The Blood Traitor

“You are who you decide to be, Kiva. Good or bad, it’s your decision.

She deserved to have him hate her, just like Jaren did.

She deserved to have him —

A finger beneath Kiva’s chin halted her wretched thoughts, her head tilting backwards until her teary eyes met Caldon’s. At the sight, his lips became a firm line, his anger growing, but then his cobalt gaze moved over her face, taking in her gaunt features, the bruise on her cheek, the devastated expression she couldn’t hide even if she tried.

Whatever he saw caused his anger to bleed away, and then he sighed, long and loud, before releasing her chin only to tug her forward and pull her tight to his frame, wrapping his arms around her.

The move caught Kiva by surprise, enough that, for a moment, she just stood there, her arms hanging listlessly by her sides.

But then she finally comprehended that Caldon was hugging her, and she couldn’t control her reaction.

Right there, at the edge of the military outpost, Kiva burst into tears.

Everything she’d been feeling for months erupted out of her, her isolation and self-hatred from her time in Zalindov, her terror and confusion from being with Navok, her uncertainty, her heartache, her shame, her guilt — all of that and more came out as she sobbed against
Caldon, her fingers clutching his chest, her tears soaking his shirt. The whole time, his hands moved soothingly on her back as he murmured, “Get it out, Sunshine. You’re all right. I’m here.”

The fact that he was calling her Sunshine only made her cry harder

She had survived.

Now it was time for her to live.

Feeling that settle somewhere deep within her, Kiva looked at Jaren, at her friends, at her brother, and asked, her voice thick with wonder, with hope, “What happens now?”

It was Jaren who answered, leaning in to whisper three perfect words right into her ear:

“Now, we dream.”