Zander hated his job.

He crumpled Iceheart's new orders and tossed them into the fireplace. Previous directives had been ambiguous on timing and consequences. Not anymore. If he delayed now, it would be insubordination.

The members of their outpost looked to him as the messenger rode away. Edrea and Erina were in the observation tower, but the rest of them gathered to hear the news.

"What does it say?" Vernon asked, that old nervousness infiltrating his more recently found confidence. Zander tapped his shoulder, it was growing hard and muscled. The soft traces of his boyish face had burned away, leaving behind a young man. A young man that Zander was proud of.

"Nothing good," Theo chimed. The lanky squire sighed. Some of his silliness had been left behind in the encampment, though he could be outrageous if left too long with Kenneth, Gordan, or Vernon and nothing to do.

Zander sucked in his lips, exhaled, and nodded at Theo. "Iceheart commands us to assault an enemy outpost or patrol each day until the objectives of our mission are satisfied. Until we have either captured or confirmed that Alexia Bluerose is not here."

He put his hands in their water basin, splashing some on his tired face. He leaned over the basin, then scanned each member of his squad. "He has scouts monitoring us for compliance with this new directive. If we fail to follow his commands, he will pillory us for insubordination."

Zander looked at Asa and Kenneth, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on their log. There would be more severe punishments for the three of them. He lacked the heart to say it to the whole group.

"Very well," Sir Gabor said.

He stood and resumed his patrol with his squire Emeric. They were good men. Gabor was a few years older than Zander and more seasoned, having served in Balbaraq's Gap as well as several years of patrolling Urzport Hold. Gabor was ready for more intense fighting but he didn't seek it. He was a dutiful follower, not unlike his squire. Emeric was a quiet lad. Orphaned without any family willing to take him, he'd served as a Peacewatch page since he was six. He had been with Gabor since the day he was knighted, and even before, Gabor had looked after him like a big brother.

They didn't deserve this death march Iceheart set them on. None of them did. The man just wanted Zander gone, and the rest of them were collateral damage.

"We have your back, Zander," Vernon said.

"Yeah," Theo agreed, "and your front and both sides."

"If you defy Iceheart," Gordan said, "the three of us are with you."

At that, Gabor stopped in his tracks, Emeric with him, both twisting to see what Zander said. Edrea looked down from the ladder. All eyes on Zander, save Erina who certainly had her ears tuned to him.

"I may decide to defy him," Zander said.

Gabor looked grave. Emeric forlorn. The three Hometown Heroes just nodded as if it was a simple order. Asa's aura flickered and Kenneth held her hand, looking almost somber, as far as Kenneth could show sadness.

"I won't force any of you to do anything you're unwilling to do," he continued. "No matter your choice, I will still love and respect each of you."

With that, everyone returned to their duties. Zander was left with Asa and Kenneth. Neither of them looked thrilled. Kenneth kicked dirt, staring at the ground. Asa gazed toward Covademara. She sounded as despondent as her pale gray aura. "What else did Iceheart say?"

"He would execute Kenneth and I."

Kenneth's eyes shot up. "He could focking try! I'd rather go rogue!"

Zander lifted his hands. He imagined them wrapping around Iceheart's thick neck. He would not go willingly to his own death. He would fight until either he was free or Iceheart was dead. The part that enraged him the most was that he knew that was exactly how Iceheart wanted him to respond. Whether he obeyed or resisted, he did the man's work for him. Zander would either achieve Werner's goals in Mirrevar or he would make himself the monster, vindicating Werner and solidifying his authority over the encampment.

This was no empty threat.

"And me?" Asa asked.

Zander softened Iceheart's wording, removing the racism and euphemizing the misogyny. "He will host you for thirteen consecutive nights before sending you back to Rubinia with charges that would ruin your life."

Kenneth shot to his feet. "I'm going to kill 'im! Forget about the Sapphire. The enemy is in our own house! We sneak into the camp and murder the son-of-a-yasmar!"

Trembling, her words came out high and full of wrath. "Why is it always threats of sexual violence with men in power? They already control what I must do. Why do they need to control and threaten my body too?"

Zander's fists clenched. If he ever met Claudius Dalardor or Barnabus Bitterbreeze, it would be hard not to rip their heads off instantaneously. He bit down, clenching his teeth to keep from roaring. He threw his arms around her. "I won't let it happen, Asa. Iceheart's never going to lay a hand on you. I promise on my life."

"On my life too!" Kenneth growled. He threw his arms around Zander, sandwiching Asa between them. "We either kill 'im, or we leave."

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Asa shuffled until she could put an arm around them both. She buried her head between them, her aura flickering back to a bright silver. "I cannot hide who I am."

Zander couldn't object to that. If they deserted, they'd be hunted, and Asa could never disguise who she was. They needed to leave the Ruby Kingdom behind. Would the Sapphire welcome Asa and her two guards? Or would they kill them on sight after what happened the night they arrived here?

"There are other places in this world besides Leveria," Kenneth said. "I hear the Mahogany Isles are lovely."

Asa considered it. "That...that could work. The Mahagan people are the most accepting in the world. They rarely have conflicts that come to blows beyond the occasional tournament or duel. We could hide in their jungles and live on the world's most beautiful shores."

A smile flitted on Kenneth's broad face. "We could be a family. Orphans who found each other and never needed to feel lost again."

Zander pressed his hand into both of their backs, picturing this peaceful future they had planned. For them, he wished for such a beautiful end. Yet, he remembered a time when he offered those same promises to Alexia, not far from here at the foot of Goddess Hill. She had been right then and she still was now. Zander couldn't disappear from the world.

He touched his locket, remembering his mother's dying words as she placed it in his palm. Leveria is in your hands, my air.

Zander looked up at Covademara, its limbs stretching across the sky, and he followed it toward its trunk. This was his home. This was where his sunrise was or would return. He wouldn't leave her nor would he abandon Leveria to the Celegans. Alexia fought for a future everyone could share, not an escape just for themselves. Zander wouldn't run.

"We cannot abandon our duty to Leveria. We know what is coming."

Asa's silver faded to gray. "The Chimaera won't stop at Leveria. No place will be paradise."

"Then what!" Kenneth growled. "We just obey Iceheart! He will keep throwing us at the Sapphire until we die or turn on him! We keep fighting and there won't be much of us left to fight these Celegans! We turn on him, then odds are we don't live to fight them either!"

Asa broke off, severing their fellowship in arms. She put her hands on her waist and gazed up at Covademara's sprawling limbs. "There's a witch who was born in the Sapphire Kingdom that's a Master at Leverian University. We could surrender ourselves at Goddess Hill, tell them everything, and they might welcome us to their side. No need to obey Iceheart or face his punishment."

Asa crossed her arms. Everyone knew her hesitation to join the Sapphire. It didn't need to be spoken, but spoken it was. "But I don't think I could ever make peace with Bluerose."

Zander knew it would do no good. Every time they argued about Alexia, it only polarized them more. But that wasn't enough to stop his heart from pushing forth. "When does it end, Asa? You kill Alexia, then her loved ones kill you, then Kenneth kills them, then their loved ones kill Kenneth, and on, and on, and on, and on forever!"

"It ends when she pays for what she did!" Asa jabbed her finger into his armored chest. "When will you see that the monster who sneaks into a town, murders their guards, and disappears little girls is not Linus come again!"

Zander tried to breathe out his frustration, but he couldn't let this pass. "You're right. She is not Linus. She is Alexia. And she is more."

Asa threw her hands up. "How can you be so convinced of her innate goodness after what she did? If she burnt down Bear's Crossing and killed Sir Evan, Mirielda, Melissa, and Marigold would you still worship her?"

Kenneth chose sides. Unsurprisingly, he put his hand on Asa's shoulder. He was leashed like a lovesick puppy. The poor bastard. "I reckon I don't understand your hard-on either, Zander."

"Exactly! Thank you, Thunder!"

Zander paced, circling Asa as if he were prowling for blood. He was tired of keeping this secret. Tired of having this argument every two days. Each time they did this, poison seeped into their hearts. He didn't want to do this dance anymore where everybody ended up soured and alone. There was no future where he could keep his secret and keep both Alexia and Asa in his life. He didn't want to choose between having a sister or a life's mate. That wasn't finishing strong.

Standing there outside the stone house broken by pointless conflict between two nations that should love one another, he knew that his hopes of changing Asa's heart before revealing the truth were innocent. He was done being innocent. This wasn't going to go away with time. Let it end. Then he could mend whatever remained.

"Do you want to know why I defend her?"

"Yes!" She threw her hands up. "You act like she is some misunderstood storybook hero! You're not as innocent as this, Zander."

Finish strong.

Zander gripped the locket. "Because I wear her locket. Because she is my Sunrise. Because she is mine and I am hers." Zander held back the tears and the rage, just enough to get out four more words. "Because I love her!"

Asa's mouth fell open, no words coming through her shock. After a few turns of staring at him, she plummeted onto her log. Head in her hands, she shook her head, darkness pouring out of her—the reason he'd delayed this long. This was the end for them. She'd leave him. Just like everyone else.

"I suppose that explains it," Kenneth said.

The squire laughed, humorlessly, before folding to the ground. He stared from Asa to Zander, looking skittish, like a child asked to choose between his parents.

He'd take Asa's side. They'd been friends for most of Kenneth's life, ever since Zander's mother compelled him to be nice to the weird kid that nobody else liked. Zander carried him through the last decade of his life when his own family didn't want him, but he'd choose Asa. A pretty face and big tits would override a decade of friendship.

It took every iota of his will not to scream. He shook instead, unable to let tears break through his anger. He wondered what would happen if he offered himself up to the Sapphire, in the hopes that Alexia would take him back. But she might not even be here. Wherever she was, he wished he were there.

"This can't be happening." Asa lifted her head. "Tell me I misheard you." Tears fell down her cheeks. "Tell me that Alexia Bluerose isn't your life's mate."

"We met on the River Road," Zander said, "and again the morning after the battle on Zamael Waxing." He gripped his locket. Her locket.

"The rider you pursued the next morning," Asa said, connecting the pieces. Her aura dulled from pitch to a wan gray leaning toward darkness.

It broke Zander's heart to see her so sad, dazed as if she'd just been knocked out. "I love you, Asa. And I love her."

She shook her head, tears falling faster.

"She is a dreamer of peace, like you and I."

"Give me a break," Asa said, shooting to her feet, walking away from him.

Zander was back where he always ended up. A bedside, ten years old, gripping onto his mother with all his might, praying that she wouldn't go. Crying. Begging for her to stay. Why, Leverith, did it always end like this?

"Don't leave me." His voice cracked, sounding nothing like the proud blademaster and everything like that little boy who couldn't stop people from leaving him behind. "Don't leave me, Asa. Please!"

But, like everyone else, she left.

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