Page 99 of Iridian

“You are nothing but leeches feeding off the people you should serve.”Definitely Aurelia, and she even took a stepcloser. My heart skipped a beat. Zach immediately put his hand over her shoulder, but she continued. “We fought together, and we?—”

“And you won—congratulations!” Helen actually clapped her hands. Goddess, how I hated that woman. “We never said we’d be allies once the fight was over. We were well within our rights to order your execution—you’ve committed more crimes than I care to remember. You are nothing but ordinary criminals.”

I squeezed Taland’s hand so tightly it was a miracle he didn’t move away. He just continued to repeat every word they were saying for me, and he even tried to imitate the tone of their voices.

“Yet we still won against you, too,”someone said—possibly Radock. “That must have bruised your ego a little bit, and I’d have enjoyed the thought had I not had bigger issues to deal with right then. But things are as they are, I’m afraid. We fought together. You betrayed us in the end, which didn’t come as a surprise to any of us, really. Today, your betrayal to this country finally comes to an end.”

If Radock sounded half as sure as Taland did right now, I didn’t see how Helen and the others wouldn’t believe him.

Then she raised her head. “Enough with the chitchat—you are all delusional, I’m afraid. Hand over the bracelet and what is left of the Delaetus Army, and we will let you live.”Every drop of blood in my veins turned to stone. “There does not need to be a battle here today, Tivoux. These people don’t need to die. Call your brother down here, and let us set things in order once and for all.”

Taland looked at me then, and I found he was smiling. “Hear that?” He told me. “They just want the bracelet and the soldiers—that’s all.”

I shook my head, envious once more of his easy nature. “I don’t suppose they’ll like it when you tell themno.”

“Let’s see—my brother and Aurelia are still laughing.” He nodded his head forward, and indeed Radock and Aurelia had their heads thrown back.Laughing,while Helen and the other members watched with their hands folded in front of them.

“You certainly have the right to ask, Paine.” This must have come from Radock.

“I am not asking,” said Taland, and this he said in almost a hiss.

“However, the answer is no,” Radock continued right away, as if she hadn’t even spoken. It was so strange to be looking at them from this distance while Taland repeated everything they said to me in real time, and while the people grew louder and louder. Taland must have heard it, too, because the fifteen soldiers he’d stationed around the bus began to slowly push them farther back.

“We will not be giving you anything anymore. You’ve taken enough,” Taland continued—and whether it was Radock or Aurelia or Zach who spoke didn’t really matter. “Now, it’s our turn, and if you don’t surrender, we will not stop until we’ve taken over.”

I expected to see Helen laughing now, but she didn’t. Instead, she took a single step forward, her eyes on Radock—must have been him who spoke.

“Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with, you pests?”

Pests, she said, just like David Hill. Goddess, she was no better than him. In fact, she just might be worse.

“We will destroy you, then take our bracelet and our soldiers,” Taland continued, and my heart was thundering in my chest at the idea of the likes ofhercommanding the soldiers of the Delaetus Army. The world would come to an end for real.

“This is your last warning. Back away—or die.”

Taland and I looked at each other. I reached out a hand for his cheek and tried to smile, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Despite everything, despite how much he’d suffered, my Goddess, I was so glad thathe’dbrought the army back. Thathe’dbeen the one to use Hill’s spells, that they were tied to him now—nobody else.

Because if Taland hadn’t done what he did, the Council would have done it themselves. There was no doubt in my mind about it, and they wouldn’t have cared about the injustice done to these soldiers. They wouldn’t have hesitated to silence their voices—would never evenconsidersetting them free. They’d have used them as their weapons to take over the world completely, exactly like David Hill had tried to do, and Titus before him. By now all of us would have been dead.

So, yes, despite his pain, I was glad these soldiers were Taland’s now. And if I’d had any kind of hope left that we could leave here without a fight today, it was gone now. Disappeared completely.

“May Iris stand with those who deserve this victory,”Taland said, and I had no idea whose words they were, but I agreed wholeheartedly.

Then, it began.

Chapter 24

Rosabel La Rouge

Guns fired first. My instincts were already taking over and I turned, ready to jump off the roof of that bus and into the fight, but Taland was still holding my hand. He refused to let me go.

And my mind ran away from me when I began toseethe fight going on around us, when I felt the colorful magic in the air—and not just from the soldiers, no. Taland was chanting, too, and the magic wrapped around us before it disappeared, locking us in a ward while the people fought.

The IDD soldiers, the Laetus—and the people.

Screams filled my ears, but I was too shocked still to join in. Too consumed by the sight of all that magic, all the guns that were firing, but not for long. Bullets were only effective when there were no wards to keep them back, and by the time everyone lost control of their wards, they would all be too immersed in fighting with magic to think of weapons.

The civilians, that is.

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