Page 85 of Lethal Souls
“You don’t think we’ll win, do you?” Caz asks after some time. All eyes turn to him before they settle on Korah and Hassha.
The sisters look between each other.
“If we train you properly, we can,” Hassha says.
Korah presses her lips.
“Can?” Caz shoves off the couch. “What’s the point of going into this war? We’re better off trying to find a way out of Vakeeli. We could travel to Earth and live there if we must.”
“Doesn’t matter where you go, she’ll find you,” Hassha returns.
“Then you can take us someplace else—another universe or something where it’s safe.”
“That doesn’t matter, Caspian!” Hassha frowns. “She will not stop hunting you until she has the power you carry.”
“Well maybe we should just give her Yuri’s power then, huh?” Caz shouts back.
“What?” Hassha grimaces, and her armor clinks as she takes a heavy step toward him. “Give her Yuri’s power? Simply hand it over to her after spending all this time protecting it? I know you are just a commoner in mind, Caspian, but that is by far the stupidest thing to come out of your mouth.”
“It makes sense though,” he goes on. “If it’s that power she wants, let her have it. Why should I care when she hates both of you? Your fight with her has never been ours. Perhaps if I give it to her, she’ll spare me and my family.”
“You’re a fool if you do not care!” Hassha claps back. “Because if she takes your power, she takes all of you. You will die and your mate will too, as well as the child in her womb. Is that what you want? For everyone you love to die because you gave up? All those years you spent fighting and now you want to quit? Are you that pathetic and selfish, Monarch Harlow?”
Caz’s jaw ticks. He clenches a fist as he backs away.
“You have the power in you to take everything from her. Do you not understand that? You have the power to strip her away and store what she has inside of you. Korah and I cannot do that alone. All we can do is fight her and hope she remains wounded long enough for us to create another plan. But you, Caspian. The power you carry is Yuri’s. He was born from a separate line of tears. He is similar to us, but he is also so much more. He descended first and reached Gaea’s lips. And when he drifted to open air, he absorbed much of her strength and became everything we are not. Korah, Selah, and I—we stopped at her cheek. She wiped us away, but we were still born and still sent to aid the gods.
“It is you who will save us, but if you keep doubting yourself and doubting what we tell you, she wins. That is exactly what she wants. She wants you to feel incapable of such power so that you’ll willingly hand it over. She’s waiting for you to make an agreement to spare the lives of your loved ones, but we will not allow such an agreement to happen. We will not let her win. Is that clear?”
Caz’s turns away like a child who’s been scolded. He stares out the window, where the black ocean and bloated gray clouds steal the remaining color of Blackwater.
“If that is what you believe, so be it.” His shoulders sag as he turns his head a fraction and peers over his shoulder. He stares for so long, it makes everyone but The Regals shift with concern.
“Caz?” Juniper calls, her voice laced with worry.
He turns to face us, tilting his head up again. “If we have any chance of winning this war, everyone in Vakeeli must help. Our strongest fighters, our biggest allies—they have to know the truth. There will be no more hiding in the dark for you Regals. We will make your history abundantly clear so that there are no questions and no room for error.
“Some of the most powerful people of Vakeeli live in or near Vanora. We can talk to their queen, tell her to aid us. We can rally up the Mythics, the Gilded, the soldiers—everyone. The Rippies have no place else to say, and their monarch saw what you can do. Once they find out Selah turned some of their people to those creatures, they’ll straighten themselves up enough to fight. They may be ignorant, but they aren’t stupid. The Whisper Grovians want to reclaim their peace, and though they have little, they’ll assist too. We may just be commoners to you, but if we band together—if we’re united—we can be equally as strong.”
At that, a faint smile appears on Hassha’s lips. “That is the Caspian I’m looking for.” She moves across the room to get closer to him. “You can inform the others and make them aware. Get them to agree and to assist.”
“I can talk to them as much as I want, but they won’t believe me about Selah and the war unless they see you,” he says.
Hassha and Korah share a fleeting glance.
“You have to drop the fear,” Caz says. “Stop thinking all commoners want to hurt you. The world isn’t like it was all those years ago.”
Hassha’s eyes fall as she allows that to digest. “No. I suppose it isn’t.”
Korah purses her lips but doesn’t protest.
“I will travel with you for your arrangements,” Hassha tells him. “But we go our way. We teleport, we inform, then we return home so you can train. This must be done as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
“Right. Let’s go then.” Caz marches through the room, his boots thudding on the floor. “Row, Kill.” He stops in front of his cousins. “I need you to contact Devlin and Conan. Tell them to bring their people and meet us in Vanora if they’re not already there. Last I heard, Devlin was already making his way there, but he could’ve changed his mind.”
“You got it,” Rowan says as Killian replies with an affirmative grunt.
“I’ll get in touch with Alora.” Caz glances at me. “Willow, you can come with me.”