Blood-Bound [ Lore of Penrua: Book I ]

68

"You should tell him."

It was the first thing Mhera said when they reached a private place to talk behind the infirmary. She spoke in a whisper, knowing that the risk of being overheard was high. It was still afternoon, and the folk of Hanpe were about their work.

"No."

"But—"

"No. I won't speak of it. What is it that you needed to tell me, Mhera? It's another vision, isn't it?" Matei's narrowed eyes scanned her face. He looked grim. "You'd better just say it."

So she did, without stopping to argue about the matter of revealing the truth to Kaori. "Uncle is burning the city." The memory of the fire licked at the edges of her mind. "I Saw him."

"The city?" Matei echoed. She saw the words wash over him, then slowly sink in. "No. No ..."

"In the vision, he said, 'We bid him come to face his fate. If he does not, all the Arcborn in Karelin will burn.'" She realized as she spoke the words what this meant. What it was.

It was the end, and she had Seen it.

Matei looked like the wind had been knocked out of him. He backed up several paces, until his back came to rest against the outer wall of the infirmary. He slid down to sit on the grass and put his head in his hands. "When?"

Mhera shook her head. "I do not know."

There was silence. Matei curled his fingers into his hair. His breath came unsteadily.

Mhera, though, felt eerily calm. Perhaps the truth of it had not fully settled into her mind. Perhaps some part of her had come unhinged after everything that had happened—the part that felt fear, the part that felt shock. She did not feel afraid of this, although she knew what it must mean for her.

She was going to die, because Matei had no choice. If he meant what he said—the one for the many—he had to turn himself over to the emperor. He would be executed, and she would die.

Mhera went to him and knelt on the ground in front of him. She placed her hands over his. She felt his hands relax beneath hers and pulled them away from Matei's head.

The rebel king looked up at her. His cheeks were wet. Another tear rolled down, leaving a shining trail over the marke he bore. She reached out and brushed it away.

An otherworldly clarity had descended upon her. It felt as if she could see the world clearly for the first time in her life. Since her childhood she had walked the paths lain before her by others—first to become a proper lady, then to become a sister at the Haven, then to become the unwilling companion of the mysterious rebel king. But now there were two paths.

She would choose. It was not much of a choice—stay and live, or go and die—but she would choose.

"We must go to him, Koreti," Mhera said. "We must go to him and lay this to rest."

"It's all been in vain," he said. His voice was tight with tears. "All this death. All this suffering. My mission. Your life."

"It doesn't matter now," she said. "We have the choice. We can end it."

"It won't end. It can't end. He'll kill me, and you'll die, and then he'll keep killing. He'll never rest until the world is rid of us all."

Mhera shook her head. "No. You and I ... we can end it. Our sacrifice will be the end."

Their eyes met. She held his hands, utterly calm, utterly certain. Matei said, "Our sacrifice ... Mhera, I can't do this to you. It should be only mine. I have dragged you down into this—I've killed you."