Page 149 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

Soon, the pain in her face was numb, but she was growing tired too quickly, the gash across her eye blinding her. She sheathed her weapons so she could run faster.

Finally, Maude reached her mother’s private gardens. She quickly scanned the area and found it empty. Disappointment and despair raged in her; they weren’t here. She was going to have to leave them here with her horrid father until she could return forthem.

Soldiers turned the corner at that moment, the largest group yet. Maude braced herself and sprinted for the far wall.

Arrows flew by as Maude ran through the red-brick courtyard. Dodging the projectiles left and right, she ran for the eastern wall. Toward freedom.

She heard the dull sound of an arrow skimming her left ear as she dropped to the ground and slid on her side to avoid the swing of a sword from a soldier who appeared just before she could jump to reach for the bricks that led the way to Logi. The Kingdom of Flame soldier, clothed in a red, orange, and white uniform, turned and swung his short sword downward as Maude rose to her feet. She drew her sword and axe at the same time, metal on metal crashing through the small space as they crossed above her head.

Throwing her weight behind her block, she threw off the soldier's attack and slashed. Her sword opened his belly, his insides turning out. Blood sprayed out and arced across her face, painting it red. Her face stung, but she couldn’t think about her pain right now. She couldn’t think about the emotion bubbling up inside her; refused to give it a name. Sheathing her sword and placing her axe back at her side, she ran and jumped up to grasp the first vine sticking out.

Her frustration and anger had boiled over, and the tears she had been trying to hide fell freely down her face, burning the open wounds and causing the drying blood to run down her face again.

Everything hurt. Her arms, her ribs, her face, her ankle that had twisted in the fight. Her heart. Her soul.

Gaining a foothold, she started to climb. It wasn’t until Maude reached the top of the wall that she heard her scream Maude’s name. Grabbing the bow she had hastily hung over her shoulder, Maude drew an arrow from her quiver in one fluid motion and turned towards that lovely voice. But what she didn’t know was that it was already too late.

Standingon the other side of the courtyard was her father, gripping her mother in front of him with his thick arm around her shoulders and a dagger to her throat. Everything emptied out of Maude’s head at the sight. Her vision began to burn red at the edges, flickering with whatever fire she had left.

“Let her go,” Maude said between her teeth.

“Get down from the wall,” he replied, the dagger he held to her mother’s throat digging a little deeper.

Neither of them moved. The soldiers surrounding them froze in place, watching their standoff.

“You cannot escape, child. You cannot escape me,” her father sneered. “I created you. You are my monster.”

“Run, my light,” her mother whispered, but Maude could hear it as if she had shouted it across the courtyard.

“Do you support this? I’m disappointed in you, Sylvi.”

“She is not your monster; she ismydaughter,” her mother responded, never taking her eyes off Maude.

More tears threatened to fall from Maude’s eyes.

“Nonsense,” her father said, pressing the dagger harder until a single bead of blood trailed down her mother’s delicate throat. “She is what I made her to be. And she will step down off that wall if she has any sense left at all.”

Maude drew the arrow back, aiming it at her father’s head.

“Let. Her. Go.”

Her father paused for a moment, a cruel smile forming on his hateful face. There was only silence in the courtyard. The city. The world. Even the gods held their breath.

He looked at Maude and then at her mother.

“No.”

Her father drew back the dagger to slice across her mother’s throat.

29

Maude told Herrick about that day she ran from her fate. She told him about how she got her scar, how she had slaughtered the soldiers sent to stop her, and how her father had held her mother captive when she had gotten onto that wall.

Giving Herrick no reprieve, she continued telling him about where she had gone when she was running and how she discovered it was safer for her to hide in Logi after what happened in Brastone.

Maude talked until the late hours turned to early morning, and when she was done, she found that she was afraid to look at him.

Afraid to see what she knew had to be in his face— disgust for her.

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