The Twisted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 3)

Chapter 1.1

Mara and Tirqwin did not speak as they walked through the corridors, but Sabrina could feel the tension snapping back and forth between them and knew they were arguing in their mind link. It was a bad sign, she knew.

As soon as they were in the private Royal Residence, in Mara's sitting room, Tirqwin whirled on his wife and demanded, "How long are you going to permit this to go on? Until Scotty and Sabrina are both dead?"

Mara winced but held her ground. "And if I let you go, it is you who will die!"

"You always knew the day would come when you had to let me go with Khediva. We have only days before our link fades enough to make her useless as a Wayship. I have told you before, I will not sacrifice her to your fears, and I certainly will not buy my life with blood!"

"It is not up to you!" Mara retorted. "This is a matter of Realm security!"

"I fail to see," Tirqwin said, livid with fury, "how keeping an irresistible target in Praxatillus home space can be construed as securing the Realm!"

"My health and safety secure the Realm—"

"And how healthy and safe are you going to feel when we are burying Sabrina and Scotty?" Tirqwin demanded. "When their blood is on your hands—and mine? I warn you, Maratobia. If you do not come to your senses and release Khediva and me, the next attempt will succeed—because I will help it to."

Mara stared at him, aghast, the color draining from her cheeks. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Would I not?" he shot back. "I did not choose to live only for you, Mara. I chose this way because it seemed to be the best for us all. But if it is going to result in Khediva's death as a functioning Wayship, and Scotty and Sabrina's deaths, then I must reevaluate that choice."

"Do I mean nothing to you?" Mara cried.

Sabrina, sensing a downward shift into a domestic quarrel, decided it was time to intervene. "Why don't we wait until you are both calmer to talk about this?"

"This is not about you!" Mara flung at her.

Sabrina thought of her brother lying wounded with a soul sick expression in his eyes. Her own narrowed. "Oh, excuse me, I must have mistaken myself for somebody who spilled blood in your service an hour ago. And somehow I thought that man lying in the infirmary smeared with blood and burns listening to the fact that he got somebody killed was my brother! It damned well seems to me that this is about me, and about Scotty, and about us all! I may have sworn to die in your service if necessary, but I am not going to do it without speaking my mind, and I am not going to sit by and watch my only brother get killed—or murder his soul piece by piece watching others die—because you are frightened!"

"You are all against me!" Mara cried, tears streaming down her face. She turned and ran through the inner door.

"That should be telling you something!" Sabrina shouted after her.

A slamming door from Mara's bedroom was her only answer. Sabrina turned away, leaning on a small table, struggling with the urge to burst into tears of her own. Already, shame at losing her temper was seeping into her awareness, and with a huge effort she swallowed an angry sob and turned to face Tirqwin, gesturing to the door with a clenched fist. "Should I go after her?"

Tirqwin shook his head, looking as if he struggled with his own feelings. "Selémahs is with her," he said.

A spurt of jealousy rose in Sabrina; she banished it angrily as unworthy and unhelpful. "Are you all right?" she asked him.

He made a curt, cutting gesture with one hand. "How could I be?" he demanded. "Sabrina, I let myself believe you when you said we could make this work. Now I believe we both made a terrible mistake. We overestimated Mara. No, I do not blame you; that would be monstrous. You have been continually in the line of fire since we returned to Praxatillus two months ago. I have watched as you've become harried, and desperate, and unable to sleep or eat. And I have watched as Scotty tap-dances into our arguments when you cannot bear it anymore, and then nearly gets himself killed keeping Khediva safe. I have watched Haaron sacrifice his ambitions and even his marriage for the same reasons. And I simply cannot continue to live at the expense of you all."