“That is unwise while the battle still rages,” she responds.
One choking breath rushes out of me.
“Then help me end what is left.”
Her lips press together. “I will not save you from one monster to give you to another. My words are not hollow.”
My head shakes side to side.
“I am not afraid. Thank you for giving me the truth—I treasure it. But I have to do this to help as many people as possible. Can you understand that?”
Her head dips as she studies my face, then reaches for my hand.
“From what I see of your soul and heart, I know you are good. I hope you come to see that too,” she says.
Good.
I want to be good—want it like air. At the very least, I want to not harm.
This decision will hurt. But at the end of the day, it will mostly only hurt me. And that is good enough.
Chapter 41
ARLET
The witch leads me away and the decision settles heavily on my shoulders. It locks into place around my heart.
I don’t look back. Because if I do, I might think of Vann’s heart. Or matehood. And then… I might break.
The way out of the cavern is quicker than I had anticipated, and soon, we reach the exit just as another explosion erupts on the shore.
At the mouth of the tunnel, I take it all in. We are on an incline from the beach, giving me a perfect view of the chaos. The wreckage of huts, broken bodies, and the scorched earth make my chest tighten. A pang of guilt shoots through me.
I feel small in the face of it, helpless.
“You will need to scream if you want them to hear you,” the woman says. “I can help you with that.”
She reaches out and places a weathered hand on my throat. I swallow, and then gasp in a deep breath.
“It is me! I am the one you seek! I will go with you!” The words spill from my lips, forced but final.
As soon as I am finished, the fighting falters for a heartbeat. The clashing of weapons slows, and a heavy silence fills the air. I feel the weight of every eye on me, and the pressure builds in my chest. I can't breathe.Not yet.
Without thinking, I scream again, my voice cutting through the quiet, raw and desperate. “I will go with you!” Miraculously, my plea works.
With a force that seems to ripple across the battlefield, Maelira raises her hand from over near a cluster of destroyed buildings. The air shivers under her power. Magic pulses outward, sweeping across the fighters, halting the chaos.
The battle stops.
I look around, my heart racing as I see the elves lower their weapons following the witches’ retreat. A group of them starts to move toward where I stand near the cave.
“Be safe, kin sister,” the witch says to me. “I am glad to have met you.”
“Stop!”
The sound of Vann’s voice snakes up my arms, curling around my neck, threading through my hair like lightning.
I begin walking toward the group of elves when the awareness comes over me. He hadn’t been easy to spot from the incline, but now I feel him. The particles of my being seek him out.