Page 60 of Lies That Bind
Relief washed over me. Maxim must have been watching me for a while, which was an unnerving thought, but he’d probably stolen the bows the night of my father’s assassination. Hell, he was probably the one who killed him. Maybe he wanted to hide it because he didn’t want me to know, as he was secretly obsessed with me like Liana said?
My father’s killer could have been Maxim if he’d been in our home, watching me for weeks, months, if it was since the Lottery.
It meant that, for now, my sisters were safe. But I wasn’t taking any second chances.
“I’m scared,” Victory said suddenly.
“I’ll leave you alone now, Empress,” Gwen said. I thanked her, and she left the room.
I climbed into bed with Vic and patted the sheet as the girls slid in next to me.
“I’m glad you’re home.” Victory yawned, spooning Virtue, who snuggled into her arms. They were feral kittens until they were scared, then they became little marshmallows.
I started to sing a song my mother used to sing when I was very young, and the girls drifted off to sleep. As I did, I checked in with Liana.
‘They’re okay,’I told Liana, but I knew that she felt it through our bond.
‘They might not be next time,’she told me.
I knew that, too, and I hated that she said it out loud.
‘What do I do? Bring them to live on base with me? That’s no place to grow up. And they are more likely to get hurt.’
‘I agree, but if you leave them here like this, they are sitting ducks.’
‘Got any suggestions?’I asked.
‘I do. You won’t like it, but I think you need to send them into the Wilds to claim a creature early.’
My singing sputtered to a stop.
‘Are you insane? They’re fourteen! They’ll die.’
I glanced down to see Victory fast asleep against me, as was Virtue, but Valor was watching me with wide, fearsome eyes. She said nothing about my stopping the song and just watched me in the pale moonlight that filtered through the window.
‘If we train them, they won’t. And once they bond creatures and get powers, they will be safer than you could ever make them.’
It was crazy. It had never been done. We went at nineteen—that was the rule.
‘You make the rules now. Just think about it.’
I couldn’t handle this right now. What Liana was suggesting was actually ridiculous. Send all three of my heirs into the Wilds at fourteen!
Why was Valor just staring at me like that? Why wasn’t she sleeping like the others?
‘Because she’s most like you. She won’t sleep until she’s dead tired. She doesn’t feel safe. She’d feel safe with a creature watching her back.’
I ignored Liana and reached out to squeeze Val’s shoulder. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” I vowed. “As long as I breathe, you are safe. Do you understand me?”
Valor barely blinked. “What if they kill you, too? Then what?”
Her stark assessment sliced into my heart. She was too young for this.
I sat up. “That’s not going to happen.”
She sat up too, meeting me head-on. “Father died. He was untouchable. You could be next.” Her voice shook.
I had to give her some information to calm her, assurance that I wouldn’t die as easily as our father.
