Page 92 of The Blade in the Ashes
Slamming the book closed, I rolled back on my heels.
“We’re leaving,” I told them.
Dimitri shook his head, releasing my wrist as I stood but jamming a pointed finger in its direction. “After you see a healer.”
“You said yourself that Hyrax is blind with rage right now. There’s no better time for us to run than now, while he’s distracted.”
There was no way of knowing how long his anger would last. Especially while Caldrius was with him, who seemed to have a particular talent for calming the God.
It had already become clear that Hyrax had tired of my excuses about needing space and time on my own. Once he came to his senses, he would no doubt feel some strange need to attach me to his side more permanently in an attempt to erase what he had done to me in Hyrax Manor. He’d want to see me at every dinner. He’d want me seated to his right in every meeting.
If I was ever going to escape this place, it had to benow.
“I’ve packed a bag.” I gestured to where it lay on the bed. “We need to move.”
Nessira glanced towards the bag as she crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. Biting down on her lower lip, she looked as if she wanted to protest more, but something in my burning gaze must have convinced her I was right because she nodded and moved to pick up the book.
“Leave it,” I barked, lifting my good hand in a warning.
She frowned her confusion.
Slowly, my chin lowered so that I could look upon the worn leather once more. I didn’t bother to hide the way my face contorted in disgust. Sinking back onto my knees, I slid open it once more.
And then I began tearing out the pages.
“I don’t want it,” I spat. “And no one else should have it. It poisons anything it touches.”
After a few moments of watching me struggle, her fingers joined mine and the sound of pages being torn apart into tiny, unremarkable pieces was all that we heard. And with each page that we removed from that cursed book, I felt the tiniest bit of weight being removed from my shoulders.
When it was done, Dimitri stood, unsheathing the sword on his hip, before moving to the bedroom and gathering my small pack. He threw it over his shoulder while Nessira passed me a cloak before sliding her own arms into another.
“We need to move fast,” Dimitri warned, pressing his ear against the door of the suite to listen for any movement outside.
I nodded.
Nessira readied herself.
“Down Hyrax hallway, through the grand foyer, and out through the gardens. Then we go to the forest line.”
He considered the plan for a long moment. Nessira clenched and released her hands.
Finally, he nodded. “Let’s go.”
As I had expected, a guard waited for us at the end of Hyrax Hall. He turned when he heard my door open, frowning when Nessira and Dimitri stepped out with me.
Dimitri wasted no time.
He ran forward, his steps strangely light despite the speed with which he moved, and before Nessira and I could even process what was happening, he had spun under the guard’s intended blow. He covered the guard’s mouth with a hand, silencing him as he ran his sword clear through his stomach.
Nessira gasped, covering her own mouth as I stared wide-eyed at the rivulets of scarlet blood that dripped into a pool across the marble floor.
Blood on marble.
It had been everywhere on the day of the battle. It had stained the floors and the walls, making the white palace shine scarlet. Red was a truly awful color. It was the color of death, and it spread across the tile now just as easily as it had then.
A sharp tug on my fingers snapped me out of my thoughts as Nessira wrapped her hand in mine and began pulling me away. I tried not to look at the guard as I stepped over him. I didn’t want to see his face.
Casualties were a cost of war. I’d better get used to it.
