Page 11 of Of Blood and Banes
The soldiers surrounding us part, and the screeching sound of metal grinding against each other has us all whip back to the entrance. The drawbridge closes with a thunderousslam.
“Take your seats,” Sethan commands, the room naturally amplifying his voice.
Underneath the watchful, heavy stares from Sethan and his soldiers, we all shuffle into the available seats at the table by Sethan’s. As I settle into a seat next to Melaina, Archie leans over from the other side of her and flashes a toothy smile.
“Good morning, sunshine!” He’s completely oblivious to the tense hostility hanging in the air between our group and the rebels.
Nolan looks like he’s about to burst out of his damn skin while Gavin pulls him down into a seat. Meanwhile, the soldiers posted near the walls have their hands already bracing their weapons. The few rebels who sit at the same table as us scan our expressions like we may explode at any second. As if one wrong look or movement may splinter whatever morsel of peace we are currently holding on to.
Tawny sits across from me, her eyes meeting mine, and a part of me relaxes. Something tells me I can count on her to keep her people in check—even if it’s so obvious they detest us. Servants appear out of a hallway in the far corner of the room and begin to distribute plates of steaming food to all of us.
“Welcome to the Midkeep community hall! How are you feeling?” Tawny’s gaze darts down to my side as someone sets plates in front of us.
I follow her gaze down to my ribs and gingerly touch the area where bandages wrap around my torso, hidden by thick black layers of winter clothes she gifted me yesterday.
“You’re going to need these for later,” she’d said.
As if I didn’t need them currently. Now that we’re in the dead of winter, and this far north? It’s cold enough to freeze the hells over. The clothes I had back in Arterias wouldn’t have been enough for the chill here.
I smile, peering up at Tawny. “Good, I think. And…thank you for the clothes.”
“If you want to thank me, convince the rest of your group to accept our help. The least they can do,” she glances over to Gavin and Nolan, her nose wrinkling as she beholds the stains mottling their clothes, “is change into something clean. We have more than enough clothing and food to share with everyone.”
Nolan shifts his attention from the untouched food on his plate to Tawny, his brown eyes narrowing. “We don’t need to smell and look like you. I’d rather parade around naked than be associated with you barbaric, traitorous excuses for people.”
Tawny arches an eyebrow, her expression teetering between anger and amusement. “Oh, really? Then by all means,” she waves her hand in the air, “parade. You have a lot of nerve speaking to me like that, you?—”
“Tawny,” Corvin warns farther down the table.
I can’t help my own sense of disgust and anger piquing when I recall last night’s events and how merciless Corvin had beat Darian. How easily he pulled the whip back and struck him. How Darian’s blood dripped from his fingers.
Maybe I’m not so hungry anymore.
I scan the room for Darian, my mouth growing dry as I begin to accept he isn’t here. It’ll be a conversation I need to have with Sethan.
Tawny growls at Nolan, “We are trying to show you kindness?—”
Nolan leans over to spit across the table in her direction, and it lands directly on the back of her hand.
Oh…fuck.
When she flicks her gaze up from her hand to Nolan, her eyes burn with an unkempt fury.
Everyone explodes into action.
Rebel against Arterian.
Tawny shoves up from her seat as she draws her sword from her side. Nolan snatches his plate off the table, dumps the food onto the floor, then wields it like it might be a serviceable weapon. The servants muffle shrieks as they scurry away from us, and the guards at the walls rush in. I hold out a hand to Tawny to keep her from attacking, and the rest of the people at the tables draw their weapons, sliding metal ringing in the air as sword after sword is unsheathed.
Nolan lunges across the table at Tawny as Gavin dives after him, barely catching a fistful of his shirt. Nolan climbs over the stone table and drags a muttering Gavin with him. Melaina snatches the front of Nolan’s shirt and rips him down off the table with a vigor that would make any father proud. His back hits the stone tile floor with a shudder.
“What are you doing, Nolan?” she spits as she pins him down.
Archie scrambles out of his seat and draws one of the forks from the table. It’s too bad they hadn’t decided to trust us with knives yet. I scan the other Arterians around us, finding Cole several seats down near the entrance. He breaks up a fist fight between an Arterian and a rebel as other guards crowd in.
Tawny, thank the Gods, has the self-control to still be watching from the other side of the table as Melaina wrestles to keep Nolan still. My discipline is wearing thin as I keep reminding myself I promised Marge I’d take things easy. I’m lucky enough the first two splits in my stitches haven’t led to a serious infection or immediate death. And I’m not trying to test the ‘third time’s a charm’ theory. Considering Marge throws me a pointed stare from across the room, she’s thinking the same.
“Oh, so now that daddy is their leader, you’re on their side?” Nolan snarls at Melaina. “You’re just as much of a traitorous bitch?—”
