Chapter 53

Jude rides next to me,carrying the white banner of peace. It flutters in the dry desert wind as we slip through the city gates of Sharhavva and out into the barren dunes beyond.

Jasce didn't want me to go. I felt it in the way he held me close. Saw it in the way his eyes followed me as I mounted Scarlet. Heard it in his voice when he issued a quick command for Jude to bring me back to him unharmed.

My hands shake as I adjust my veil and follow Jude through the dunes. Even though Jasce isn't pleased, I know this is the right thing to do—speaking to Asha before she attacks Sharhavva.

Mazaline said I am going to reunite our houses. Maybe this is what she meant by that.

We ride in tense silence in the direction the scouts indicated Asha is camped with her army, the hooves of our horses kicking up small clouds of red dust with each step.

My heart hammers harder and harder in my chest the closer we get. A million doubts and fears race through my mind. Will Asha be happy to see me? Or will she refuse to speak with me?

I fidget with the seashell pendant around my neck as we approach a valley filled with a sea of tents stretching as far as the eye can see.

A wave of anxiety crashes over me as I glance over at Jude, but he appears relaxed, riding beside me with a loose grip on his horse's reins.

As we reach the edges of the sprawling encampment, two of Asha's guards halt our progress. "State your purpose," one of them demands.

Jude raises the white banner higher. "We come in peace," he declares, his voice steady and clear. "Lady Annora seeks an audience with her sister, General Asha."

The guards exchange a quick look, then the taller of the two nods. "We will take you to her."

We dismount our horses and follow the guards through the camp. Soldiers mill about, some tending to weapons and armor, others gathered around fires cooking meals. Makeshift corrals hold hundreds of mounts, their whinnies and snorts mixing with the din of clashing steel as men train and spar.

The guards halt before a tent in the heart of the encampment. Commander Titanus looms at the entrance, his imposing figure blocking our path. His gaze rakes over me, scrutinizing every detail. I stand a little straighter, willing my spine to turn to steel. My hands tremble at my sides, but I curl them into fists, determined not to show any weakness.

"I request an audience with Asha." I hold Commander Titanus' stare, refusing to look away first.

After a moment, he nods and sweeps the tent flap open. I step inside with Jude next to me.

Asha sits behind her desk, watching me as I approach. My heart quickens at the sight of her. She looks every inch the sister I have known all my life. Yet, there are subtle differences. The fire in her gaze burns brighter, more intense than I remember.

"Well, look what the wind blew in," Asha says, her voice as sharp as a blade's edge. "The prodigal sister returns."

I fight the overwhelming urge to run into her arms, to feel her embrace after so long apart. But I stand my ground. "Ash. It's good to see you."

"I wish I could say the same." She glances at Jude and scours him with a frosty glare. "And you've brought a crimson as an escort. My, how far you've fallen, little sister."

I glance at Jude, silently begging him not to take offense. To his credit, his face remains neutral.

I turn back to Asha. "He's here under a banner of truce. As am I."

Her eyes rake over my face, my body, scrutinizing every detail, as if searching for a flaw in my armor. "There are not enough banners in the world to undo what you've done. Leaving us. Marrying our enemy." She grips the hilt of her sword, her fingers curling around the leather, tighter and tighter until her knuckles turn white. "You have betrayed our house."

My insides twist, and my stomach coils with pain. I wasn't trying to betray anything. I was just trying to live. To thrive. To understand my magic.

My voice shakes as I tell the truth, the words stabbing my throat like thorns. "I did what I must to survive."

"Survive?" Asha lets out a brittle laugh. "I'd rather die with honor than live as a crimson's whore."

The words slice into my soul, shredding it to ribbons as I look down, blinking back the hot sting of tears.

Asha doesn't make me cry. Asha soothes my pain.

"I'm giving you one chance. Leave your husband and come home. Help us regain our birthright." She leans forward, locking her eyes with mine, the intensity in them searing my very soul. "Together, we can lay waste to Sharhavva."

Horror floods through me at the very thought, chilling my blood to ice. Leave Jasce? Kill his people? His family? The mere idea is unfathomable, a betrayal of everything I hold dear.

"Well?" Asha's eyes blaze with a fervor that borders on madness. "Are you silver or crimson?"

My mouth goes dry as I glance between her and Jude. She's made my choice clear—betray my heart or my blood.

Either way, I lose.

"I..." My voice falters.

Asha's lips tighten into a thin line. "Yes?"

I suck in a breath as Jude places his hand on my arm.

"Annora and my brother are married," he says, "but there are other paths to peace."

The grooves near Asha's mouth tighten as she scowls at him. "How like a crimson to speak of peace while surrounded by an army."

He stands his ground, neither flinching nor cowering before Asha's fury. "Violence will only breed more violence," he says, his gaze unwavering. "If we walk that path, the bloodshed will never end."

In a flash of silver, Asha rises from her chair and draws her sword. My heart leaps into my throat, but Jude still doesn't budge.

"Take one more step, general," he says, his words even and controlled, yet a quiet threat hums beneath the surface, "and you make an enemy of House of Crimson."

The moment stretches, taut and endless, as I hold my breath, waiting for the world to shatter. But after what feels like an eternity, Asha lowers her sword. "You men from House of Crimson are all the same. Weak-willed and cowardly, just like your father."

I flinch at the cruelty of Asha's words, but Jude doesn't react. It's as if he's a brick wall, and she merely threw a pebble at him.

Asha's attention shifts to me, her eyes smoldering with a fury I've never seen directed at me before. "Consider our bond severed. House of Silver is dead to you."

"No," I say, finally finding my voice, my real voice. It trembles slightly, but I push on, determined to make her see reason. "No, Asha. You need to stand down. Do not attack Sharhavva. This path will only lead to more bloodshed and suffering."

Anger flares in those eyes that are usually so gentle when she looks at me. "Stand down? Do you even hear yourself? How far you have fallen, Annora? To defend our enemies, to turn your back on your own people?"

"Asha, please," I choke out, my throat tightening with emotion. "You don't understand—"

"—how can you defend them? They've taken everything from us. And you would have me stand down? Have you forgotten all they've done?"

"They haven't." I say, my temper flaring. "Jasce has been nothing but kind to me. He's shown me a different side to House of Crimson, one that seeks peace, not war."

Asha scoffs. "Annora, wake up. He's using you. You're a pawn in his twisted game of power. Can't you see that? He's manipulating you, turning you against your own sister."

If only I can make Asha see Jasce as I see him. His strength. His kindness. His inherent goodness.

"He's not like that, Ash. If you would just give him a chance, you'd see it too."

"Then explain this." She reaches into her cloak and pulls out a crumpled parchment and shoves it into my hands.

My stomach drops as I read the words.

If you wish to see Emerin again, you need to turn your army around and go home. If you fail to comply, you will never see your sister alive again.

Jasce

My fingers tremble as I reread the note over and over again, searching for some kind of hidden meaning that isn't there.

"See," Asha begins, her words like ice, "they aren't your friends, Annora. They will never be your friends. They are crimson."

The note crinkles in my grip, the edges biting into my palms as I stare at the words that threaten to shatter the fragile walls I've built around myself.

"Do you see now?" Asha asks, her tone bitter. "They will use those you love against you without a second thought."

"But Jasce wouldn't. He could not have done this." The very thought of Jasce using my family against me sears through me like a white-hot blade, cutting deep into the tender places I've tried so hard to protect.

"Of course he would. And he did." Her words are like a slap, stinging and cruel.

Jude stiffens, but he doesn't speak.

"You're wrong," I say, clinging to the hope that there has been some mistake, that Jasce isn't capable of such cruelty.

"This is what they do," she says, each word a barbed arrow aimed straight at my heart. "They take and take until there's nothing left but ash and bone."

I stare down at the note again, trying to make sense of it. The last time I saw Emerin, she was walking through that portal with Arian. Surely, she's in Bakva right now. She has to be.

"Ash." I summon every ounce of courage within me and meet her gaze, my eyes pleading with the same intensity as my words. "Please, don't do this. Don't attack Sharhavva. Just go back home. Please."

"I will go home when I have your husband's head on a pike."

Coldness washes over me, as if she had picked me up and slammed me into a river of ice. The chill seeps into my bones, my blood, my heart.

"Asha." I stumble back a step, my legs threatening to give out beneath me.

"Go," she says, her tone devoid of any warmth or sympathy. "Crawl back to him."

Jude takes hold of my arm and leads me from the tent. I follow him numbly, placing one foot in front of the other.

Nothing I said or did made a difference. My words, my pleas, my desperate attempts to reason with her—all of it was in vain.

And now thousands will die.

* * *

Jasce looksup from his desk strewn with maps and scrolls as I enter his study next to Jude. His eyes widen in surprise at the sight of me.

"Annora." He rises so quickly his chair overturns behind him. "What happened?"

I thrust the note toward him. "Tell me this isn't true."

He takes the letter from me and scans the words, his brow furrowing with each passing second. "This wasn't by my command. I would never use your family, Annora."

I lock my shaky hands together. "If you didn't take Emerin, then who did?"

"I don't know." Determination fortifies Jasce's words as he continues. "But I will find out."

Is Emerin missing because Jasce brought her here to heal me? The thought gnaws at my mind, twisting my insides into knots. Or is someone just playing a cruel trick on me, trying to sow seeds of doubt about Jasce's intentions?

Jasce turns to Jude. "Has Arian returned?"

"I haven't seen her," Jude says.

Frustration sparks in Jasce's eyes as he rakes a hand through his hair. "Fuck! I knew I should have sent Reeve with her, but Arian was so adamant she could handle taking Emerin back to Bakva on her own."

"You know how Arian is," Jude says. "She's always flitting about from one place to the next. She could be anywhere right now."

A sinking feeling settles in my gut like a stone. Something about this doesn't sit right with me. Emerin's disappearance, Arian's absence...it's too much of a coincidence.

My stomach twists painfully as I remember Asha's cruel words. "House of Silver is dead to you."

No!