Page 13 of Grim and Oro
I feel a vague shift of emotions.
“Your mother?”
There. There, a blinding surge of sadness. It almost makes me pity him, my enemy. The person whose blood is about to be spilling down my blade.
“Ah. She—”
He lunges forward, and my sword barely blocks his. “Do not speak about my mother,” he growls.
Emotion. It clouds judgment. It cloudsskill.
This is how I win, I realize.
I poke the wound. I squeeze the vein dry.
A smile crawls across my face. It’s cold. Devoid of feeling. “I’ll tell you what. Lower the flames, and I’ll let you keep her body. I’ll let you bury her with dignity.”
As if this fire could trap me.
A fresh spring of hurt pierces the air, making it heavy, like rain. He lunges forward again, and this, this is the skill I’ve seen from afar. He is not a bad fighter.
I’m just better.
I whirl around with half a thought and stab right through his armor. But it’s like he doesn’t feel the pain at all.
Red streams from the place I wounded, and he just charges forward, pushing my back against the flames. Only my shadows keep me from getting burned.
“Your father has taken everything from me,” he says, his voice pure rage and agony. His eyes are blazing. “I will take everything from him.”
He lunges forward and manages to scratch my armor.
I almost laugh. As ifIcould be anyone’severything.
The only part of me my father cares about is the fact that I will continue our line. The ability to portal convinced him we need to regain everything we once lost. Everything he thinks is rightfully ours.
We did it. We’re about to conquer Lightlark. The king and queen are dead. This war,finally, can end.
This is dragging on too long.
I strike back, with all my force. At the last moment, he grits his teeth and avoids it. The tip of my blade manages to cut a slash across his cheek, but again, it’s like he can’t feel the pain. It’s like he can’t feel anything beyond this crushing sadness.
“As if you could understand,” he says, his voice shaking with anger as our blades meet, scraping together. “As if you’ve ever known the pain of seeing the person you love most die in front of you.”
I still. The world stills. Quiets. His words ... His words are stronger than his sword. I might block his metal with my own, but those words lance right through me.
I’ve let the barrier down, to feel his emotions.
My own come rushing back, for the first time in decades, with the force of a tidal wave.
Laila.
Her confusion, when she realized Father had betrayed her. Her gasp, when she realized she was dying. I killed her.
I killed her.
I can’t breathe. I stumble to the side, off-balance. Blocking my emotions hasn’t made them go away, it’s made them stronger, as if they’ve been teaming up and building forces behind my ribs, and now they blind me, they pierce me like the shadow-blades that cut right through her, thatended her.
I killed her. I see her shredded body, all the blood. I see the light leave her eyes. I feel that pain, that betrayal.
