Page 63 of Lies That Bind
Elaine chewed the inside of her lip. “How do we keep the girls safe? Aisling, I think Maxim is capable of the things he says.”
Of killing my sisters? Of dragging me against my will to be his wife? Maybe. He had a firebird, too, so maybe.
“Over my dead body. And trust me, I don’t die easily,” I told her.
She nodded and swallowed hard. “Those girls are everything to me. And I know they are to you, too. So what do we do?”
I sighed, peering at Liana. “Liana thinks I should have Valor go into the Wilds early and get a creature to help protect her.”
Elaine gasped a little and then glanced at Liana with respect. “That might be genius.”
“Or it might get her killed,” I added.
‘Technically, I suggested all three girls go, not just Valor.’
‘No way. Val is the only one who might be ready. Trust me.’
Elaine glanced off into the distance as if thinking this through. “Why just Valor? Why not all of them?” It seemed she was having the same thoughts as Liana.
I made a strangled noise in my throat. “They’re fourteen! Valor is the only one who would bond strongly right now. The others would have weak bonds, and Victory might not even make it out of a bonding at all.”
She’d come out of it with a bunny rabbit or dead.
Elaine swallowed hard. “You’re right. But if we could train Val and she could bond strong, I would feel so much better about leaving them in Riverine.”
Soldiers passed by us, running to their next destination. I nodded and then stepped closer to my governess, lowering my voice so that only she could hear me. “Until Valor is trained, should we hide the girls away in the country? Take Gwen and a handful of trusted tutors and guards with them? Everyone in Riverine knows what they look like, but in the country…”
Elaine nodded. “They will hate you for it. No friends, no school, or social life…”
I shrugged. “If they are alive to hate me, I can live with that.”
“I’ll make it happen. Give me your list of trusted people, and I will make sure only they know. Does two months’ time seem like enough to get Valor trained?”
I scoffed. “No. But we will have to make it work.”
“Just to be clear, in two months we are sending Valor into the Wilds alone to bond early?” Elaine’s voice was slightly shaky, as if she, too, were scared of doing such a thing. When it was said so directly like that, fear overtook me.
“Yes,” I croaked.
If this Maxim character was as bad as Liana believed him to be, I wanted my sisters to have the best chance at protecting themselves. If I were to die in battle and not be able to become reborn, Valor would have to have a creature before she could rule as empress anyway.
“Are Tetra and everyone still underground?” I asked her. I wasn’t about to ask where Kohen was, but that’s who I wanted to see.
She shook her head. “They moved to Mohave bunkhouse, topside.” She pointed to a maroon brick building in the distance, and I thanked her.
Jogging across the quad, I saluted soldiers as I passed.
When I got to Mohave, I stepped into the women’s bunk first. There were half a dozen soldiers inside and just as many creatures lazing about. When they saw me, they all stood at attention, eyes wide as if I was there to inspect their bunks or something. All except Tetra, who stayed lying down and just peered up at me curiously.
“At ease,” I told everyone, and they relaxed.
“Hey, Ash,” she said, and then she addressed the entire room. “She may be the empress, but she’s also my best friend, so she will probably be coming here a lot. You don’t need to worry about it.”
I grinned at that, and the women in the room seemed to relax a little more.
I sat at the end of Tetra’s bed and glanced down at her bad foot. “Are you having a good or bad pain day?” I asked.
“Good. Why?”
