Page 16 of Ash and Roses
Merrick doesn’t answer this time, but he nods once to Jade. Jade’s hand finds mine, and our fingers intertwine. “We’re going to Marein,” he says, studying my face for a reaction.
My brows crease together. “Marein is gone. The wave—”
“A lie,” Teagan says. “There was no wave.”
“But the evacuation of you and the other children—”
Petra joins in. “Why is it that not one adult survived? Do you think a natural disaster would show mercy to the young?”
I’d never thought about it. About twenty children were rescued that day from the ruins of their city, but not one adult was found alive. Or so my father said. I turn to Teagan. “What do you really remember?”
“Much of it is a blur. When Lunae’s army came, the water turned red and blood pooled in the sand. Screams rang out in every direction. They cut my mother down while she begged for our lives. They took my father,—I don’t know where—while my brother and I were tied up on the beach with the other children.”
“You have a brother?”
“Had. He was nine.” She pauses a moment, pain clouding her eyes. “Old enough to remember.”
The Guardians only brought back children under the age of five. I’d been told that none other’s had survived, but never stopped to think about why that was. “But you remember.”
She nods. “I remember.”
“As do many of us,” Merrick says. He’s likely the oldest one here, so he can’t mean himself.
I turn to Jade. “Do you—”
“No,” he says, before I can ask. I can’t help but feel like there’s more to that, but I’m not going to push him. Especially not here.
“So we go to Marein. Then what?”
He shrugs. “Join the survivors. Regroup. Prepare for war.”
“Survivors?” They just said all the adults were slaughtered, so what survivors are there?
“Some myths are true.” He can’t mean sirens. Even if they did once exist, they’re long gone, just like the dragons. If there were sirens now, everyone would know about it. “I know that look. History can be altered depending on who tells it.”
“If everything you say is true, then all the Guardians and their families would know. They wouldn’t all go along with slaughtering innocents.”
“Not all of them did,” Merrick agrees. “Three hundred Guardians left for Marein and just under two hundred returned. Some were killed, others defected. I can’t say what happened to them.”
This is all too much. My head is spinning, and I can’t see how to stop it. Even if we sat here for hours and they answered every one of my questions, I’m going to need weeks, if not months, to process all of this. History can be altered depending on who tells it… If that’s true, it means my father would have ordered the eradication of an entire kingdom. And for what? We weren’t at war with Marein. …Or were we? “When do we leave?”
“You’re not going anywhere,” a familiar voice echoes, and my heart drops. The Commander steps out from the tunnel, flanked by five Guardians with drawn swords. “Seems we’ve found a nest of rats,” he says before his eyes settle on me. “And a mouse.”
CHAPTERSEVEN
ABBY
Isnatch the knife I’d found earlier and point it toward the Commander. He slinks out of the shadows, moving more like a cat than a serpent. My heart beats wildly and my legs ache to run. He’s looking at me like a predator would.Just like that wolf did.
“What do we have here?” The Commander sneers, his voice playful.
“What the Marked do is none of your concern,” someone says, but I don’t dare look away to see who.
“You’re right. I couldn’t care less if a few rats want to play. The mouse, however, is leaving with me.”
Jade sidesteps so he’s in front of me and raises his bow so that it’s pointed directly at the Commander’s head. “Take one more step and it’ll be your last.”
When the Commander moves, Jade releases an arrow. It soars across the room, but the Commander is quicker. He angles his sword in front of him, and the arrow bounces off the metal with a harmless clink. “Is that really the best you can do?”