A Blaze in the Dark (A New Dawn #1)

Chapter 12 - Alex

A word of warning. Don't think the glory of the Virtues will shine on you once your heir lives under your roof. Sebby is not an easy child. Pride infests him just as easily as Wrath. Father did always say I'd get the son I deserved. Curse me, not the boy.

As a slight noise rustled through the juniper bushes, Alex shot her hand behind her back to grab an arrow and stretched out her bow, the string vibrating against her fingers. This time she wouldn't hesitate. Lord Brandon had been wrong. Violence was the answer when other lives were at stake, and some men just deserved to die.

One day, all the arrows in her quiver would pierce the magician's chest, and King Ariel would be next. If she could, she would follow them into the depths of the Seven Hells and make them suffer for all eternity.

There came a quiet swishing. A fiery red squirrel with long fluffy ears stuck its head between the scale-like leaves, munching quietly on one of the blueberries. Its marble-like eyes stared at her.

She froze. Not even a thousand deaths would be enough to repent their sins. She wasn't a God who could decide who lived and died.

"Just shoot it," Nick mumbled, swiping the raindrops from his face. "It's freezing and I'm starving."

The little animal scampered away to the thick boughs. Too late. Again.

"Stop whining, you're just tired." Her stomach rumbled as the juniper needles stopped moving. After flicking the arrow back into the quiver, she slung her bow over her shoulder. "Honestly, Nick, walking is nothing more than putting one foot in front of the other. It's not that hard."

"You were the one who let our dinner go." He gesticulated widely. "I only said I was cold and hungry."

She sniffed, narrowing her eyes. "You were thinking about your sore feet. I just know it."

"I understand why you're angry." The leaves cracked beneath his feet as he edged further away from her; not far but still enough to make a point. "But don't let it control you. I once read in a book that life is like a pendulum clock. When the pendulum hits the lowest part of the clock, it can only swing back up again. Surely we've reached rock bottom now, so that means that only brighter days lay ahead. It just has to be."

"And what happens when it breaks down?" She had no idea what a pendulum clock was, but Nick rambling about books was better than them snapping at each other. She was angry, but not at him.

"Then..." He pressed his lips together, frowning in thought. "I don't know. I guess it's thrown away and replaced by a new one."

A silence settled between them, growing more uncomfortable with every footfall on the ash-covered path next to the river. Another step closer to the dreadful capital where female warriors weren't welcome.

She glanced over her shoulder, to the meandering bends of the river Faith where the stream still vibrated against the rocky shore, like home was still her perfect home.

One time, Lady Karen had caught her stealing a fresh muffin to persuade Nick into putting his books aside, she had given her a second one to assure that he would come and play with her in the forest. She was dead. As was Lord Brandon, who had done so much for her and for others too. She clearly recalled the day she and Seb had challenged Fox to climb all the way to the top of the oak tree by the tavern, Lord Brandon had volunteered to rescue the little muttonhead because he was too scared to get back down.

Oh, how much those memories hurt now. Alex shivered, biting back her tears. The Gods of Virtue had to stop the world from falling apart. She had already lost so much and her friendship with Seb would surely change now that he was a Prince. Royalty and commoners shouldn't mingle; that's what Nick's stories had always taught her.