Page 99 of Tarnished Crown
I tried not to think about the blood seeping between Evander’s fingers, wondering how much of it belonged to him, how badly he was injured.
Instead, I took all of that anger, uncertainty, and rage, and channeled it into each arc of my blade as we fought off more and more of the Unclanned until there were none left standing.
CHAPTER64
“Answer. Me.” Evander’s voice was colder than the ice surrounding us. Lethal, and dripping with the promise of pain, though his face was a mask of deadly calm.
He pressed the tip of his blade into the neck of the man in front of him, the man he had let live for this very purpose.
Taras was standing next to him with the same dangerous expression, his arms crossed over his chest, as if he was physically holding himself back, waiting for permission to finish the Unclanned off.
The man on the ground took a stuttering breath, his eyes wild with panic. He tried to scramble backwards, but only slipped in the melting snow.
“Please,” he spoke the common tongue in an accent similar to Kirill’s. “They’ll die if I don’t--”
His eyes darted over to me and back to Evander again.
Understanding washed over me. The men had been right before. Itwasabout me. Evander’s impassive face faltered for just a moment, just long enough to show the Unclanned man the full might of his fury.
“If you don’t what?” Taras cut in and asked, his voice almost an exact replica of his cousin’s.
“We were paid to kill the princess,” he stammered. “Some woman paid us--she said there would be more for the man that succeeded.”
My gut churned, and I felt hollow.
“What is her name?” Evander’s voice was even colder now.
“I don’t know. I was--” He raised his arms protectively as if he had sensed what was coming next. “I was just trying to feed my family.”
In spite of everything, something inside me broke at his admission.
“I understand.” Evander’s expression remained unreadable as he arched his sword and brought it down again.
Even though I didn’t blame Evander, I had to look away. I still heard the moment the man died. Still saw more red coating the snow.
My face suddenly felt too hot, my stomach twisted in knots, and my vision swam. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to block out the images of death. Of the Unclanned that attacked us on the way to the Summit. The group that came after them, on the way to Bear estate.
The poor souls dead on the ground all around us.
Ava.Ava hated me so much that she allowed countless men to die in an effort to kill just one person?
My parents had told us about the war before, how hunger and poverty can make people do terrible things, but I had never seen it up close. I had never been the catalyst for it.
Someone stood next to me, nearly touching my shoulder. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know it was Evander. His presence was nearly as familiar to me as my own. Peering up at him now, I saw the pain that hid behind his mask of anger.
The edges of defeat that were creeping in on him.
He looked away, and that mask slipped back into place like the armor it was.
CHAPTER65
It was hours before we made it to the next town with our somber procession.
We pulled the bodies of Igor and Dmitriy behind the horses on makeshift litters. The howling wind fought us each step of the way, sending snow drifts flying toward us and making the journey infinitely more difficult than it already was.
The cold had seeped well into my bones, long since numbing my extremities. The men curled in on themselves inside of their cloaks, but whether it was from the cold or from the impenetrable fog of loss and grief that had settled over us, I couldn’t be certain.
Maybe it was both.