Deliverance
Page 116

Reluctantly, Marcus moves back, tears shining in his eyes. I look toward Nola and Frankie. “Will you take care of him until we return?”
Nola nods.
“Wait.” Logan steps forward and wraps his arms around his father. Marcus hums Julia’s song as he holds his son for a long moment. When Logan lets go, Marcus is smiling, though tears are in his eyes. Logan smiles back, and beside me, Frankie sniffs.
“Are you crying?” Willow asks, her voice incredulous.
“Maybe.” Frankie glares at her. “And that’s another thing we won’t be telling anyone.”
“Ah, I see. We can’t tell people you cry at family reunions and puke when you get a whiff of the sewer. You’re really racking up the secrets, old man.” She grins at him while Adam climbs down the wall and joins us. Then she looks at me. “You said you have one more thing you need to do. I hope that thing is killing the Commander, because if you don’t do it, I will.”
I wait for the hatred and anger that fueled me for so long to rush to the surface and claim me at the thought of heading out of the gates to kill the Commander. Instead, I feel nothing but resolve. This needs to be over. Not because it will make me feel better. Not because it will honor my father.
It needs to be over because the Commander can no longer be allowed to hurt others.
“How do you want to do this?” Logan asks. I anchor myself with one arm wrapped around him and one around Quinn while we follow Willow and Adam toward the gate. Frankie stays behind with Nola and Marcus. Quinn holds me for a moment, and then lets me go so that he can walk on his own.
“I figured I’d go up to him and stab him with my knife, but I can only use my left hand, so maybe somebody else should do the honors.”
“You don’t care if you aren’t the one who kills him?” Logan asks, a frown digging in between his brows.
“It doesn’t matter who kills him as long as he’s dead, and we can move on,” I say.
Quinn smiles at me, and I say, “So you burned down some government facilities, huh?”
He gives a one-shouldered shrug. “A few.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
“I took a page out of your book this time.” His smile widens. “I made sure the buildings were empty so no one would get hurt, but I figured destroying the armory, the barracks, and the labs would weaken Rowansmark and give them something other than Logan’s arrival to focus on.”
“Thank you for that. And for following Rachel,” Logan says. “I’m grateful you were looking out for her.”
Quinn smiles a little but says nothing as we reach the city’s gate.
“How did you get caught inside Rowansmark? You never get caught,” I say.
“I’m not invincible.” He sounds slightly offended. “No one is.”
“I’m counting on that,” I say as we leave the gate and see the Commander, his troops standing at attention behind him, striding toward the entrance to the city. The Rowansmark army—those who survived the tanniyn’s arrival—are kneeling on the ground fifty yards away from the city’s wall, their hands on their heads in surrender. The ground between the two armies is littered with bodies wearing uniforms from Rowansmark, Lankenshire, Schoensville, Hodenswald, Thorenburg, and Baalboden. No city-state involved in the ground battle survived the conflict without casualties.
Another line of bodies catches my eye, and horror washes over me as I see many of the ranking officers from Rowansmark, Thorenburg, and Schoensville lying on the ground, their throats slashed.
So much for accepting an honorable surrender. Just one more reason why the Commander can’t be allowed to live.
The anger I was waiting to feel blazes to life within me, but it’s a steady, determined flame instead of the blistering fire of revenge. The Commander sees us, and his lips peel away from his teeth in a snarl.
I let go of Logan’s arm and move to where Willow and Adam are standing, just outside the gate, their bodies blocking the entrance as if they alone can stop the Commander from taking over the city.
“I have something I need to say to him, but then it’s going to get bloody,” I say. “Cover me, because I can’t do this by myself.”
Willow inclines her head, and wraps her fingers around her bow.
“We do this together,” Logan says as he walks up beside me. “For my mother, and Oliver, and your dad.”
I meet his gaze and feel strong and certain for the first time in a very long time. No silence within me taking away the things that hurt me and spewing lies in their wake. No voices whispering that I’m guilty or broken. No burning need to rip the Commander to shreds. Just a resolute purpose driving me forward because I’m not a weapon, I’m a warrior, and the Commander is a threat that must be removed.
“For all of us,” I say, and then we move away from the gate and toward the Commander.
“James Rowan is dead.” Logan’s voice rings with authority as we come to a stop a few yards from the Commander. “Most of the tanniyn are too.”
A slow, cruel smile spreads across the Commander’s face. “And you think that entitles you to claim Rowansmark?”
“No,” Logan says. “I don’t want the city.”
The Commander’s scar twitches. “Well then, boy, get out of my way.”
“You can’t have it, either,” I say.
The Commander’s laugh is vicious. “Look behind me. I have an entire army at my disposal, and you want to stand there telling me what I can and cannot have?” He steps closer to me. “I can have anything I’m strong enough to take. I thought I taught you that lesson when I killed the baker, but I can see that you need a refresher.”