Page 95 of Veinblood
His words lay bare something I've been fighting to ignore. Duty has always been my armor against loss, against caring too much about anything I can’t control. Responsibility for others keeps me focused, gives my survival meaning beyond mere existence.
But the thought of her facing danger alone while I remain here …
“I've never had to choose between people I'm sworn to protect.”
“Maybe it's time you learned that protection sometimes means trusting others to share the burden.”
“I can’t abandon Greenvale.”
“You're not abandoning anyone." Mira’s voice floats out of the darkness, seconds before she joins us. “You're trusting them. Nyassa is a Tidevein. She can force a moat to form around the village. Defenses can be built.”
My head turns northwest again. “It will take at least a day to reach Ashenvale from here on foot.” But as soon as I say it, I'm already considering another option. “But there is another way. I could open a path closer to Ashenvale …”
Varam goes very still beside me. “The last time you tried that?—”
“It nearly killed me, yes. But I was wounded, and Sereven’s crystal interfered. The circumstances are different now.”
“Are they? You’re exhausted, and with this bond distracting you …”
“Conventional travel will take too long.”
“And if what you’re planning kills you? What happens to her then?”
I shake my head. My power is at full strength, and I'm not wounded or desperate. The risk remains, but the variables have shifted in my favor.
More importantly, through the bond I feel Ellie's emotions spiking again, a sharp burst of adrenaline that makes my own pulse race. Whatever is happening, it’s growing more intense by the hour.
“If you go, we're coming with you. Ashenvale is dangerous, and we don't know if Sereven returned there.” Varam's voice is firm. “Stonehaven's leaders and Nyassa are more than capable of running things here.”
I look between my two oldest allies, reading the determination in their faces. They’ve followed me without question, trusted my judgment when wisdom demanded retreat. Now they’re offering to risk their lives on my most dangerous ability because they understand what Ellie has become to me.
I look northwest again, toward where I know she waits, and the choice that has been building since dawn finally settles into place.
For the first time in my life, I am going to choose what I want over what duty demands.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ELLIE
“Some prisons are built of stone. Others of unspoken truths.”
Reflections on Captivity — Sacha Torran's Journals
Our room feels toosmall for what we’re planning. The four of us are crowded around the map spread out across the narrow table, the air thick with unspoken fears about what might happen next.
Jorana’s fingers drum on the table-top, eyes on the map, but I’m not sure she’s really seeing it. Her face has that distant look of someone lost in thought. Corwin keeps adjusting his tunic and checking the hidden blade strapped to his wrist. Bessa keeps walking to the window, watching the people going about their business on the street below.
“I think the marketplace will be busy enough now.” Her voice holds the same tension as the room.
I flex my hands beneath the table, sparks jumping between my fingers, responding to my nerves. Once we leave here, once it starts, everything that happens after will depend on my signal.On me reading the moment right. If I act too early, the riots won’t have spread far enough. Too late, and the Authority will regain control before our people can respond.
“Do you know what you have to do?” Jorana’s voice is barely above a whisper, despite the privacy of our room.
My throat is tight, mouth dry, but I lick my lips and nod. “Corwin will provoke the soldiers in the market square. If it sparks …” I shake my head. “Whenit sparks, and the violence spreads through enough streets, I call lightning. That’s when they come out of hiding.”
Veinbloods have been coming into the city over the past twenty-four hours. The Ashenvale Veinwarden Knot has set up people in all areas of the city, to repeat what Corwin is about to do in the main marketplace.
It sounds so simple. But the reality is going to be chaos, and blood, and people dying for the chance to be free.
