Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(115)

Every word he spoke fell like a ring of death between Evalle and Brina. This was not the moment to make a wrong decision.

Brina spoke in a quiet tone that carried the strength of a general’s order. “Hand the stone over to Tzader to be placed in the VIPER vault.”

“No. Keep it, Evalle,” Tristan yelled. “You’ll be safe forever. You can live free of persecution and the threat of being caged. Come with me and we’ll go far away from all the Beladors.”

Mesmerized at the connection she felt, Evalle stared at the rock that glowed like a molten rainbow. Live. Safe. Free. Her mind was lost in a haze of colors and words. She felt drugged.

“Evalle, do not do this!” Brina’s voice held a dire threat if she was not obeyed. “That rock puts every Belador’s future at risk if it is not put somewhere safe. The Kujoo could find a way to return to this time and destroy the entire tribe the next time. You must always put the tribe first.”

“Like the tribe put me first?” Tristan shot back at Brina. “A tribe shouldn’t turn their backs on each other. You locked me away for no reason. Evalle, ask Brina if I did anything before she sent me away to purgatory. Ask her!”

Tristan’s question got through to Evalle. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and raised her gaze to Brina. “Did Tristan commit any offense or shift into a beast?”

“Do not think to question me,” Brina warned.

Turning to Tzader, Evalle considered asking him telepathically, then changed her mind. Everyone needed to hear this answer. “Do you know the truth?”

Tzader cut his eyes at Brina, then back to Evalle. “Yes, but I wasn’t a part of sending him away. He’s telling the truth.”

“Tzader!” Brina’s hologram blazed with light. Sparks shot off the edges. She gave him a quelling look before shoving her glare at Evalle. “I do whatever is necessary to keep the Beladors safe from danger.”

The drugged feeling had to be the reason Evalle pursued her point. “Please, Brina. I need to know the truth. I’ve stood alongside Beladors since I was eighteen, and I need to know you acted with honor.”

Tzader made a noise Evalle took as a crushed curse.

When Brina spoke it was in a reverent tone. “I am bound by an oath as well. Many oaths, in fact. There are things I cannot share with anyone. You are not the only one who has to perform difficult tasks, but in your case you have the gift of making choices along the way. I have been given one task above all others and that is to oversee and protect my tribe. Protection comes in all forms. Beyond that I will only say that I did act in honor.”

For the first time since taking her oath as a Belador warrior, Evalle wondered what it would be like to be Brina. To live away from everyone, holding the power of the Beladors by her presence on an island. To exist solely to serve and to have no choice in the matter.

Maybe she hadn’t given Brina enough credit.

But she still didn’t know where she stood with Brina.

“What about me?” Evalle asked quietly. “Am I a danger to be locked away, too?”

Brina didn’t hesitate. “If you were you would not be here now.”

Evalle noted that Brina did not really answer her question.

Heat pulsed from the rock, sending waves of energy up Evalle’s arm. She swallowed, trying to think clearly.

Quinn asked Evalle, “Are you ready to turn your back on the Beladors? If you do not obey Brina, that’s what you’re doing.”

Indecision hovered over her. She knew to do the right thing, but there was that tiny part of her that wanted desperately to be safe and secure. To know she could live without a cloud of doubt always hanging over her.

To know who you are is the greatest power of all.

There was that strange voice in Evalle’s mind again. The same one that had told her when the rock had been found.

Who was it?

Tristan pleaded, “Bring the rock and come with me. I’ll take care of you, Evalle.”

“I’ll take care of you.” The doctor who’d raped her when she was a teen had spoken those same words.

That flushed her mind clear of the fog that the rock had been weaving through her thoughts. The Beladors had rescued her from being locked away in a basement, at the mercy of the world. Tzader had said she had to give trust to get it in return.

Keeping this Ngak Stone meant she’d forever be safe from being caged, but at the risk of walking away from who she was and everything she held dear. “I. Am. A. Belador.”

Brina’s face softened in a way Evalle had never seen. In a gentler voice, she said, “Yes, you are. We take care of our own. It’s time to finish this.”

“Don’t do this, Evalle,” Tristan begged. “Brina will listen to you. Send me to another continent. Don’t put me back in that cage.”

“I’m sorry, Tristan.” And she was. Evalle lifted the rock toward him.

“No! Kill. Me. Now.”

Even with all the trouble he’d caused, she felt his agony. She, too, would rather die than be caged. She would not forsake him and the other Alterants, but she had to protect the world and her tribe first. She spoke to the Ngak Stone. “Send Tristan back to his South American cage.”

Tristan’s blood-curdling scream thrashed through the room, then squeezed down to silence when he disappeared.