Worlds Apart

Chapter 32

B L O O D - S T A I N E D • M E M O R I E S

Oct. 18 20:57 OLT

BoT Headquarters, Province of Olli

Riona didn't know whether she should laugh or cry. She had just revealed her biggest secret after worrying for years and years about how people would react and it had been her worst nightmare come to life.

No—actually, it had been worse than that.

Her worst nightmare involved screaming and accusations and crying. It did not involve being looked at so coldly, with so much grief and anger and hatred, all balled up into one dead statement.

You had known what your brother would do.

Yes, she had known. She had known and it had never left her, not for a moment. It came to her dreams every night until she began forgetting in the morning, but it always, always came back in the cloaked darkness of night.

Yes, she had known Neàl would make a terrible mistake and she had done nothing to stop it. Instead, she had made the perfect opportunity for it to happen. A self-fulfilling prophecy of her own making. She knew it was coming and she made it happen. She made him isolated and angry and resentful and driven by revenge to utter madness and there was no one she could blame but herself.

The cause of all those deaths and misery was Neàl, and so it was really her.

How many lives had she ruined in her stupid run at heroism?

And she had had the gall to forget. Her whole childhood, all she had remembered was that she couldn't trust her brother. She didn't know why because like a foolish little girl she had learnt something so, so important and she didn't bother to remember what until it was too late. And what had made it all come back to her was an offhand comment from a stranger.

The girl's dark, guilt-ridden eyes peered over the elderly woman's shoulder—her friend's grandmother, as she would later tell Riona. General Homare was largely ignoring her so Riona gestured at the girl to follow her before walking away from the group.

"Do you know him?" It was a stupid question, entirely out of context, but the whispering spirits urged her on and the girl nodded.

"You must be their sister. He talked about you—a lot." Her smile was affectionate but it was heavy, weighed down by bloodied secrets. It dripped off her long face. "Neàl messed up. I knew he was doing something he shouldn't...but if they're missing, I think he's done the irreversible."

Riona's heart had sunk and a vague memory of sitting on a roof with a hand in hers resurfaced.

"Do you know where he went?" Her voice didn't feel like her own.

The girl—Adalina—nodded.

"Dalbyen."

And then what?

Did she try to prevent it from happening? Did she protect Owen at all?

Nope. Nada. Not a hint of effort.

She was right when she realised the Marked Guardians had never been protectors. She was wrong when she thought she would be any different.

Some protector she turned out to be.

Riona squeezed her eyes shut, trying to erase those expressions and those words and that frenzied message her future dying friend had left her and why is he covered in blood?

She opened her eyes, staring at the blank, dark ceiling. The sun had set a while ago, night had set in. She would find Elin and Daisha and apologise but she had already ruined things for them by dragging them here with her complete incompetence and then she'd murdered their friend. No, wait, she did the murder first.

She groaned and pulled herself out of bed. She'd already avoided the Bullets' meeting to evade them, but moping wasn't going to help her. She had to fix this, even if she really didn't want to face them.

She had an idea of how to, but it was going to hurt.

‡    ‡    ‡

"Have you made a decision?"

Daisha pursed her lips, staring at the holo still playing over the table. The meeting room looked colossal with only her and Teia in it. The red dots blinked ominously over the canyons.

"Yes."

Teia raised an eyebrow, surprisingly patient.

"I'll do it." Daisha looked her in the eye. "I'll spread your message. I can't say the same for Elin yet, but I'll speak to her."

Teia smiled at her with something like relief in her hard-set eyes. "Thank you."

Daisha nodded. "I'll talk to who I can—I've built connections through my career—but I can't guarantee people will believe me and I won't push. I might just sound mad."

She chuckled. "Of course." Teia walked around the table, eyes on the holo. "May I ask what brought about the change of heart?"

"I agree with Ivah on some points."

Teia looked at her sharply.

"As well as you. Your involvement on our side has caused problems before." Daisha swallowed, thinking about her brother hidden away in that storage room. "Caused problems for me. I don't want them to come after us. This is my guarantee of our safety on Earth-side."

Teia eyed her thoughtfully. "That's understandable. You two have suffered from our interference, both at home and here. If people there were to grow aware of us, it would be harder for the Queen to make any moves against you."

"But I haven't made a decision about...them." Daisha didn't know why she was still talking. "I don't want to seek needless revenge, not against some kid who barely had control over what he was doing." 'Not when my revenge leaves me tainted,' but she wouldn't divulge that part.

"Revenge isn't as bad as it's made out to be," Teia replied as if they were close enough to be having this conversation. "It can take a lot of forms, and only some are destructive."

Daisha frowned.

Teia gave her a lopsided smile. "Isn't this revenge, too?" she asked, holding her arms wide. "The Bullets were my way of hitting back at those who ruined me, used me. I'm proud of it. Revenge has become my purpose but I've never lost myself to it. So, Daisha, what will be your Bullet?"