Page 170 of Rite of Unity

Chapter 42

Calden

Istoodontheledge,skin tingling under my shirt where our shoulders had brushed.Half a second.Less, but my world had been reduced to that moment.After a lifetime of false smiles and petty rivalries built on the backs of those who couldn’t give this country sons, something real,someonereal, had burrowed under my skin and made a home there.

I should haul her over my shoulder and take her from this place, from this life.

But the stubborn set of her jaw and those cold eyes told me everything.

Maryn Veil would not be moved from her path.Not unless someone erased the path altogether.

The relief I’d felt at sharing my secret, the one I’d kept from everyone for three years, was immediately crushed by the weight of Maryn’s words.She would sacrifice herself for her mission.She’d throw her life away for the rebels’ cause.

I couldn’t let her.Wouldn’t let her.

A scraping sound from inside her room had me glancing up.Another thump and my body moved before my mind did.Three years of training every reaction out of myself, but with one sound from that room, I was already climbing.

I glanced around the space, spying two pairs of legs flailing wildly on the other side of the bed.

In four long strides, I was across the room, tearing Lydia off Maryn.

She swung a blade, nearly catching my cheek.I grabbed it, relishing the bite of sharp steel on my palm as I tore it from her grasp and tossed it to the floor.

Her eyes were wild as she clawed at me, trying desperately to scratch or bite.Behind her, Maryn coughed and sputtered, struggling to sit up.

Lydia’s nail caught my cheek, dragging a line of fire across it.I wrapped a hand around her wrist, grabbing the other and pinning them together.

“Be still,” I hissed.

She flailed in my grip, twisting her wrist at an odd angle; the crack that followed made me wince.But she didn’t cry out, didn’t even slow as she brought her elbow up, knocking the underside of my chin until my teeth clacked together.

“I’m taking you to Covenant Security.Let’s go.”I dragged her toward the door, but a vicious laugh burst from her, and I glanced back.

“Go ahead!Tell them you came into a matched girl’s room.”She cackled.

My gaze darted to Maryn, still gasping on the floor.

“I should kill you.”

“Do it.It’s better than my future if I live.”

She wanted to shock me, to get a rise out of me, but she didn’t know who she was dealing with.Did Lydia think she deserved a quick death after attempting to murder my—

“Who would believe your story over mine?”

Her snide grin faltered, the color leeching from her face.

“Calden,” Maryn croaked.My name, dry and cracked on her lips, sent tiny earthquakes rocketing through my chest.

“Let’s go.”I dragged Lydia toward the door, sparing another glance at Maryn, whose eyes were pleading.

Lydia saw my distraction and, quicker than I could register, kicked out, knocking Maryn’s head into her bedpost.

The sound cracked through me like a gunshot.She slumped to the floor, eyes fluttering closed.

“Maryn.”My pulse thundered as I dropped to my knees, two fingers pressing to her temple.

Steady.I exhaled.