Page 115 of Veinblood
We’re still a few hundred feet apart when she slides from herhorse and breaks into a run. She slams into me with enough force to drive the breath from my lungs, her arms wrapping around my neck. Before I can utter a word, her mouth crashes against mine, and I taste salt from her tears and a flavor that is uniquely her. I don’t even fight it, one hand sliding into her hair, while the other presses against her back to bring her closer to me.
A sharp intake of breath from somewhere nearby breaks us apart, and I lift my head to look at the two riders sitting frozen on their horses, staring at us with wide eyes.
“I felt you coming through the bond,” Ellie whispers against my shoulder, her voice thick with tears. “I wasn’t sure I was right, but?—”
“I’m here. For hours our connection was dead, and I thought … I thought sharing my power had killed you.”
She pulls back to look at me, eyes bright with tears. “Never! That would never happen.”
“Ellie,” Mira calls out. “Put Lord Torran down and let me look at you.”
A grin pulls Ellie’s lips up, and she untangles herself from me to turn and throw herself at Mira. Mira …reserved, controlled Mira… actuallylaughswhen she catches her.
“It’s good to see you’re still alive, and with all your limbs intact.”
Ellie kisses her cheek, squeezing the woman tightly. “I missed you too.”
And then it’s Varam’s turn. He stands stiff with surprise when she hugs him before awkwardly patting her back. “We were worried about you.” His voice is gruff.
“What happened?” I ask when she turns back to me.
“I have so much to tell you. I lost our connection for a while, too. When I woke up this morning after—” She pauses, and gives me a wobbly smile. “Well, you’ll see.”
“After what?”
She doesn’t answer me. Instead, she lifts her hands and presses them to my face. “I need you to look at the city, Sacha.Reallylook.”
She turns my head toward Ashenvale, and I scan the city more carefully, focusing on details I missed between wondering about the outer wall and my need to reach her. Banners hang from the remaining towers. Dark fabric marked with silver, instead of Authority red.
Shadowvein colors. My family colors.
My breath stops. For over thirty years, those towers have flown Authority banners that became the symbol of everything I lost. Now they fly the colors of my bloodline. The colors that were supposed to be erased from this world forever.
“That’s impossible.”
Her hands drop from my face and she steps back, dipping into a curtsey that lacks finesse and confuses me all the more. I reach out a hand automatically when she wobbles, to stop her from falling.
Her grin carries something wild and triumphant. “I took your capital back for you, my Vareth’el.”
The world goes silent around me. Not just quiet, but utterly, completely silent, as though sound itself has been drained away.I stare at her face, then at the banners flying over Ashenvale, then back at her. My mind rejects what she’s telling me. Taking Ashenvale would require an army that doesn’t exist, months of planning and preparation.
And we haven’t been apartthatlong.
“You … took Ashenvale?”
“The guards you can see aren’t Authority soldiers.” She straightens and steps forward to stand beside me, pointing at the figures moving around in the distance. “They’re Veinwardens.”
The words won’t fit together properly in my thoughts. The entire time I was imprisoned in that tower, I planned thousands of ways to strike at the Authority’s power. None of them included taking back Ashenvale. It couldn’t be done.
Yet there are no Authority patrols on the roads. No red banners flying. No sign of the military presence that should surround Ashenvale.
“The Veinwarden network is larger than anyone realized. Entire groups that kept limited contact with only Ashenvale’s Knot. There was also a lot of support throughout the city from people who have been waiting a long time for someone to give them hope. They just needed someone to show them it was possible to fight back and win.”
“And you did that?”
Ellie shakes her head. “No. I was just the messenger. Knowing you were alive and fighting did that.”
Something in my chest loosens at her words. These people fought for what I represent to them.
