I sat staring at the makeshift stack of rocks I’d set at the head of Drayek’s grave. My knees were tucked into my chest, and my eyes were swollen from too much crying. My tears were all dried out at this point. The three moons were dark tonight, as if they mourned the loss of a great warrior just as much as I did.
“Rayden?”
My senses heightened, and I jumped to my feet, hands out in a defensive position. But then I lowered my arms once I saw who it was.
“Sarina? What are you doing here?”
She stood beautiful in the starlight, the soft glow of the stars adding a mesmerizing luminescence to her dark locks that she left flowing freely past her shoulders. And her perfect face was just that–perfect. Priestess Nora had done a great job healing the broken nose.
Her large eyes reflected the tears she had been spilling herself, and the tip of her once-broken nose was red.
“Some of the Hunters… they told the city…” She glanced at Drayek’s grave. “May I sit with you?” she whispered.
I opened my mouth to protest. Things had been weird between the two of us lately, and I wanted this time alone at Drayek’s side. But then I remembered the years she had trained with Drayek, too. I was wrong to think he wouldn’t mean something to her, as well.
I nodded and patted on the piece of ground next to me. She took my prompting and sat, also tucking her knees into her chest and joining me in staring at the grave.
We sat together in silence. Our shoulders touched, but neither of us moved to remedy that. The closeness was comforting–for both of us, I could imagine.
“I’m so sorry, Rayden,” Sarina finally broke the silence.
I couldn’t respond.
“I’m serious. I’m–I’m really sorry.” She sniffled. “I feel like this is partly my fault.”
I cocked my head in her direction. “How would this be your fault? Our fight? We both had no choice in that, and it had nothing to do with Drayek’s…” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word “death” out loud.
She bit her lip but offered nothing else to say. At least, not for the moment. I found my eyes moving away from Drayek’s grave and to her gaudy red robes.
“Can I ask you something?” I said. “You work very closely with the Priests–especially Priest Kane. Do they know anything about who betrayed Edrona’s position to the Nagari?”
Sarina’s breath hitched, and I watched curiously as her eyes darted from side to side.
“How would I know anything?” she retorted sharply.
I raised an eyebrow, shifting my weight and moving to sit directly in front of her. “We have all been wondering how the Nagari found us.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m just wondering if the Priests know who did it.”
She stared at me with eyebrows scrunched together, then she rose from the ground and began pacing in small circles.
“It was Priest Kane,” she declared suddenly.
Her words sent a jumble through my mind. Had I heard her correctly?
“What did you say?
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Sarina’s entire body was shaking at this point. “I’m so sorry, Rayden. I–I should’ve stopped him. Somehow. I’m the reason Drayek died.”
I placed my hands atop my head and interlaced my fingers together to keep myself from doing anything rash.
“Sarina, you better explain what you’re talking about before I lose my mind.”
Sarina cast her eyes downward and watched her hands wring around each other nervously. “He has a plan. That is, the goddess has a plan.”
Her eyes met mine, and she clasped her hands together as if she wished to plead with me.
“Rayden, you have to understand,” she breathed. “He said it was her will, the goddess’s will, to bring the Nagari to Edrona–to create a world where our people could better live in peace.”
“How the hell do you think we’ll have peace?!” I screamed, blood rushing onto my face and making me feel light-headed. “An army is coming, Sarina! Their scouts just killed Drayek!”
I waved angry arms over Drayek’s grave.
“Priest Kane told them where to find us! I don’t know how, and I don’t know why he would do such a thing, but he has to be punished for it!” I continued, slamming a fist into the ground. “He’s the reason Drayek died!”
Sarina’s bottom lip trembled, then she threw her face into her hands and started wailing. In any other situation, I might have reached my arms out to draw her into a hug, but she had helped betray me, Drayek, and the rest of Edrona. The sense of betrayal burned within me like a raging, unquenchable fire.
“There’s more,” she croaked through her tears, throwing her head back and toward the sky.
I leaned back on my heels and slowly rose from the ground.
“What?” I growled, fearful of her answer.
Her chin shook from her sobs, and she rose and tried to approach me, but I stepped away, blocking her arms with mine.
“I–I helped him contact the Nagari. I was the one who went out and found them.”
My entire body stiffened.
“Rayden? Please, say something!”
She tried to approach again, but I pushed her away this time–and not gently. She stumbled back.
“Why?” I said hoarsely.
Sarina ran shaking fingers through her hair. “It was as I said; he told me it was the best for Edrona–that Lady Euridice wanted it.”
“Why,” I was screaming now, “would a Nagari army be good for Edrona? Explain that to me, Sarina! They’re going to slaughter us!”
Sarina cast her eyes back to her feet and stepped farther away from me. “That’s the point. Priest Kane says the goddess wants her least faithful gone. She wants to start all over with Edrona and only with the most faithful.”
“Oh, let me guess! The most faithful are the Priests?”
“I don’t know,” she breathed.
“And how do the Nagari play into this?”
“Priest Kane says it is time for the age where man and Nagari live in harmony.”
That dying Nagari in the mountain had said something similar to me after Drayek’s death. Priest Kane must have made that promise to the Nagari.
I shook my head and clenched my fists so hard that my fingers began to grow numb.
“Sarina! Priest Kane is lying to you! You have to see that! I doubt the goddess even told him any of this–trust me, she doesn’t care about what happens to any of us.”
“Blasphemy!” she was shouting now, too. “Don’t speak ill of Lady Euridice!”
“I will speak ill of that false goddess for the rest of my days!”
I threw myself forward until our faces were mere centimeters away. I was still shorter than her, but I could now almost touch my nose to hers.
“I bet you anything that Priest Kane wants those who oppose him to die in this war, and he made a deal with the blasted Nagari to make it easier for him. It had nothing to do with what ‘the goddess’ wanted him to do. And guess what, Sarina? He just wants to rule over all of us as if he were a god himself!”
Sarina threw her hand back, then brought it straight across my face. My face flew to the right, and I grunted from the sting. It was a hard slap–a good slap.
I slowly turned my eyes back to hers. “You were right, Sarina. You killed Drayek. No, you’ve killed us all.”
Sarina’s eyes filled with more tears, and she brought her hand back up to slap me again. I stood my ground and didn’t even flinch. Slowly, she lowered her hand, but I didn’t tear my glare away from her eyes for even a second.
She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say more but then quickly turned on her heel and sped away.
“If you ever come back here, Sarina, I swear I’ll kill you!”
She turned her head just barely over her left shoulder and slowed for a moment but then pushed her head forward and raced away even faster.
There had been a time in my life when I would have died for Sarina, but I meant those words I’d just threatened her with; I wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if she ever came back to my home. She had not just betrayed me; she had betrayed Drayek and all of Edrona.
And I didn’t think I could ever forgive her for that.