beral nodded. “A wife and a daughter. They are in the first transport.”
Marielle nodded. “So do I. My brother and his future wife are in that transport.” Her words seemed to surprise the young guard. “If you care for them, you will settle the rest of these people in the next transports as fast as you can. I want all these people evacuated in the next hour. Now, give the lift-off order for the first transport.”
“You have to get in, Lady.” The guard inclined his head to her. “Those were Lord Fedryc’s orders.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Marielle shook her head and the young guard almost dropped to the ground with surprise. “Give the order for take-off.”
“But Lord Fedryc…” The guard seemed more and more confused, more and more scared by the second. “You are with child.”
“I am the Lady of Aalstad.” Marielle lifted her chin and her voice, making sure everyone around could hear her. “My place is here.”
“Lady.” The guard’s tone was careful and he looked at her as if she was insane. As if he was about to manhandle her into the transport. “Lord Fedryc is not coming back.”
Marielle swallowed and despair encroached but she rebelled against it. She turned her eyes to the people around them. A hope against all hope still shone in their eyes, just waiting to be found. Because Aalstad was all they knew. Because even if the castle was evacuated, all the people in the kingdom were lost if the Knat-Kanassis prevailed.
They needed her to be that hope. To give it a voice.
They all stared at her like she was some beacon of safety. She wasn’t. All she wanted was to hide somewhere and wait for Fedryc’s return—against all odds. But life was no fairytale, and Fedryc was going to war in a hopeless, uneven battle from which he could never come back.
No. I won’t accept it. He’s coming back.
“Hear me. All is not lost.” Marielle spoke to them all, loud and clear. Her voice didn’t shake despite the flutters in her stomach. “Lord Fedryc might still prevail. Nyra is still out there, in the desert. She will answer his call.” Then, much lower, but with a strength that surprised even herself, “All is not lost, and the Lady of Aalstad will stay where she belongs. Now leave, and be prepared to come back with your loved ones once this threat is gone. Give the order.” Marielle turned to the guard who now stared at her with respectful awe. “The transports leave as soon as they are filled. Leave no one behind.”
“Lady Marielle.”
The fear lessened in the guard’s eyes and he nodded to her again, but this time, it was more meaningful. He admired her for not saving her life at the expense of others. He thought she was strong. He thought she was honorable.
How wrong he was. She wasn’t strong, or honorable. She was scared and weak. But she had a job to do, and she would do it if it was the last thing she did.
“The staff and your men go in the last one.” The words left her mouth and her resolve strengthened. “Leave no one behind.”
The guard inclined his head, then turned, bellowing orders far and wide. Marielle stared at the black transport containing Devan, Rela and the others. It vibrated, starting to hover above the stone of the courtyard.
She stared as the transport flew higher and higher until it shot through the desert sky and far away from her reach. Off into safety.
Around her, people moved with a silent purpose. They weren’t exactly reassured, but the undercurrent of panic from before was gone.
As she looked around at the castle, she knew she would never leave Fedryc behind.
* * *
His men weresilent as the transport slid through the air under the setting sun, toward a battle none would survive. Fedryc had no illusions. He had lost Nyra, had lost half of his very soul, and he was only too aware that whatever time he gained fighting Lord Anion and his army, it wouldn’t be to survive but to give Marielle the time she needed to escape with all those she could save from the castle.
The rest of his kingdom, of his father’s legacy, would fall under the order’s evil. He had failed.
As the transport stopped, Fedryc got to his feet. It was his role as High Lord to lead his men into battle, to show them the way to die honorably to protect those they loved.
For die they would. All of them.
He got out in the blazing red and orange of the setting sun and ten of his transports soon followed, flooding the sands of the desert with souls destined for death.
In front of them was the army of Lord Anion, spreading far and wide, hooded figures wrapped in gray cloaks. Knat-Kanassis, all of them. It shouldn’t surprise him. They didn’t outnumber his men, but the fear they inspired traveled through Fedryc’s army from man to man as the name spread on everyone’s lips.
We’ve lost this battle before it’s even begun.
This was a truth of war Fedryc had learned a long time ago, when he was a boy in the Imperial castle. He knew the fights he was going to win and those he was going to lose before drawing his blade. And he was going to lose this one, along with his life and the lives of those who looked up to him.
It was worth it. He would do it all again if he had the choice. Because touching Marielle Jansen’s skin had made his life worth living. Had made his life worth giving.
