Page 187 of Of Blood and Banes
I promised him no more secrets.Even if it’s an awkward conversation to have, I say, “Darian and I…last night…we kind of had…I don’t know.” I sigh. “A moment?”
His eyebrows shoot up his forehead. “Oh…really? Umm…that’s…great?”
I scratch the back of my head. “Yeah, I don’t really know.”
An awkward silence settles between us. He breaks it up by saying, “Well, if you ever want to talk about it. I’m here!”
We both smile until we blow out laughs at how awkward the tension is between us.
He continues, “Anyway, I came to tell you Melaina is calling an urgent meeting. Someone ratted us out to King Aaric, telling him we’d be in Nightfort before the battle. And it couldn’t have been anyone in the council because they wouldn’t have been able to make it happen so quickly. The only people who knew we were coming to Nightfort before the council are the ones traveling in our group.”
“What?”
“We have a traitor in our midst.”
Oh, Gods, if it’s Darian…my heart thunders in my chest as we all gather in Nightfort’s community hall.How could I have trusted him? How could I have been so stupid? He told me so many times I shouldn’t trust him?—
“Yesterday’s battle was an unnecessary slaughter. Had the citizens of Nightfort not come to our aid, I firmly believe more of us wouldn’t be standing here today,” Melaina calls out, her voice still hoarse with grief. She’s standing on a small platform near the grand hearth at the northernmost part of the room, looking out across our group of Arterians and Vitalans.
“Had King Aaric’s Close Circle members not been tipped off, many of our friends, our family—” Her voice cracks, and she clears her throat, before continuing in a steadfast tone, “Would still be here today.”
With her chin lifted, she exchanges a glance with the Nightfort guards posted beside her. They all shift toward us, with more of them coming up behind our group. Trapping us.
“Detain them all for questioning,” she announces as several soldiers snatch those on the outside perimeter of our group. “And search their rooms.”
Archie lifts his hands in surrender as one nabs him by the back of the neck. Cole willingly offers his wrists as three of them approach him. Darian smirks and lifts his manacled hands to remind one soldier there’s no extra step needed. The rest of the crowd shifts, and a soldier rests a hand on my back to guide me out of the throng and up the steps to where Melaina is.
“Is this necessary?” I hiss. “You’re making me an exception?”
She swings her attention to me. “You don’t need to be detained nor questioned. There’d be no reason for you to betray us.”
I glance over my shoulder at the rest of our group, now mostly shackled and gripped by one or more guards. But what about Archie? Cole? Gavin or Nolan? The ones who’ve been with us since the beginning? “And the dragon riders? They made a pact to Sethan, too. Why arrest them?”
“It’ll make for a fair trial if we question everyone,” Melaina responds. Not bothering to look me in the eye. With one gesture, the guards begin to shuffle everyone shackled back out of the building.
As soon as they all leave, I look at her. “Even Archie? You know for a fact he wouldn’t betray anyone.”
“Do I?” She finally looks at me.
“You’re upset. Your father died, and I understand?—”
“What do you mean youunderstand?” she spits. “You never even met your father, right? So how can you possibly talk to me like you understand?”
“This isn’t you, Melaina. This is grief. And while I may have never met my father, I still grieve for him all the same. I didn’t have the tender moments and memories you had. I had hopes. Wishes. The ‘what ifs.’ Someone once told me forever isn’t for people—it’s for memories. And you have that. You have tohold on to them.”
“Get out.”
“Melaina, what if this is a mistake? You already knew the King had undercover soldiers in the Dragon Lands. For all we know, they could have been following us!”
“I said get out!”
A guard grabs me by the forearm, and I rip out of his grasp as I spit back, “What happens when you question everyone and get no answers, hmm? Are you even questioning the council?”
“I owe you no answers.”
“You do when you hold my friends as prisoners!”
Her expression darkens. “If they won’t willingly give me the answers I need, then I suppose I’ll have to force them, won’t I?”
