From Iron and Ruin

Break

Chapter 22 : Break.

Vanya.

It had always been Kendon, Vanya and me. The three of us had been an intertwined trio in our years in Dratlan. I had trusted the two of them implicitly. I had loved them the most.

The last time I had seen Vanya, she had been a blackened husk that was pinned beneath a fallen pillar. A body burned by a deflected cast that had been my fault. For months, that image had chased my nightmares. For months, when I woke in the mornings, I turned in my bed to greet her only to remember that I was not in Dratlan. I was alone and all those that I greeted each morning were dead and cold in the ruins of my home.

I thought that daily realisation, that grief that hit just as hard every-time I felt it was agony. But this – this was brutal.

The betrayal felt like a physical knife, one that was ragged and rusty and twisting in my gut to yank out my innards. The Sanctum was deathly silent and I glanced at Kohen. He was shaking, his tail curled tight around his leg. His eyes were bright with tears and the creature who felt everything, could not hide the guilt on his face.

He knew.

Asha'da.

I took a step back.

"Ah, shite." Gwen growled from somewhere behind me. "This is bad."

The usual smile that would rouse was dead. I was swaying slightly and continued to stare at Vanya as if one blink would wash her away. I had wished to see her again, but not like this.

Her face was still the same. Still beautiful, no matter how that night in Dratlan's Sanctum had warped it. That shimmering, silver hair was sheared short to the nape of her neck, providing a glimpse of rawer skin at the back of her neck. The pain she must feel....

But no matter what changes there were, I could still see my friend in this cruel face. I wished desperately that I couldn't.

Vanya's smile flickered for just a moment, "Hello, Avi."

I didn't to face this. I wanted to close my eyes and pretend that this wasn't Vanya. I wanted to open them and see that the General was someone else - a monster that I could kill. But when I closed my eyes, took a breath and opened them again, there were only tears burdening my lashes and Vanya was still here.

"How?

"How, what? You will have to be more specific, Avi."

"Don't call me that." I said quietly. "You no longer get to call me that."

The Magins on either side of her were ram-rod straight.

"I suppose I deserved that," Vanya watched me closely. "You're wondering how I survived when you left me there, pinned by the pillar?"

"You were dead!" My memories of the Sanctum were a haze of pain. She had been pinned by stone, her skin burnt away by the immolate spell. "Everyone else in the Sanctum who hadn't yet been killed by the Nirani were killed by that spell."

"And yet I am here. Alive." Vanya's hand drifted along her belt. My gut sank as I recognised the hilt of her sheathed blade. An Alelang. "Alive because the Most Sacred saved me. Not because you helped me, Aviana."

"I couldn't have helped you, Vanya. I was nearly dead myself."

Her lip curled. "You tell yourself that, Aviana. If it makes you feel better."