Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker #3)(111)

“I come from a world where people never know what it’s like to be someone else. We can only imagine what it feels like to walk around in someone else’s shoes. That’s what we say, by the way—walk around in someone else’s shoes—which is so small compared to what you can actually do here.

“In my world we don’t know what it is to live a different life from the one we were given, to be a different race or gender, forget about being a different species. In my world we fear anyone who’s different. We think those people are our enemies and that they want to take what’s ours or destroy our way of life. We think like that because, well, what else are we supposed to think? We can’t know someone else’s mind like you can.

“Things should be so different here. But what do I see? The same division, the same fear, the same us-against-them mentality that I see back in my world. Walltop hates the Outlanders. Why? Because the city isn’t large enough for everyone and Outlanders are always trying to sneak in illegally. Outlanders hate the Woven. Why? Because the Woven took their land. The Woven hate the humans. Why?” Lily paused, knowing this was the missing puzzle piece. “Because a human enslaved them and forced them to be killers. A human created them in order to tear this world apart.

“Your hatred isn’t real. The things that divide you aren’t real. They were created by greed. Someone has set you all against one another so she could profit. Someone has made it so you need walls—walls that divide you and make you weak so she can be stronger. This world has only one true enemy, and we can fight her. Here. Today. I brought you all together for this one purpose, but first you have to stop fighting one another. It’s up to you. I’m not going to force you. The choice is yours.”

Lily jumped down and rejoined Rowan on the ground. She felt the silence as deeply as she heard it. She waited. No one left. No fights started. Everyone just stood there, staring at her.

“What’s going on?” she mumbled to Rowan.

“They’re waiting for orders,” he told her, eyes bright as he buried a laugh.

Lily panicked. “I have no idea what to do,” she said.

“That’s okay. I do.”

Rowan turned. Tristan, Caleb, Una, and Breakfast were right behind him. Alaric and Pale One were right beside them. Rowan turned back around and pointed to a group of ranch hands on one side, and then at a bunch of wolves on the other.

“You start cutting down the trees, and you drag them into a pile,” Rowan ordered. “Our witch needs a pyre.” When no one moved, he started yelling. “Quickly! The Hive will be on us any minute now! Who has axes?”

Spurred into action, Woven and human alike started scurrying before Rowan’s anger. He struck out into the disarrayed clusters of men, women, and Woven and started arranging them into groups.

As Rowan moved away from them, Lily felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Tristan.

“I need to talk to you,” he said urgently, his eyes still following Rowan’s back as he stalked away, barking orders.

“Now?” Lily asked, motioning to the utter chaos that was moments away from tumbling down upon her head.

“I’ve been trying to get you alone for weeks, but Rowan never leaves your side,” Tristan said, dragging a hand through his hair. “There’s something I need to tell you. In case one of us doesn’t make it. I need you to know something.”

“What?” Lily asked, concerned, and recalling that every time Tristan had tried to speak with her alone lately, Rowan had appeared to interrupt and hurry them off in different directions.

“Rowan never meant to abandon the coven. He intended to go with us when we made the crossing. It wasn’t his choice to stay behind.” Tristan took a deep breath. “It was your Tristan’s.”

“What are you talking about?” Lily said, completely blindsided.

“When you woke up after being in the cage, do you remember how he didn’t have a mark on him, but Caleb and I got the stuffing beat out of us when we tried to get your willstones from Rowan?” he asked. Lily nodded numbly. “Well, I cornered your Tristan and made him show me what happened. This is his memory.”

. . . The three of us can hear Rowan making noises in his sleep. Caleb told me he has nightmares sometimes, but this is sad. He sounds like a child, whimpering and pleading. I wonder what he must have gone through as a kid to be like this, and I feel bad for the guy. Almost bad enough to stop this, but not quite.

I hang back and let the other Tristan and Caleb go rushing into Rowan’s tent. Rowan barrels through the two of them quicker than I’d thought. He’s terrifying, even without Lily’s strength in him. Feral. I wince a little as he drops the other me. He starts to charge me and I back off, yelling.

“Whoa, take it easy! It’s me.”

His eyes clear and he seems to snap out of it. He runs his hands through his hair, looking at what he’s unwittingly done to his stone kin.

“Didn’t you tell them?” he asks me.

He already knows I didn’t—if I had, they wouldn’t have tried to jump him—but he can’t accept it yet. It’s hard to accept it when someone’s set you up. He sits down heavily, his eyes skipping around, thinking.

“Why?” he asks.

I sit down next to him. I want to get this right so he understands. He’s got to be the one to leave her or I don’t stand a chance.