Chapters (60)
Zoya pressed her palms to her eyes. “It was my mission, Genya. When Nina was first captured on the Wandering Isle, I was her commanding officer. I pushed her harder than I should have. I let her stomp off in a huff. If it wasn’t for me, Nina never would have been captured by Fjerdans. She never would have ended up in Ketterdam or fallen in love with a witchhunter. I can’t lose her again.” She drew in a long breath. “If the Apparat has Nina, her cover is blown. He could turn her over to Jarl Brum. I won’t let her be tortured, not when I have the chance to stop it.”
Genya cast her hands out. “All of the people in this camp have been put on this path because of decisions the Triumvirate made. They’re choosing to stand between Ravka and destruction. That was Nina’s choice too. We are all soldiers. Why were you so hard on Nina if you didn’t want her to use her skills?”
“Because I wanted her to survive!”
“Zoya, do you know why the Darkling lost the civil war? How Alina stopped him?”
Zoya pinched the bridge of her nose. “No. I wish I did.”
“Because he always fought alone. He let his power isolate him. Alina had us. You have us. You push us away, keep us at arm’s distance so that you won’t mourn us. But you’ll mourn us anyway. That’s the way love works.”
Zoya turned away. “I don’t know how to do this anymore. I don’t know how to just go on.”
“I don’t know either. There are days when I don’t want to. But I can’t live a life without love.”
Zoya slammed the trunk lid shut. “That’s the difference between you and me.”
“You don’t know what you’re walking into. You’re powerful, Zoya. Not immortal.”
“We’ll see.”
Genya blocked her path. “Zoya, the Apparat knows you’re an asset who can turn the tide of this war.”
Now the dragon inside her bared its teeth, and Zoya smiled. “He doesn’t know anything about me. But he’s going to learn.”