Heart of Defiance (The Royal Spares)

Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Jostein

A s I watch the officers in their hushed twilight conference, my jaw clenches. Every particle of my being itches to be in there with them, speaking against the surrender, laying out plans of my own. Showing how we can lead the people who’ve believed in this cause to a better outcome.

But I don’t actually know what plan would get us out of this mess. Maybe that’s why I’m over here with the infantry and the civilians, waiting in the growing gloom to hear someone else determine our fate.

Anger smolders inside me despite the increasingly hopeless atmosphere. We can’t give up now. We can’t let all the people who fell to Darium swords and arrows today have died in vain.

It’s hard to keep up my own hope when I stalk back to where I left Signy sitting with Iko, though. Her head has drooped even farther than when I last saw her, her dark hair drifting across her shoulders and the knees she’s hugging. Her slumped shoulders look unnervingly fragile.

I’ve watched this woman challenge an entire squadron alone. I’ve seen her fight tooth and nail for her home when no one else was willing to.

It always seemed like the strength she radiated was something innate and unshakeable. But she’s obviously shaken now.

While I’ve been gone, Landric has come over to sit with her too, keeping a careful distance opposite Iko. The same anguish I feel is etched all across his face.

I don’t know all the details of what went on between them in the past, but he clearly cares about her. Somehow that both annoys me and reassures me.

This magnificent woman needs all the caring she can get. All the caring she was denied for so long before she took up this mission.

I crouch down on the uneven ground next to Iko, turned to face Signy, but she doesn’t look up. It’s my friend who acknowledges my presence first. “Any news from the bigwigs?”

I shake my head. “They’re still discussing our options. Trying to come up with an offer that’ll save as many lives as possible, I’d imagine.”

What’s to stop the Darium force from slaughtering us all, really? It’ll be easy enough once the rest of their army arrives, which may only be a matter of hours from now.

“Too many people already died,” Signy murmurs in a rough voice.

My heart wrenches. I’m amazed that we made it so long without more initial casualties. She’s never had to face the realities of warfare. She has no idea how much blood ends up being shed even to win.

“We all knew what we were risking when we took up the cause,” I say, as steadily as I can. “I know none of my colleagues would have regretted making the gamble for what we stood to gain. What we still stand to gain.”

A choked guffaw sputters out of her. “Still? We’ve lost. It took them just minutes to murder half of our comrades. They’re only holding back from cutting down the rest of us until we pose even less of a threat than we already do.”

Landric’s stance tenses. “Which means we have time. We started with less than we have now. We started with just the four of us.”

“Taking on a guard post, not an entire army.”

Iko makes a dismissive sound. “It wasn’t manpower that won the battles before this one. They always had us outnumbered. Our wits made the difference.”

“Until they didn’t anymore.”

I reach out to graze my fingers over Signy’s hair. She lifts her head just enough to peer at me between the strands. So much sorrow shadows her normally vibrant eyes that my throat constricts.

I want to tell her how we can win the war after all. I want to point the way and command everyone onto the path of victory.

But that has never been my actual role since I was first drawn into this quest. Signy was the driving force.

I was the one who recognized the potential in her. Who could see how much she could accomplish.

Because it’s all I have, I lean into the one certainty my gift gave me. “We’ve had a harsh setback, but that doesn’t mean this is over. We’ve faced setbacks before and come back stronger. You’ve always seen the way through, and I know you can again. All these people are here because you inspired them. You inspired me .”

Signy swipes her hand across her mouth. “I inspired hundreds of them to their deaths. Just because I couldn’t stand to let the Darium empire keep lording it over us.”

Ah. It isn’t just grief but guilt tying her into knots.

I caress her hair again, summoning all the conviction and authority I can bring to bear. “The deaths today aren’t your fault. Signy, you’re surrounded by hundreds of trained soldiers, and not one of us caught on to the threat in time to prevent the attack. They used skills and tactics we didn’t anticipate, and that’s on us. How could you expect to be prepared when not even Major Arlo was?”

As she grimaces, Iko picks up my thread with a squeeze of her shoulder. “And you were the first to realize something was wrong. If you hadn’t said something to me, they might have gotten even closer before anyone sounded the alarm. Even more lives would have been lost.”

Landric shifts his position as if he wants to reach out to her too, but he holds himself back. “The Darium forces were killing Veldunian citizens long before you ever took up this rebellion. The only difference is that we’ve finally been making them pay. We finally have the chance to get rid of them completely.”

“How?” Signy demands. “There’s no lissweld or marlwood wasps here. We’re stuck up a mountain with an army at the foot.”

A crooked smile crosses my lips. “You haven’t given yourself the opportunity to believe there’s a way out of this. If you can find that faith again, I have total confidence that more strategies will come to you.”

Iko perks up. “You were starting to tell me an idea down by the lake when you noticed the illusionary magic. You’d already thought of another way to turn the tables on them, hadn’t you?”

A brief glimmer lights in Signy’s eyes. She opens her mouth and closes it again, the spark fading .

I lean forward, knowing that if I accomplish anything tonight, it has to be fanning that ember back into flame. “What? What were you picturing?”

“I—I don’t know. That was before we were stuck up here. Before we lost so many people. We’d need time… It’d have been a lot to pull off even before.”

“We’re not doing anything yet,” I say firmly. “You’re not insisting on anything. You’re just telling us what you imagined. Let us judge whether it’s worth pursuing. That part won’t be on you.”

Signy wets her lips. For a second, I think she’s going to refuse again.

Then she lifts her chin a little higher. “There are caves in the mountain, under the lake—maybe all around here. The terrain around Feldan is like that too. A layer of soil over lots of rock, with crevices and passages all through it…”

She glances at Landric, who’s watching her avidly. “Do you remember when we were little kids—when there was that cave-in by the old cistern? Rafe and his sister fell in.”

Landric’s gaze goes distant with the recollection. “The ceiling of a cave under the field collapsed. Rafe bashed his head and his leg—he never thought or walked the same after that. Maika nearly died from the bleeding.”

“A fall like that does a lot of damage.” Signy’s head turns so she can gaze through the thickening dusk toward the remnants of her former home. “Those caves ran all through Feldan and out into the nearby fields as well as the forest… If we could thin or crack the ceilings so they’d be on the verge of collapsing and then lure the Darium soldiers there to fall… But I don’t know if that would be possible even if we had days to work on it.”

Landric springs to his feet. “I’ve talked to at least a couple of people who have gifts that could help set it up. I’ll make sure they’re still with us and see who else I can find who’d be able to pitch in.”

Signy stiffens. “You don’t have to?—”

He fixes her with a look so intense it sets off every jealous impulse in my body. “I want to. It’s a fantastic plan.” His gaze lifts to me. “Isn’t it?”

“We don’t have enough of the pieces pulled together for me to evaluate with my gift,” I say. “But if we can pull it off, I think it’d be exactly what we need.”

As Landric hustles off, Signy’s gaze follows him. I think I see a faint flush in her cheeks.

I shove down the jealousy and focus on the part of me that wants to see this woman adored. The remark manages to come out in a casual tone. “He’s awfully devoted to you.”

Her attention jerks back to me with a twist of her mouth. “He’s just—he feels bad about not standing up for me sooner. He’s trying to make it up to me so he doesn’t have to feel guilty.”

Iko chuckles. “I think it’s more than that. It just took him much longer to recognize what an incredible woman you are than it did the two of us. His fault for being late to the party.”

Signy gives a soft snort at his phrasing, but the hint of a blush remains.

I pick my words carefully. “He has been a valuable and loyal member of our rebellion from the very start. The four of us worked well together.”

She stares at me for a moment. “What are you saying?”

I lift my shoulders in a slight shrug. “We obviously have more pressing concerns at the moment. But as far as I’m concerned, if you felt you could accept all the devotion three of us could offer you rather than two… I wouldn’t want to hold you back. ”

Iko elbows me. “Hey, now I’ll look bad if I say I want her all for ourselves.”

Signy’s expression has shifted to something somewhere between incredulity and amusement. “Is that what you’d have said?”

Iko grins at her, his posture relaxing. “You know, when we first met, I might have said I’d rather have you all just for me. But there’s something pretty fantastic about a collaboration. I liked seeing how much you enjoyed the two of us together. Three… that could be even more spectacular.”

There’s no doubt now that Signy’s tan skin has reddened. She ducks her head in momentary embarrassment and then pushes herself to her feet. “Well, none of it matters if we’re all facing execution tomorrow.”

Her gaze slides toward the cluster of officers farther along the mountainside. “It doesn’t matter what brilliant plan we come up with if the major and the captains don’t agree.”

I give her hand a quick squeeze. “Then we’ll have to be very convincing.”

It takes even less time than I expect before our comrades begin to gather around the three of us—some of my fellow soldiers looking to me and Iko with questioning expressions, some of the ordinary citizens studying Signy.

“I heard you might have a way we can knock the Darium bastards back on their asses,” one of them says cautiously.

Before this afternoon’s massacre, I’d have expected Signy to hold her head high with a daring smile and assure them we’re heading toward another victory. Now, I’m not entirely surprised to see her hesitate, even if it pains me. My attempt at a pep talk hasn’t been enough to fully restore her confidence.

If she needs more, I can provide it. She isn’t alone anymore—and she needs to see that the people she’s brought together are still willing to fight for our freedom despite today’s tragedy.

“We might have an opportunity to shatter the entire Darium force,” I say. “We can’t back down now, not when we’ve made so much progress. They believe they have the upper hand again—it’s the perfect time to upset the balance.”

A few of our companions look nervous, but most draw themselves straighter with determined expressions. They’ve watched friends and neighbors die today. They’ve had a stark reminder of the brutality we’ve spent the past three centuries enduring.

To drive the point home, I gesture toward the Darium camp beyond the lake. “They want to kill all of us. I say we spill their blood instead. Every Darium soldier we take down is one fewer who can torment the rest of us in years to come.”

It’s possible none of us will survive the next day, but if we hit back hard enough, we might still carve the way to a better future. All of Velduny will be hearing about the stand we’ve taken.

All we can hope for is to weaken the Darium presence in our country as much as possible, regardless of what fate we meet.

The murmurs of anticipation that pass through the growing crowd around us seem to invigorate Signy. She tosses back her hair and sets her hands on her hips. “I started us on this path, and I’m going to keep fighting until the end. You all have to make the decisions that are right for you. But I’d be honored to have you taking on those pricks alongside me.”

As several voices call out in support, Landric hustles back to us with a dozen figures trailing behind him. His face has lit up with enthusiasm.

He’s that happy to be playing this role—to be helping orchestrate the rebellion, to be showing Signy she isn’t beaten. Seeing it, I can’t resent his interest in her one bit.

“I think we could pull it off,” he says to us in a hushed voice. “We’ve got people skilled with rock work, construction, carving… I have a few asking around to see if there are other talents that could contribute. The hardest part might be setting off the cave-ins at the right time. We’d want the ground to hold steady enough at first for plenty of the soldiers to get into the area, right?”

Signy nods, her expression turning thoughtful. “We’ll need to create a big impact, some kind of shock to the ground. Explosives?”

She glances at Iko, whose grin turns sly. “You know I won’t pass up the chance to see what I can throw together to stir things up.”

A cleared throat brings my head snapping around.

Major Arlo and the captains have approached our expanding huddle. The major frowns at us. “What’s going on over here? If we’re going to negotiate as peaceful a surrender as possible, we can’t be agitating the Darium forces any further.”

He holds himself with an assurance I can’t help admiring. Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of taking on a role like his, leading hundreds of soldiers in defense of our country. All my training tells me to stand down and follow orders.

That’s not enough, though. If I want to lead my fellow citizens on the right path, I have to start now, when it could make the most difference.

No, this plan isn’t mine. But part of me knew all the way back at twelve years old that sometimes the best leadership doesn’t come from seeing the route forward but getting everyone else on it once a visionary has pointed out the way.

Every bit of my gift is telling me that the people we’ve assembled, the people I’ve believed in from the start, can tackle this final challenge.

I square my shoulders. “We’re not ready to surrender, sir.”

The major’s jaw ticks. “It’s hardly up to you. We’ve fought hard, but we’ve been overwhelmed?—”

“We can turn the tables on them again,” Signy breaks in, with so much of her old passion that my heart leaps to see it. “We’re putting together a strategy—if we get started on it right away, it could completely cripple the Darium forces.”

One of the captains steps in. “It’s our job to decide whether the risks are worth the potential gains.”

I fold my arms over my chest. “This isn’t just an army. This is a rebellion. None of us are following the rules anymore. If the people here want to keep fighting rather than giving up, I think your options are to do whatever you can to make that work—or give your own surrender.”

The captain’s gaze sharpens into a glare, but Amalia pushes past him. “My squad leader has a point.” She takes in the people who’ve gathered around us. “Do you really want to keep going?”

This time, there’s no hesitation, no uncertainty. The voices rise up in a rush of defiance. “We have to keep fighting.”

“We’re in this until the end.”

“Let’s take as many of those assholes down as we can.”

When my captain catches my eyes, I catch a glint of pride in hers. I doubt she was ever keen on the idea of surrendering. “Then I say we hear about this plan of yours.”

I set my hand on my lover’s shoulder. “Signy saw how it could happen.”