Page 189 of The Kingdom's Reckoning
She feared for his safety, but she also couldn’t ask him to stay. She couldn’t ask himnotto fight. That would have been like asking him not to breathe. He was a soldier, a fighter. It was in his blood. Myra refused to ask him to change that. His loyalty to Rian, his willingness to sacrifice his own life for his kingdom, was something she admired most about him.
So, she would take this blip of time they had together and hold it close to her chest for as long as she could.
She stood, and Laurince reached for her, his lips parting and brows curling in question.
"Walk with me?" Myra asked with a shy, shaky smile.
Laurince blinked, momentarily confused, as if something he had said had upset her. Then he narrowed his gaze as she motioned toward the woods. "Haze, what are you up to?"
Myra’s smile turned into one of amusement. For a man apt in military strategy, he could be quite dense at times.
"Is that a no, then?" she asked patiently.
He grabbed her hands. "Lead the way."
Chapter 76
KALLIE
Rian ploppeddown in front of the fire, his head falling into his hands. "We lost so many—toomany."
"Which is why we need to wait," Kallie said, sitting across from him. Graeson shifted beside her, his leg pressing against hers. "Reinforcements are coming."
Rian lifted his face from his palms, and a forest on fire blazed within his green eyes. "So you keep saying, but my people are dying as we speak," he said, vitriol spilling into each word. "Do you know how many we had to abandon? How many we could not carry back with us because we had no more open arms? How many we had to leave because it was already too late for them? Not just soldiers, Kalisandre, but women and children and elderly who were too close to the brink of death. Those who you see in this forest? They’re the lucky ones. They got out."
"You cannot save them all, Rian," Kallie said, her hands falling limp at her sides.
Graeson placed his palm on her lower back for support, as if he could see the weight of Rian’s words pressing down on her.
When Kallie, Graeson, and Moris had arrived, they had been too late to provide support during the battle. If they had leftsooner, if they hadn’t waited until nightfall to hide Graeson’s form, would they have been able to make a difference? Would they have been able to save those who died tonight? Maybe some, but not all.
Still, the questions haunted her.
Once Rian had ensured the injured were seen by the healers, he had immediately wanted to return to the fight, despite everyone’s protests.
Kallie understood his desire to go back. But she, like the rest of them, knew returning would only be a fool’s errand. Rian was exhausted—they all were. If he went back now, he would be sealing his fate away, letting Death claim him, letting Sebastian win.
They had to wait for reinforcements. There was no other choice if they wanted to win.
Kallie rolled her hands into fists to keep them from trembling. "Terin and Ellie will arrive with the troops. And when they do, we will take back the capital. We’ll take backyourkingdom. But until then, you need to rest."
Rian scoffed in disbelief. "You mean sit here and listen to the cries of the dying? Sit here and watch my kingdom, myhome, burn to ash?"
"Like ours?" Graeson retorted under his breath.
Luckily, Rian didn’t hear him, his attention and anger fixed on Kallie.
"If that is what it takes to see tomorrow," she said, "to survive until we have the numbers, yes. That is precisely what you must do. You cannot rule a kingdom from the grave, Rian."
Rian stood, the movement sluggish as if it took all his energy to get up. He gave his back to them and looked at the fire, the flames casting eerie shadows across his features. "You say that as if there will be a kingdom to rule after tonight."
Rian turned on his heel and headed toward the provisional infirmary on the other side of the camp. Kallie leaned forward, about to go after him to talk some sense into him, but Graeson tugged on her hand.
"Let him go," he said.
"But—"
He shook his head. "You will not get through to him." He arched a brow. "Unless you wish to persuade him through other means. Is that your intention?"
