Silas laughed, the grating sound anchoring me through the dawning horror of the situation and my role in it.

Maya snapped out of her frozen stupor, her tiny fists slamming against my chest as she cried.

“You hurt him! You said you wanted to help, you said-!” Her cries melded together between hiccuping sobs, and I resisted the instinct to comfort her.

Nothing I said would make her feel better. Her father was dead because of me, and no apology could fix it.

So I stayed quiet, fighting not to be sick again as she continued her assault. Her limbs lashed out wildly, landing on anything they could.

Silas just laughed. “Quite the violent child you have there. How about I take her off your hands…well, hand.”

I ignored the jab, more focused on his hands as he reached for Maya. I snapped backward, losing my balance and falling on my ass. His chortles continued, but I didn't listen, too focused on scrambling away from him before he could grab Maya.

I had messed up in the worst way possible, but if I could just get her away from him, at least something could be salvaged.

I lurched to my feet, dragging her back, away from Silas and her father. Her struggles picked up, her cries increasing in pitch and frequency as she desperately fought to get away. I didn't let go, ignoring the fresh bruises her attacks left. Silas watched, smiling at my struggles, but he made no move to step in. I'd take my mercies wherever they came. It would be easier for him to take her now that she was fighting me. No matter what, I couldn't let that happen.

Backing away from Silas, I glanced around for an exit, any exit.

There were none. The only escape was back toward the sea of bodies and armor now crumpled on the ground. In my condition, I couldn't move through them quickly, and even if I could, Silas wasn’t about to let Fast Forward go so easily.

Solutions flew through my mind, each one discarded as quickly as it formed. We were surrounded, outnumbered, and out matched.

When sharp fingernails dug into my shoulder–the one lacking a hand–I hissed, forcibly dragged back to the present. Maya, seeing her opportunity, focused on the weak spot mercilessly.

She dug her fingers into the freshly wounded limb until blood ran down my skin in rivers. My grip loosened instinctively, and she wrenched away, dodging my hurried grab for her.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

In a blink, she knelt next to her father, her sobs muffled into his armor as she curled against his side.

I didn't try to grab her again.

The world spun sickeningly, and I sucked in breath after breath, trying to make it stop. Exhaustion, heavy and suffocating, pressed down around me, adding to the misery until it was all I could do to clutch the grass for an anchor through it.

Silas circled me, content to ignore Maya for now. “Ah, it looks like all that exertion is catching up to you. Losing a limb and draining your mana in such a short amount of time will do that. How does it feel, to know I made a fool out of you?” He sneered, using his sword to force my eyes up to his. “You noble types are all the same. You jump to help the weak and pathetic. It makes setting traps for you laughably easy. Dominicus was the same. All I had to do was tell him that brat over there needed help. He took out an entire batch of resistance members before he realized the truth.”

At least I wasn't the only one who'd fallen for the act. It was cold comfort for my pride, if nothing else.

Shaking that aside, I glared at Silas. “Laugh all you like. If kindness drops me into bad situations, I'll still choose to be kind.”

He raised a brow, smile still firmly in place. “And how did your kindness work out this time?”

I flinched, forcing myself not to look at the army of corpses. “It would have been fine if not for the piece of shit king who lied to me.”

His expression closed off, and something darker flashed over his features. It was gone before I could analyze it, his face back into its pleasant mask. “You'd like me to be kind? Alright then.”

He turned to Maya, the cruel glint in his eyes sending every protective instinct in me into a frenzy. “Get away from her!” I snapped, and he ignored me, his stride steady. Once he stood at her shoulder, he all but cooed, every word dripping with ill intent.

“Maya, would you like me to bring your adan back?”

He was planning something, and whatever it was, it wouldn't be in Maya's favor. I struggled to stand again, my still spinning surroundings not helping as I teetered weakly. “Don't listen to him, Maya!”

Silas shot a bored look at me and flicked his wrist. “You wanted to see kindness. I'll show you kindness.” He hissed the last word and then muttered a spell I couldn't make out. An invisible force shoved me over, a weight like cement settling on my chest as he focused back on Maya.

She raised her head from her father's armor, eyes shiny with tears and hope. “You can bring him back?”

Silas nodded, his face arranged into a mask of sympathy. “Of course I can. I'll need your help, though.’

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The feeling of wrongness screamed through me, and I fought to pull in enough air to warn her.

“Don't listen to him-!” He glanced my way, and the weight increased, all but crushing my ribs. Iron assaulted my taste buds, and I swallowed it, struggling to breathe.

Maya hesitated, uncertainty clear, and Silas's eyes narrowed. “Are you really going to believe the one who killed your adan?”

Any uncertainty left her and she shook her head, turning away from me. “No. How do I help bring him back?”

I struggled uselessly against the spell as Silas brought her closer, his sinister smile going over her head. “You need to make a promise, an oath. Your life for his.”

Damn it all, I knew it was going to be something like that…