Page 18 of Lies That Blemish
No more than a minute passed, and I felt Liana bristle.‘Onyx confirms those are Kohen’s brothers. He claims to have sent them to protect Valor. That she will bond a Talanagi. They are headed to Luska now.’
‘No. It’s a trap,’I told her, feeling a surge of panic as I envisioned my little sister taken and tortured by Maxim.
‘Kohen claims both of his brothers and Valor will all bond Talanagi if they work together.’
‘I don’t want her to bond a Talanagi!’I snapped. ‘I want her to stay in our territory!’
She nodded.‘Before I closed the bond again, Onyx said that if you interfere and keep Valor from this, she will bond a lesser creature, and Amersea will not accept it. That it will be the end of the empire.’
I let those words settle into me and wondered how I would feel if my great-great-grandfather’s legacy were to end with me. I’d always been a bit uncomfortable with the fact that I was given an entire country simply because of birthright. But I’d seen what greed could do, what crooked politicians in high places could do.I would never be like that. Valor wouldn’t either. We would keep Amersea safe. Prosperous.
I hated that right now I was being asked to trust the last person I wanted to. I should have killed him when I had the chance because now I was falling under Kohen’s spell again. Inch by inch, he’d wormed his way into my heart, and now I was just confused.
‘Tell Onyx that if my little sister dies or is gravely injured going after a Talanagi on Kohen’s advice, I will fly into Imbria this very night and kill him.’I wasn’t playing around anymore. I’d been protecting Arjun and Tej from the war by not hitting the city of Sorak, but if they allowed Valor to perish, all bets were off.
Liana was silent a moment.‘He said if Valor sustains a mortal injury, he will submit himself to you, surrendering to your justice immediately.’
I scoffed. What a perfect thing to say. I guessed now all we could do was wait.
And pray. I decided right then and there to start taking prayer more seriously.
May the stars watch over my little sister now.
Chapter 9
Valor
I couldn’t believemy sister sent Iniki to look for me! Well, I could, but I was mortified. And scared of what her reaction would be. She now knew I was with Kohen’s brothers. She was probably livid, ready to march in here and call the whole thing off.
“I wonder if my brother knows your sister is engaged?” Arjun asked.
“Who cares,” I said.
Tej and Arjun shared a look.
“What?” I said when they didn’t respond.
“When Kohen returned, and Aisling started bombing us, the people were ready to march on Amersea and take her head. We have more citizens than you do—ten to one.”
That was a chilling calculation.
“We have better weapons, and more trained soldiers with bonded than you,” I shot back.
Tej nodded as if agreeing. “But if one million people march across your border, eventually you’d get overrun.”
My heart fluttered in my chest. Was that a threat?
“Calm down, little heir,” Tej teased me. “I’m just telling you the facts because they were ready to kill your sister for bringing war to our lands after we just found peace.”
“Well, why didn’t they?” I asked as we walked deeper north. I could see the Wall now.
“My brother. He told everyone how he killed the emperor and that Aisling had every right to retaliate. He told them she was a woman of good character and would never harm a life without just cause. He spoke so passionately about her, people started to wonder if they had… been a couple.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I kept quiet. My mind couldn’t deal with any of that right now.
After stopping to eat a meal and make more coffee, which we all shared, we trudged on throughout the day until we reached the Wall.
The boys stopped and consulted their map, and I felt nervousness eat at my stomach. I’d lost track of time. It was definitely day two. But how far into it, I didn’t know. I pulled my watch out of my pack and balked at the time. It was dinnertime on the second day. We’d been walking forever with little rest. I felt so weary. There was no way I was going to be able to fight a Talanagi in this shape. I was dead on my feet, my eyelids heavy as well as my limbs. The coffee only made me jittery and didn’t seem to give me any real energy.
