This takes place mid-way through chapter 17. For those who need a refresher, she was accused of being a traitor and ran off.
●●●
IT DIDN'T MATTER how fast Mara moved. The courtyard followed close behind, its suffocating tendrils reaching for her, whispering words that penetrated the roar in her ears.
"Only one person has a connection to the Paladins, the Michaels family, and the Shadow Knights."
She made a sharp turn. Only a couple more minutes and she would find her safe place.
"It's gotta be her. She's working for the darkness, just like her Shadow Knight loving parents."
Mara gritted her teeth. Energy surged in her hands, begging for release. Just like it had begged for release there, in the middle of the courtyard, staring at the man who had the audacity to accuse her of betraying her home.
It would have been so easy to put an arrow in his gut. He never would have been so foolish again.
A freezing wave collided with the white hot anger as a familiar voice weaved through her mind. A woman who had always spoken with venom and hatred dripping off her words, her mind focused only on one goal, never on Mara.
Her mother.
She blinked away the stinging in her eyes, but it didn't make the churning in her stomach cease. The same voice had been there after the accusation, whispering the thought. That dark, horrible thought.
Mara, Kidron said, his deep, calm voice a shocking contrast to the others plaguing her mind.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat as she turned into her destination. The training field spread out before her. I'm fine, Kidron, she said as she went to fetch a bow.
I have yet to figure out why you still insist on lying to me, Kidron rumbled. The words of a fearful man do not decide who you are.
Mara found her bow and returned to the field. She stood in front of a target and raised the weapon. Willing ice into existence, she placed her fingers on the arrow rest. Her ice trailed behind her fingers as she followed a path to the arrow knock, then the bowstring. She pulled the string back, still creating the ice so that she had a full-fledged energy arrow when she got into shooting position.
Deep breath in. Slow breath out. Aim. Release.
Her arrow slammed into the far left corner of the target.
With a huff, she created another arrow. She pursed her lips. This one was thinner than the last. Kidron's presence lingered in the back of her mind, waiting for her to speak again. She forced herself to focus on the center of the target. She'd made this shot countless times. It should be simple.
"She's working for the darkness, just like her Shadow Knight loving parents."
The shot went long, completely missing the target. Mara's hand trembled as she formed another arrow, worsening with her shaking breath.
I thought about shooting him. Even now, as she took aim once more, she could almost imagine the target as Harrison.
You thought about what your parents would have done, and you are not them.
Her vision blurred as she readied the next arrow. She squeezed her eyes and tried to will away the tears. Will away how her own ice seemed to seep into her fingers and freeze her veins. Will away the nagging thoughts of all the things that could be done to teach Harrison who he was insulting.
Because punishing him was exactly what a good, pure Paladin would do.
Eyes still closed, she focused on Kidron's presence. If she did it hard enough, she could almost feel him standing behind her. As much as she loved Kidron, she wished he didn't have to always be in the Arctic with the other ice dragons. She had already run away from the courtyard. Leaving the Sanctuary for a far-off Sanctum would only further suspicion.
I might not be my parents, she finally said, but my parents are the ones who raised me. They had twelve years to sink their ways into me. That seems to be more than enough time.
A low growl emanated from Kidron, but not at her. Never at her. She could still remember when the bond first started forming and the unignorable sensation that someone longed to steal her away from her parents.
If you were anything like your parents--
"Samara?"
Mara's eyes snapped open, but she didn't turn. Instead, she finally released her newest arrow. It struck the outside edge of the target.
"What are you doing here, Caleb?" she asked as she prepared another arrow.
The sandy ground crunched beneath Cale's feet as he walked. He stopped right behind her. She couldn't see him, but his presence wrapped around her, as unignorable as Kidron's.
"Stop thinking about what he said."
"I'm not." The lie flowed easily, but her next shot missed the center like her others.
Cale grunted. "I haven't seen you miss this badly since you were thirteen and told me you could hit the center target with your eyes closed. While starting facing the other way. Even then, you hit inside the circle."
Mara bit back another lie. There was no point. Cale would see through it. "How did you find me?"
"This is where you go when you're upset."
Her next shot hit the edge of the target's circle, the closest she'd been. "Did anyone agree with Harrison after I left?"
"No, and I would like to think we only have one person that stupid here."
Mara took a moment to flex her fingers, her eyes still trained on the target.
"Maybe he has a point. My parents always wanted me to--"
"Samara," Cale interrupted. He stepped around, placing himself between her and the target. Her breathing stopped. "Are you a traitor?"
She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Cale took a step closer, placing his chest meer inches from her arrow.
"If I believed for a second you were, you wouldn't be in a position to kill me."
"Even if I'm not," she whispered, "that doesn't change that people can see me as one." Or the dark thoughts that swirled in her mind.
Cale scoffed. "Harrison is just a single foolish man letting fear make him even stupider "
It was so similar to Kidron's reasoning that Mara finally raised her gaze to meet his unwavering hazel eyes. He searched her expression, and he must have seen something good because his lips pulled up at the edges.
"I trust you," he said. "I was there. I saw everything, and I still trust you. Now can you trust me?"
Everything. Her chest squeezed, and for a moment, she was back in the closet, hearing her mother's threatening shrieks, feeling an unknown presence reaching out to her, the shaking earth as an explosion ripped apart her reality, then the now familiar face opening the wooden doors.
"I always trust you," Mara finally said.
He smiled, and Mara found herself grinning back. "Good." He sidestepped, opening the path to the target. "Now, deep breath in. Slow breath out. Aim."
She followed the steps as he listed them, staring straight down her arrow to the bullseye. For the first time since the courtyard, the world felt steady. Right then, only her and the target existed.
"Release," came Cale's whisper of the final step.
Mara let the arrow fly. It sliced cleanly through the air before burying deep within the target's center.
"That poor target didn't stand a chance," he mused.
"I gave it hope otherwise," Mara said as she shot again. This arrow struck the bullseye as well.
Cale chuckled. She glanced over at him. He watched her, a gentle smile on his face. It was such a rare sight lately with the amount of missions and lessons he had received.
"You know--" He cut off, his eyebrows pulling together. Mara glanced around for a new presence, then realized his attention had turned inward. Ezraim had started speaking to him. Cale frowned at whatever his dragon was saying.
"Sorry, Samara," he finally said as he focused on her. "Ezraim says my dad needs me for some task. You'll be okay."
Although she wasn't sure if he meant it as a question, Mara nodded. "Go see what he needs."
He walked up beside her and squeezed her shoulder. "Go get some rest. After everything, they're going to need us all ready to act."
With that, he headed for the exit. Mara watched his retreating back, one hand over the spot he had touched her shoulder. It still felt warm. She smiled sadly.
I trust you.
"Thank you, Cale," she whispered after he vanished into the hallway. You too, Kidron.
The dragon huffed. Glad the boy didn't make you forget I existed.
Of course not.
They trusted her, and for right now, she needed that to be enough, because Cale had missed the biggest problem. It wasn't only Harrison. The traitor or not, even Mara didn't trust herself.
She closed her eyes and pictured Cale standing in front of her again, his endless faith on full display. Her shoulder grew even warmer as her heart gave a strange, unwelcome squeeze.
Her eyes shot open, and she strode toward the armory. She redirected her thoughts to Cale's parting words and a thought they had made flicker through her mind.
Mara, Kidron murmured.
She gulped. I'm not the only one facing problems right now. Josh will need to talk, too.
And that's your only reason for seeking out the Paladin youngling?
What other reason would there be? she asked.
Kidron sighed, his exasperation seeping through the bond. Again with the lies.
She didn't dignify him with a response. Maybe, just maybe, if she lied enough to others, she could finally lie to herself.
●●●
Fun Fact: Next draft, the entire first segment of chapter 17 will likely be in Mara's PoV, and this won't be the first time she gets one either. She will also have one near the beginning.
Guys... My baby hit 50k TwT It has gone up nearly 6k in the last couple of weeks. It took me a couple of months to get that before. Its going to hurt so much when this book stops getting so much love ;-; I hate the draft at the moment, but it still means the world to me.
Thank all of you for joining me in this journey so far. As you all know, this book has an extremely special place in my heart, and getting to share it with others... 50k reads, no matter how many are from me or from others just looking at replies... That is a lot. And I literally could not have gotten there without you guys.
Here is hoping that we can continue on to more milestones, even when my time being featured ends.
Also, for those thinking we are gonna get another Patreon chapter at 100k... If we ever reach that, I have already promised a few people a Boomer PoV special. But maybe at 150k you guys can have the Xander PoV, which honestly is one of my favorite scenes. So is this one, though, because Mara needs so much more exploring besides Josh just constantly melting over her xD
I hope you all enjoyed this gift for the gift you guys have given me ❤