46

Tiv

Wednesday 30th September, Year 828

Tala and Regan had definitely underestimated the rebel group when they were investigating them. We should have sent Xander; he was the better scout yet Marco in his anger had refused to let him go—punishment for his insolence which had cost us the lives of at least Jakori and Demetrius in that concrete labyrinth, though I was willing to bet there were more. Xander said we’d regret it and we did. The Harroworth Rebels had crushed us in minutes.

We had been running as fast as we could despite the fact I’d been shot in the leg once again until we reached the end of the abandoned sewer and found the river.

“Get in the water,” I ordered, dragging us both along the river bank and destroying any trace of our footsteps as Alayna had commanded. I was careful not to get the dirty water near my bloodied thigh. Once our tracks vanished, we began running again in spurts over soggy ground, the underbrush leaving scratches as we rushed on. We did not stop for nearly twenty minutes until Amelia bent over and put her hands on her knees, panting heavily.

"Come on," I murmured, reaching down to hoist Amelia by her arm, feeling the tremor in my own muscles. "Just a bit farther."

I kept us moving, motion and momentum serving as a distraction. The ache in my leg screamed for attention with each limping step, but I shoved that pain into a corner of my mind, locking it away behind the thoughts of Alayna.

As we navigated through the skeletal remains of Central Harroworth by memory and fading sunlight, it was difficult to believe the ruins were once home. The bones of buildings jutted against the dimming sky. Not the vibrant towers that once stood.

How the hell did we even get here?

Marco had told us we were forty miles south. How hadn’t I noticed? I had slept a lot on the way here, still exhausted from the lack of pills, then we had set up a meeting point in an abandoned library in the centre of the city. I had been to that library many times. However now it was a burnt, empty husk, like everything in the city was. Not one part of me recognised Central Harroworth, despite growing up in it. The war had destroyed it all.

Why would Marco lie?

The moment I had the thought, I answered it. He knew I would not come and kill people here. He knew I would go straight to find Alayna. Although I’d stopped the thought crossing my mind at all since we arrived in Vakoso, it seemed naive to think I would have done anything other than that the second I got close enough to slip away to her.

Amelia eventually refused to let me drag her any further and insisted on taking a break. I collapsed onto the floor, my hand tightly gripping my injured leg. The scream Alayna made into my chest haunted me and put my head on my bloodied knee.

Eventually, Amelia straightened, her once heaving chest now rising with a steadier rhythm. I risked a glance upward only for her fist to collide with my face—a sharp burst of pain crackling through my cheek.

“How fucking dare you?” Amelia seethed as she landed another blow.

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I sat on the drenched earth, my uninjured arm raised over my head to block her blows as she hurled obscenity-filled questions my way. I let her screeches become white noise as my mind whirled. If Amelia returned to the group and told them that Alayna had let us go, it would be chaotic. A part of me couldn’t help wishing I had simply stayed in Lambent and lived in the cottage Mother had left me. I should have ignored my Father and never looked back. It was a futile thought; had I done that, I’d have never seen Alayna’s face again. However she was still the girl who lied to me and tried to use Marco and I. That much hadn’t changed. My thoughts went backwards and forwards between love and hate for Alayna for a few minutes while I blocked out Amelia.

“Are you even listening to me?” Amelia's voice pierced through my reverie, raising her hand to strike me again.

“Enough,” I commanded.

My fingers coiled around her wrist to stop her. She struggled against my grip but found no give.

“Enough,” I repeated.

Amelia’s arm finally went limp and she stood back, glaring at me.

“Just who is she to you?” Amelia demanded through gritted teeth.

“Someone from before. We’ve been travelling so much that I had no notion I was back in Harroworth. It was merely a shock, that’s all,” I explained.

“A shock?” A bitter laugh escaped her lips.

She turned her back and began to walk away. After about ten paces she stopped and turned back to me. Her facial features were distorted with anger, she had almost turned purple as her bruised eyes narrowed to slits.

“Old friends, is it? Spare me! I saw how you looked at her!” she screeched.

I suppressed a sigh; letting her provocations stir me further was useless. "Can we not do this now? I’m bleeding out.”

“Don’t give me that. I know exactly who she is! You are completely in love with that whore!” Amelia hissed.

A tense chuckle escaped my lips, “No, I am not.”

The last thing I wanted was to entertain that interrogation. Ever.

“Do you know how many times you’ve hugged me without me asking or forcing you to? Zero. Zero times in three years. You saw that rat and within five seconds you had your dirty hands all over her. You are a liar Tiv. She broke you and I was left to try and fail when picking up the pieces! I tried so hard to love you but all you wanted to do was drink and wallow in self-pity” she screamed.

“Will you just shut your vicious mouth…” I trailed off and rubbed my temples; I was getting a headache from blood loss, or perhaps from listening to Amelia harp on.

“She killed your little girlfriend, Regan. I saw her do it. Then she laughed and curtsied over the body.” My blood ran cold. “That’s the girl you have spent the last three years pining over. Some Vakosian psychopath with a bloodlust for our people.”

“You’re lying,” I said plainly, yet some small part of me knew it was not a lie. The glee on Alayna’s face as shot me—as she heard Demetrius’ screams—was all too real.

Amelia scoffed as she ranted on. “Just tell me the truth about her, you pathetic little coward.”

“I am going to the emergency meeting point. Feel free to join me,” I pulled myself up on the tree.

“We aren’t finished yet.”

“When are we ever?” I muttered.

We continued to walk in silence and my mind raced again. The only thing I could be sure of was why Alayna was part of the largest rebel group in the country: Ben. He’d get her killed.

I thought about what Amelia had said and I knew I wasn’t in love with Alayna. I supposed that I once had been perhaps, however that was before I found out she had manipulated me, just like her Mother had tried to do to my Father. Perhaps Alayna had let me go because she knew she couldn’t take Amelia and I at once. I had her and she had played me to save her own skin. Other conflicting notions ran through my head again and intense guilt bubbled uncomfortably; I had hurt her. My thoughts went round and round in this circle until we made it back to the meeting point.

I was going to kill Marco for bringing me back to Harroworth.