Page 67 of Of Blood and Banes
Shoving my fear and sadness aside, I tiptoe over her body. Blood wets my boots, and I creak open the door before sliding through it. Clenching my hand around the hilt of my dagger at my side, I make my way through a dusty, dimly-lit storage room until I find another door. Tossing a glance over my shoulder, Sethan nods from behind me. I unbolt the latch, and we spill out into the cobblestone street, sunlight flashing over us.
Daeja’s shadow looms overhead, blocking out the sun, and she lowers her muzzle to sniff the side of my head.
“I’m fine. Unharmed,”I assure her, wiping off her blood-smattered maw. I turn and ask Sethan, “Where are the others? Has anyone been able to get the civilians out?”
A’nala lifts her massive red head and freezes. Sethan looks up and follows her gaze to something in the distance, before he swings his brown gaze back to me. “They’re working on it, don’t worry. We need to…hey! Where do you think you’re going?” He snatches my forearm.
I swallow against the tension in my throat. “I have to go back. I have to help. The reason they’re here is because of me.”
“You don’t know that. More than likely, they were feeling daring with some ale, saw an opportunity to kill me while I was unsuspecting, and took it.”
“No…because the one Daeja pulled out of the window was the same one who tried to shoot us back in the forest after you and A’nala left.”
He drops my forearm. “What?”
“I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I didn’t want to admit I was wrong, and you were right.”
“What happened to not telling them?”Daeja grumbles.
“If I told them, perhaps we could have avoided this. Perhaps no one had to die. Not being honest was a mistake.”
Sethan sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. And I swear A’nala has the same exact expression.
As I retrieve the sword sheath on Daeja’s saddle and withdraw my blade, I mutter, “I made a mistake. But let me correct it, let me go back and save those people.”
“I can’t. If you die, those people die in vain. And the rest of the realm will suffer a similar fate.”
“And I can’t just stand by waiting!”
“You can, and you will!” he roars.
I lurch forward. “When are you going to understand I am not yours to command!”
“When you take your head out of your ass and realize this is much bigger than you!”
Clenching my teeth to silence my rage, my breath comes out of my nose in loud puffs. I stare him down, tightening my grip on my sword and about ready to brush past him.
He continues, a touch softer, “As a leader, you’ll make mistakes. Mistakes that will hurt the people around you, and you’ll have to live with that burden the rest of your life. But that is the vow we make when we step into a role like this. You have to look outside of yourself and what you want. Do you think I ever wanted to leave Melaina and her mother? Do you know how many nights I spent breaking over the fact I had to leave them in Arterias? How sometimes I felt like I needed to tie myself down from running back to rescue them?”
My breathing slows, and I tear my gaze away to look down toward the side of the building. Where the snapping of dragon jaws, shouts, and blade against blade rings out.
“It is not easy…” His voice lowers. “And it’s not fair. This isn’t a role I wish on anyone. But if you don’t, then no one will.”
I look up at him as he places a hand on my shoulder.
“This was my mistake, too. Gods be damned, I shouldn’t have given into your stubbornness and left you out alone. And I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard on our first riding lesson,” he says.
“Is that an apology?”
His head snaps back toward the building, mirroring A’nala. When he sweeps his attention back to me, he says, “It sounds like they’ve captured the last rebels.”
“How many casualties?” I say as we stride around the tavern toward the entrance, Daeja and A’nala hot on our tails.
“One bartender, and several of the rebels. Quite foolish of them to think they could take us down, considering our entire thunder is here.”
“Thunder…?”
“A group of dragons,” he answers.
