Fantasy of Fire (The Tainted Accords #3)(18)
“They’re over there.” He jabs a fingers across the clearing.
I study the six men gathered in a tight group on the outskirts of the Meeting Island. All of them are tall. All of them have dark hair. After half a revolution, I still have only a pitiful amount of information about Kedrick’s killer.
A sobering thought strikes me. What if more than one of them was involved?
“Which traders go to Osolis?” I struggle to keep my voice from shaking. The assassin had first struck there. He’d also tried to kill Ashawn on Glacium, but that wasn’t until much later.
“Firo, Nosh, and Jude.”
I take note of the three lean men Hamish points out. My hands tremble beside me and I realize they’ve been doing it for some time. Why don’t I feel anything when I look at these men? There’s no change in the burning wrongness I feel. No resounding clarity, or sense of condemnation. I always thought I’d know when I came face-to-face with the murderer of the first boy I loved.
Now, six men stand before me and I have absolutely no idea who it could be. But I know the perfect way to get each of them to talk! A few broken fingers will get me my answers. And then I can end this once and for all! I feel the lick of white-hot rage as my fury directs my line of thought.
Hamish puts a hand on my shoulder. “Willow?”
I scowl up at him and he flinches back, his hand covering his mouth. Shock splices through the weight of my anger, enough for me to recognize I’m seconds away from losing it. And I can’t. I can’t lose it. I take shuddering breaths. I’m not here to find Kedrick’s killer. But I’ve destroyed the pathway now! Glacium is safe. Maybe it’s my turn to do something I want. I struggle to suppress the overpowering rage before it consumes me.
Glacium and the Ire have just forged an alliance. I am playing the part of ambassador to King Jovan. There are over fifty Ire folk here right now, plus the leader of the Ire. If I torture five men, and kill the sixth, I can count the alliance over.
Peace used to lead me. Does it still? Or is peace for na?ve little girls, like the person I used to be?
My teeth are clenched so tightly, they feel like they’re going to break.
“Fuck!” I whisper, curling my hands into fists. There are too many people here. Unless I want to undo everything I’ve accomplished with Adox, I need to walk away.
I still want peace.
“Hamish,” I snap.
He jerks from where he watches me, two meters away. I take another breath. “Hamish.” My voice is calmer. False calm. Inside I’m a churning mess. I want to snap the traders like twigs. I want Glacium to be safe. I want to forge a lasting union between two peoples. I want revenge on the person who slaughtered Kedrick like an animal!
Hamish edges closer and I turn to him.
“I need everything you know about those six men. Everything. Right now.”
*
I fly in a stupor for the majority of the trip back to Glacium. Hamish’s information and my anger are the only things keeping me awake. One day, when everyone is safe, I’ll return. And Kedrick’s killer will meet the end they deserve.
I’m roused by the sight of an army camped at the bottom of the Oscala. Jovan’s army. The tents spread back as far as the eye can see. The king has been busy in my absence. He’s mobilized the entirety of his force, as promised, in case I failed in stopping the Solati’s progress.
The enormity of the Bruma army is what’s always kept Glacium on even footing against the Solati force. My people are a single, one-minded unit, commanded by the Head of Guards. Bruma don’t have the same discipline. Though skilled, they rely on numbers and brute strength to match our carefully designed war strategies and rigorously trained soldiers. There must be a thousand men camped below. Jovan is probably there with them. I hesitate for a few seconds, wondering if I should land close by and check if he’s there. The men are tiny dots from up here, but as I peer closer, I notice their faces are tilting up, looking at me. Some of them are pointing!
How well can they see me? I don’t have my veil on. It’s stuffed down the front of my suit. Surely their eyesight is not that good. The unwanted attention makes my decision for me. I press forward on the bar to pick up my pace, and soon the camp is behind me. Lucky Adox gave the king permission to expose the Ire because, as well as the assembly, a whole army had now witnessed someone flying.
I fly over Glacium, vaguely noting the six semi-defined areas the Bruma call Sectors. Both worlds are split into six areas. But on Osolis we call them Rotations. The two worlds lay side by side, with the area closest to the other world earning the label of “First Rotation or Sector.” The areas were then numbered in a circle from one through to six. The worlds spin slowly, meaning it takes an entire three years to revolve through all six spaces, back to the start. Meanwhile, the Oscala or Great Stairway stays immobile—an unmoving connection between the two opposing planets.
In many ways, Glacium is the complete opposite of my home world. There are different animals, food, and clothing. The trees are brown with green leaves, instead of black with deep red-purple leaves. But the main difference is that where Osolis is full of fire, smoke, cracked ground, yellowed grass, and shriveled vines, Glacium is a planet of frost, snowy mountains, blizzards and ice. The Bruma consider us snobbish, without humor, and prim. Solati consider the Bruma barbaric, unrefined, and primitive.
It’s no mystery why we find ourselves on the brink of war.