Page 8 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
“Hal?”
And Niels’ nagging brought that madness ever closer. He was trying to be kind, she knew, but he wasn’t getting the hint.
Hallie rolled back onto the cot as softly as she could, trying not to let it creak as she pulled Kase’s jacket more tightly around her shoulders. If she were quiet enough, she could feign sleep, a near-foolproof way to avoid the man she’d been meant to marry a lifetime ago.
“Hal? I know you’re in there.”
Well, of course he would know that. He’d moved his own tent next to hers. Whatever reservations he’d had before must’ve evaporated, much to her chagrin. If he would only leave her alone, she might be able to hear herself think well enough to finally figure things out.
Instead of answering, Hallie rolled to face the tent wall. She’d managed to avoid any serious conversations with him so far. The only words she’d spoken werethank youwhen he’d brought her food from Ms. Vella’s cookpot. He had regularpatrol duty for the first half of the day, so at least she could avoid him during breakfast and lunch.
Ms. Vella had always had a soft spot for both Hallie and Jack. She and her husband had lost their own son in the Great War, so she’d called them the grandchildren she never had. For the past two mornings, while Niels was safely occupied elsewhere, Hallie had gone to sit with her and eat breakfast. The woman had no one else—her husband had died in the Cerl attack. That news had thrown a punch into Hallie’s gut, but she’d taken the blow well enough; it was a feeling she’d grown too accustomed to the past few months.
“Ms. Vella made chicken and dumplings.” Niels’ shadow bent down, a bowl clattering as he set it at the tent’s entrance. “Guy’s also promised to tell a few stories.”
Guy had been the resident bard before the attack. Now, he’d stepped into the role of village leader. All the old ones were dead, and her father had left for the capital.
“Then they’re gonna talk about going back,” Niels added. “Thought you might be interested in that conversation, at least.”
Now that Achilles had been neutralized, some of the villagers felt safe to return to their homes. Others believed the caverns still offered protection from anything else that might come their way. They didn’t realize Hallie was the reason the fort fell. The story was that something within the fort detonated and destroyed it. Hallie hadn’t corrected them.
But if Correa was dead, then what leader did they have? Had King Filip survived the attack, or did they really expect the village bard to play that part with this terrifying world as his stage?
Hallie shut her eyes and pretended—wished—she really was asleep. If she closed her eyes long enough, maybe she could pretend well enough to make it real.
Not that her dreams were much of an escape. Most of the time, Kase was there…sometimes kissing her, sometimes disintegrating beneath her fingertips. Before Achilles, her dreams had been riddled with the trauma of theEudora Jaydejourney, but since the fort’s destruction, the nightmares had shifted, worsened. They almost felt more real than her waking hours.
In the nightmares, fire raced in her blood, and the air smelled of ash as Kase’s skin fell away. His scream still pierced her ears when she woke up.
Screams, because she’d failed to take on the Essence over and over again. Screams because Correa had tortured him.
Lightning, fire, screaming, ash.
Hallie clenched every muscle at once, willing the memories away.
“I’ll just leave your food here.” Niels paused. “Hope you decide to join us.”
I’m safe. We’re not in Achilles. I’m safe. Kase is safe.
Slowly, Hallie relaxed her tight muscles and took deep breaths as his footsteps faded away. The other survivors chatted amicably, likely preparing the evening meal for their families or heading to wherever Guy had decided to tell his stories that night. But how could Hallie join something so normal when the world around them was so wrong? She couldn’t help them decide whether or not to return to the village proper—she couldn’t even decide what to stare at.
Just to make her own point, she rolled over and inspected the portrait once more. The life in Jack’s eyes struck her to the core.
If her brother hadn’t died, would he have been roped into this as well? If he’d been here, would he have been the one to take on the power, to allow Hallie to live her life in ignorant bliss?
Was it wrong to wish that he had?
Of course, if he had survived, she would’ve never met Kase.
Stars, her chest ached. She just wanted him to be there. She wanted him to tell her it was going to be all right, that they would find a way through whatever horrors awaited them.
She blinked away the moisture pooling in her eyes. No use wishing for things that would never be. She could only do what Kase needed her to do…for herself and for Yalvara.
She took a deep breath. The sooner she found the Passage, the sooner she could find a way back to Kase.
If her power allowed it.
Finally, she made up her mind and pulled the latest journal out of her pack. She had a job to do, and she didn’t have the luxury of pretending the world outside the cavern walls didn’t exist.
