A BLOOD Oath

Buried Truths

The ceiling just came crashing down.

Arielle did not see what happened exactly.

One second she was looking at Ronan.

The next second everything just exploded.

Stone was falling from above. The floor was shaking hard under her feet. Someone was shouting her name.

Then everything just disappeared in dust. Something heavy hit her shoulder and pain was shooting through her body.

Arielle fell to the ground hard. Air was knocked out of her lungs.

For a second she could not hear anything except a ringing sound as dust was filling her mouth. Her nose. Her eyes.

She was coughing hard.

The room around her was hidden behind a cloud of gray.

"Arielle!"

Kael's voice sounded far away.

Too far.

"I am here!" she shouted back.

She tried to.

The words came out as a cough.

Another piece of stone collapsed nearby.

The sound was echoing through the tunnel like thunder.

Arielle was pushing herself up. Every part of her was hurting.

Her shoulder, her knees, her head.

She was alive.

That counted.

Slowly, the dust was starting to settle and shapes were appearing from the haze.

Broken pillars.

Collapsed walls.

A pile of stone where the center of the shrine used to be.

Kael.

A feet away.

Relief was hitting her fast she almost hated it.

He was covered in dust and blood.

His shirt was torn.

The bandage around his side looked worse than ever. He was standing.

The thing inside her chest was relaxing a bit.

Kael was moving toward her.

"Are you hurt?"

The question came out really rough.

Arielle almost laughed.

"I am fine."

He looked reasonably unconvinced.

There was a cut above her eyebrow and it was bleeding.

Her shoulder felt like it had been hit by a horse.

She could stand and that was enough for now.

Kael was reaching out to her without thinking and brushing dust from her cheek.

The touch lasted a second.

Yet somehow it felt longer.

Both of them noticed.

Both of them immediately stepped back.

That was wonderful, normal behavior.

Not awkward.

"Can somebody tell me we are not dead?"

Eamons voice was echoing from behind the rubble.

Thank the gods.

"Unfortunately we are alive" Lucien said.

"That is disappointing."

"There he is."

The familiar bickering was making something loosen in Arielles chest.

Sera appeared from the dust a moment later.

Dirty. Tired. Still carrying her dagger.

Of course she was.

The woman probably slept holding weapons.

"Everyone accounted for?" she asked.

Lucien nodded.

"Mostly."

Mostly. Arielle did not like that word.

Neither did Kael.

"Ronan."

The name was hanging heavily in the air.

Everyone was looking toward the collapsed center of the room.

Nothing was moving. Nothing.

Sera was frowning.

"Maybe he is dead."

"No"

Kael said right away.

The certainty in his voice was making Arielle uneasy.

"How do you know that?"

Kaels gaze was staying fixed on the rubble.

"I know him."

Nobody was arguing.

Because somehow they all knew he was right.

People like Ronan never seemed to die when they should.

They found a passage leading out of the ruined room an hour later.

The tunnel was sloping up.

Fresh air was drifting faintly through the darkness ahead.

For the time in what felt like days they might actually escape the underground maze.

Nobody was celebrating yet. Everyone was too exhausted. Too suspicious.

Too aware that every time things seemed hopeful something terrible followed.

Arielle was walking beside Kael. Close enough to feel the heat coming off him.

Close enough to notice the hitch in his breathing.

The wound again.

She did not need the oath to tell her he was struggling.

"You are getting worse."

"I am walking."

"There it is."

"What?"

"That answer."

For the first time all day the corner of Kaels mouth was twitching.

Subtle, but it was happening and Arielle was catching it.

Suddenly she was smiling.

The moment was disappearing.

Still. It was there.

Hours later they appeared beneath the night sky.

Arielle stopped walking.

The stars were stretching out above them.

After time underground the open air was feeling unreal.

The breeze was touching her face.

Fresh. Cool. Alive.

For a second nobody was speaking.

They were just standing there breathing.

The forest surrounding them was quiet. Dense trees were covering the hills everywhere.

The capital was gone. Hidden behind them.

Eamon was looking up at the sky dramatically.

"I never thought I would miss air."

Lucien was patting his shoulder.

"That was surprisingly emotional."

"Do not ruin it."

They were making camp before dawn.

A small fire.

A hidden clearing.

Enough shelter to survive the night.

Sera was taking watch.

Lucien was vanishing into the darkness for reasons nobody was questioning anymore.

Eamon was falling asleep.

Arielle was sitting near the fire staring into the flames. Sleep was not coming.

Too much had happened.

Many questions were remaining unanswered.

Across from her, Kael was awake.

Of course he was. The man seemed unable to rest.

Eventually she was breaking the silence.

"What did Ronan mean?"

Kael looked up.

"You will need to be more specific."

"You always choose her."

The words felt weird saying loud.

The fire was crackling softly between them.

For a moment Kael said nothing.

Then he was looking away.

That was interesting.

Because Kael rarely looked away from anything.

Arielles stomach was tightening.

"You know."

Silence.

More silence.

Then— "Ronan and I trained together."

Not the answer she was expecting.

But she was listening.

"We were recruited young."

His voice was staying steady.

Controlled.

Like he was reading from a report. Talking about his life.

"We fought together for years."

Arielle was frowning.

"You trusted him."

A humorless laugh escaped from his mouth.

"Yes."

The single word was carrying bitterness to answer everything.

She was not pressing.

Not yet.

Kael was staring into the fire.

"He saved my life once."

That was surprising to her.

"Did you save his?"

"More than once."

The flames were shifting between them.

Shadows were dancing across his face.

"He was like a brother."

There it was.

The wound beneath the wound. The betrayal beneath everything.

Arielle was suddenly understanding.

Not completely but enough.

Ronan had not just betrayed the kingdom.

He had betrayed Kael.

The person he trusted most.

Maybe that hurt more.

A twig was snapping somewhere in the forest.

Everyone was freezing away.

Sera was already standing.

Knife drawn.

Kael was rising to his feet despite his injury.

The fire was suddenly feeling too bright.

Too exposed.

Arielles pulse was quickening.

Someone was there.

Watching.

The forest was falling silent again.

Then— A voice was appearing from the darkness.

A womans voice.

Old. Calm. Completely unfamiliar.

"You have been very difficult to find."

Nobody was moving.

Nobody was speaking.

The woman was stepping into the edge of the firelight.

Arielles breath was catching because she was recognizing the pendant hanging around the strangers neck.

A silver pendant shaped like a circle crossed by two lines.

The exact symbol from the oath room.

The exact symbol branded into her hand.

The womans eyes were settling on Arielle.

Then on Kael.

What she was saying next was making the blood drain, from Arielles face.

"You were never supposed to survive the oath."