I ponder his words while we stare at each other. I admit I don’t handle surprise and uncertainty well. If what he says is true, we don’t know what gifts they have and the damage they can do in battle. It’s already bad enough that our gifts don’t work against them and, unlike them, I have no intention of bleeding ra dry to protect all the Purebloods. There will be those left exposed to the metamorphs. I know it’s selfish, but I can’t use ra.

    “What will you do, Draven?” he asks as if he were reading my thoughts.

    “What would you do?”

    He steps up to the bars of his cell and grips them with his bronzed hands.

    “Promise me peace with the Diluted and we’ll fight,” he says. “I know you have something to fight for, ra means to you as much as my son and the people who have entrusted me with their lives mean to me. I can see the doubt and the fear in your eyes, you know people will die and you don’t want her to be one of them.”

    “If I promise you peace, you’ll have to promise me to follow the rules.”

    “As long as they’re fair.”

    “Fine.” I nod. “The Diluted will fight by our side. What do you think is best?”

    “Are you asking me for strategic advice?b” /b

    “Do you want that peace or not?”

    The things I do for you, ra.

    Eleazar’sugh is warm and brief.

    “The metamorphs have ra’s blood and its properties, though I don’t think they have enough to make them all fe They’ll bluff and that’s exactly what we’ll do too. The strongest fighters need to be immune. Cassian.

    “I’m not giving you her blood.”

    “I’m not telling you to let us bite her, I know you wouldn’t allow that.” He looks at me with eyes that no longer hold a hint of amusement, rather he seems to understand all the reasons for my refusal and regret having to ask re nheless. “Deep down you know as well as I do that it’s necessary. We’ll be exposed. If your gifts don’t work against them and theirs do, we’re dead.”

    Thatst word reverberates in my head like a damn gong. Dead. I can’t allow it. I don’t just want to stay here to live all the days ahead with her, I want to see what we’ve created grow, I want to be someone better for my family and for that I need

    tomorrow.

    “We should also have meetings between Purebloods and Diluted to n the attack and coordinate. We must smooth things over and make sure we’ll have each other’s backs, without that, there’s no hope.”

    “That may be even more difficult than letting you taste a single drop of ra’s blood.”

    “You’re their leader, aren’t you? Act like it, and while you’re at it, you could let me y my part too and mobilize mine.”

    I growl, letting loose that more animal side I try to repress.

    “You know where my son is, the color of his eyes, his name. You know he’s my weakness. I won’t do anything that puts him at risk,” he says, and I can feel the sincerity. “We both have someone to fight for. Let me do my part.”

    My teeth grind and, although I know he’s right, a part of me would be d to see him rot in here. I cannot forget the time of

    10:34 Mon, 25 Aug P ?

    301%

    agony, the time I was separated from ra because of his betrayal. Maybe everything would have led us to the same point, but I guess we’ll never know because the reality is he sold her to our natural enemies.

    I clench my fists and give him onest look before turning around and walking out of there. I hear the p of his hands against the bars of his cell.

    “Hey! I thought we were starting to understand each other! Get me out of here!”

    I nce over my shoulder and brush away some invisible dirt from my clothes.

    “A night of reflection wouldn’t hurt you,” I say in a rxed tone. “Besides, you don’t actually think I’d personally free you, do you? I have people to handle that, to minimize contact with the filth.”

    1 throw him my arrogant smile and leave, hearing the click of the door closing behind me. The look I give the guards is firm and, inside their heads, I nt in whispers the orders they are to follow. They nod and square their shoulders. I retrace the path back to my chambers, where I find Drystan and Ank engaged in what seems like a very interesting conversation. The little smander is sitting on a candle on my desk, swinging her legs as if she were on a swing, while Drystan listens attentively.

    “Women often just need time and space to know what we want.”

    “I’ve given her time and space.”

    “She needs more,” the smander scolds. “You spent every day chasing her through this castle. Let her think. If she’s meant for you, no matter what happens, she’ll always find a way back to you.”

    I clear my throat to draw their attention. They try to act as if they hadn’t just had a session of sentimental therapy. I circle my desk without taking my eyes off them, sit down, andce my hands in front of my face, waiting for one of the two to deign to exin what they’re doing here.

    “Isn’t there something you want to tell me?” Ank asks, fluttering hershes.

    I raise my eyebrows in astonishment.

    Little bold one.

    “I don’t know, you tell me.”

    “Weren’t you going to tell me I’m going to be an aunt?”

    I raise my eyebrows even higher and lean back in my seat.

    “Last time I checked, I didn’t have a sister, much less one from another race.”

    “Oh,e on, you know what I mean,” she replies, waving her hand dismissively.

    Drystan can’t hide the tremor of his lips as he tries to contain hisughter. The seriousness on my face doesn’tst long either, since it seems impossible to stay impassive for too long in front of Ank. She manages to make everyoneugh and look at her with tenderness, but I know it’s all a fa?ade. Beneath the adorable smander, there hides an ancient power.

    “Don’t act offended either, I know you visit her through the fire.”

    “I can’t let that little one catch a chill.”

    I extend a finger in her direction and she quickly gets the hint. She stands on her little legs and leaves the candle to perch on my finger. I bring her up to my eyes and with my other hand I stroke her me–wrapped hair. Rarely do I allow myself the luxury of smiling in front of others, and this is one of those rare asions.

    “Thank you, Ank.”

    IVIOTT, 23 Aug

    61%8

    I don’t say it only because she takes care of ra when I can’t and worries as much as I do, but because I know the has always been here for me. Even if 1 released her from that promise she made to my mother, she would still be here. We’re spent too many years together, sometimes with only each other’spany. Sometimes in silence, other times listening to her scolding. I’ve broken her heart many times when I acted like a monster, and that’s why ra is as special to her as she is to me. With ra 1 am the person she always wanted me to be. Not for selfish reasons, but because she makes me happy.

    “All for that little one,” she replies.

    I can see the blush on her cheeks.

    Now it’s Drystan’s turn to clear his throat and pull us both out of this overly sincere moment.

    “I heard you visited Eleazar.”

    “That’s right,” I say, returning the smander to the mes. “We agreed that the Diluted will fight by our side

    He can’t hide his astonishment, raising his eyebrows almost to his hairline. I smile, satisfied with his reaction.

    “And what does he want in return?b” /b

    “What he’s always wanted, I suppose. Peace.”

    “That’s not a simple thing.”

    I review the maps on my desk and grab pen and paper to start scribbling down some notes that might be useful. Both of them watch me attentively, without interrupting.

    “That’s why it will be the first thing I put on the table tonight, at the meeting.”

    “Perfect.”

    I don’t look up from what I’m doing, but I feel the exact moment when both of them vanish and leave me alone Ser jotting down everything I find important on these maps. Laying an ambush for them in thework funnels the would be a good possibility, though also a dangerous one. While I remain focused on it, In’t stop thing about on in particr: ra’s blood.

    It might be a bluff and the metamorphs may not have enough of it to make an entire army immune; nevertheless, are v willing to take the risk? If all of ours are left exposed, this war is lost. Even so, there’s a feeling of possessiveness that prevents me from thinking rationally, it doesn’t even allow me to present the facts to ra because I know, deep down in my being that she would yield for themon good.

    When I think I have everything ready, I leave my chambers and head for the entrance, where Drystan soon joins me. I roll up the paper and tuck it inside my jacket. As I leave and begin the route ito /iour destination, I am unaware that all this is more difficult than I think, that we will require more meetings to reach ba /bmon agreement, that strategies will be proposed an just as easily discarded, and meanwhile time will keep running, the weeks will keep passing.

    bAD /b

    Comment

    Send gift

    No Ads

    10:34 Mon, 25 Aug PM.