Page 182 of The Last One
Some soldiers drop to pull their dead comrade back. Others keep their focus trained on me. Their eyes now burn with hate.
I spin the bloody dagger in my hand, ready for Number Forty-Three. “Who’s next?” I ask, my focus back on the soldier with the dimpled chin. “You? Agard, is it? Eggar? Worm food?”
“Stand down!” Gileon shouts to be heard and not because he’s scared. He wipes a bead of sweat from his jawline and grins at Jadon. “She like this in bed?”
“Let me climb on top of you and see for yourself.” I twirl the dagger between my fingers.
“Don’t talk about her like that,” Jadon snarls at his brother, the tendons stark against his neck. “Disrespect her again and I’ll break your neck.”
Gileon’s smirk drops, and he rolls his eyes. “Relax, Jay. It was a compliment.” He nods to me and snorts. “I apologize, Lady of the Verdant Realm. Did I get your title right? Or is it Lady of the Barren Realm? Lady Who Claims to be Supreme but is Only a False God?” To Jadon: “Better?”
“I’ve never claimed to be Supreme,” I say, fingers tight around the dagger handle. “That’s your father’s lie. Insult me again, though, and I won’t need Jadon to break your neck.”
Gileon pivots back to me, his eyes narrowed. “You do know that you don’t have to killeverythingandeveryoneyou meet, right? That you don’talwayshave to choose violence.”
“She doesn’t seek out fights,” Jadon says. “They somehow come knocking on her door.” He pauses, then adds, “Where is her pendant, Gileon? If you make me ask for it again,I’llbe the one choosing violence.”
My stomach yaws with anger—at Olivia’s scheming, at Jadon’s betrayal, at my willingness to believe him and believe Sybel, at my willingness to sacrifice my life to save every person in this room. But my stomach also yaws because that colorful string from the amulet is tugging at me, more insistent than ever. Now my eyes skip around the room in search of moths.
“Your pendant is closer than you think,” Gileon says to me. “But I need my brother to answer one last question before we wrap all this up.” He reaches to hold Jadon’s chin. “Are you happy, brother?” His words come soft.
Jadon’s brow crinkles. He’s caught off guard by the gentleness of that question, caught off guard by Gileon’s sincerity.
Rigid, I await Jadon’s response.
Jadon remains silent but then he glares at Gileon and knocks away his brother’s hand.
“That’s what I thought.” Gileon looks over to me. “Areyouhappy?” he asks smugly.
I bristle—who does he think he is?
“Well, are you?” He awaits my answer, his blue eyes calm and glimmering.
One word fires from my mouth. “Amulet.”
Gileon offers me a shrug and a tight smile, then looks to the soldiers guarding the inn’s entrance. “Open the doors.”
The soldiers obey.
Gileon turns to his brother. “I love you, Jay. No matter what happens. Always,alwaysremember that. Olivia’s outsidewiththe pendant. I won’t stop either of you from retrieving it.” Smiling, he steps away from Jadon and extends his arm toward the inn’s open doors.
“Just like that?” I say, eyes narrowed.
Gileon folds his arms. “Just like that.”
What’s the trick? Leave andwhat? Nothing is ever easy. Vipers are vipers—never turn your back to them even if they’re sleeping, even if they’re dead.
Gileon is a viper. And so is his brother.
Over at the bar, Philia gasps, “Kai, he’s not lying! I see Livvy outside on a horse!” She’s looking past the inn’s door with surprised eyes. “There are soldiers with her!”
My pulse quickens, and I swipe the blood on Little Lava’s blade across the dead man’s tunic, then stow the dagger in its sheath.
Face flushed, Jadon grabs his satchel and sword from the chair. “Kai, we should—”
I glare at him. “Where the hell areyougoing,Your Highness?”
A flicker of anger in Jadon’s eyes quickly slips into shame. Voice lowered, he says, “I’ll explain everything, but let’s take care of these soldiers first and get your pendant. I promised that I would help you, and if it’s the last thing I do for you, I’ll retrieve your pendant.” Over his shoulder, he shouts, “Phily, come on.”
