Last Stand (The Black Mage #4)(76)

“How did you escape, Ry?”

“Alex.” Ella nudged her husband’s ribs. “She probably doesn’t—”

“It’s okay.” I swallowed. “I’m sure you both are wondering. I-I want to tell you.”

There was a moment where nobody spoke.

“The night before my execution, Darren sent Paige to help me escape.”

“But the war, he—”

“He didn’t believe a word I said. But how could he?” The air around me was getting too hot; I could feel it stifling my chest. “Would you have believed Ella if it had been the two of you instead?”

“I—”

“You wouldn’t.” I looked my twin in the eye. “He had a horse packed with supplies and papers for a ship to the east. He couldn’t stand the idea of an execution. It was the only reason I escaped.”

Silence.

“Where’s Paige?” My brother ground his teeth. “Did she choose the Crown?”

My lips turned to ice. “She never made it out. We were halfway to the gates when Blayne caught up to us in the kennels.”

The memories rolled off me like a wave. I’d fought so long to keep the emotion bottled up, but my hate returned; the room grew hazy with every word. “I spared his life for Darren.” I gave a sharp intake of breath as my fingers balled into fists. “But he had magic—”

“What?” Ella’s shock mirrored my brother’s.

“Not like us, but he had enough. I just barely survived.” Breathe. “And then he put a knife to Paige’s back as she was helping me leave.” The rage made my nails cut through flesh, and the tips grew wet with my own blood. “And I was so sure he would live. He was still breathing when Darren—”

“Darren saw you?”

My laugh was bitter as black spots danced before my eyes. It was the part that would drive me to madness. “He saw our horse. When he entered the kennels, he found me clutching a rapier with both of them on the ground, Blayne bleeding to death and Paige already gone.” My voice took on an edge. “If Mira hadn’t arrived, I could have explained…” My voice faltered and I bit down on my cheek. “But she was calling for the rest of the regiment and I knew.” I still remembered the way Darren’s expression had turned as he clutched his dying brother in his arms, betrayed by his wife. “Blayne would have executed me the moment he recovered. I’d have no chance to explain.”

Whatever was in that flask was drugging me to sleep; Ella’s arms wrapped around my shoulders to help lower me to the cot.

Then I shared the part that would haunt me for what little life I had left. “If I had known Blayne would die, I would have stayed.” My voice was slurring as I shut my eyes. “I would have found a way to convince Darren of the truth.” This is all my fault.

“You don’t know that.” Alex’s voice was reassuring and soft. “Ryiah, Darren thought you killed his brother. You don’t know what he would have done.”

Ella’s voice was so quiet, a flutter of wings against my ear. “At least with us, you can help stop the war.”

Her answer was so simple. Perhaps, if I were someone else, I could have even started to believe it.



*

I awoke that evening a couple hours after the others’ return. Alex and Ella explained that for the past three days the others had scouted the nearby roads while Alex and Ella remained behind, tending to me. Then, they introduced me to the best Combat mages of the rebels’ force.

All of the faces held some degree of familiarity, but there were three my attention locked on almost immediately.

Lief.

Ray.

And Ian.

No one asked me about my escape. I suspected Alex or Ella had filled them in while I was at rest. But that didn’t stop their stares. The unspoken questions festered just under the surface.

Lief’s eyes were rimmed in red. All he did was clench and unclench his fists.

I wasn’t the only one who had lost someone. Paige’s absence hit him the worst. Whatever they’d had, it was gone. He had probably thought she was alive, fighting along the Crown’s Army… An enemy, but still alive.

Now he knew better.

The former lead mage didn’t say a word; he just stared at something along the wall as the others talked.

My guilt was deafening.

I forced myself to concentrate on my second bowlful of broth. I felt better than before, but it was nothing next to the thoughts dancing around inside.

“Ryiah is well on the way to recovery. Another four or five days and it will be like the fever never struck.”

“But we don’t have five days, Alex.” An older woman with a scar across the side of her face folded her arms against her ribs. She was the oldest on our squad, thirty-five years old perhaps. Her stamina was better than most. “You can continue her treatments on the road.”

My brother bristled. “Ry barely made it out of their dungeons alive and then two weeks on the run, she needs—”

“We can’t waste any more time now that she’s awake.” Our leader, a burly mage named Quinn, took over, casting an apologetic glance my way. “We have to leave now.”

Another young mage spoke up. “The Crown’s Army arrived at the border two days back. Gods only know how many we’ve already lost.”