“Fool!” Perry says under his breath. He’s still gripping my arms and good thing, too. If he lets go, I know I’ll kiss the ground again.
It’s dusk and almost everyone is here, gathered in groups around the clearing, gaping at us. Soon it will be supper, but that’s not why the tribe is milling around. Not anymore.
“Where’s Liv?” I ask, looking over my shoulder. I don’t see her behind me.
“Shut up and walk,” Perry growls.
We make it halfway to the eastern gate when a voice lashes out behind us. It’s deep and commanding, but sharp as a whip crack.
“Peregrine, stop.”
3
Just keep your mouth shut,” Perry says through his clenched teeth. He releases my arm and we turn to Vale, who creates a wake as he strides through the gathered crowd.
“Let him cool off, Vale,” Perry says. “Let him walk away.”
That’s not going to happen. Vale’s lip is gushing. Blood rolls down his jaw and drips off his chin, speckling his pale shirt. I didn’t hit him squarely, but even a light punch will push the tender skin against a tooth and break it open.
Seeing the blood makes me realize what I’ve done. I could punch anyone in the tribe and the punishment would be extra work. Maybe a day without food. But Vale is our Blood Lord. I’ve made a direct challenge to his authority. What I’ve done could get me thrown out of the tribe—or worse. For sure, it’ll get me a beating.
“Leave him out of this, Vale!” It’s Liv. She rushes up, the hilt of her half-sword peeking over her shoulder.
Vale’s mouth pulls into a smirk when he sees her. “Well, which is it, Olivia? One moment you tell me he is involved and the next he isn’t.”
Liv answers by reaching up and drawing the weapon at her back in a brisk, powerful swipe.
There’s a ripple of movement. Hissing sounds carry to my ears from across the clearing as swords slide from their sheaths. The Tides warriors have taken oaths swearing to protect Vale at all costs. I’m one of them. I swore to do that myself.
What have I started? Suddenly everything feels out of control.
Vale lifts a hand. “Stand down,” he says, annoyed. “Put away your weapons.” Around me, knives and swords lower and disappear.
Satisfied that he has the tribe under control, Vale draws two fingers over his chin and then holds them up. The blood on them is bright red even in the fading daylight. “Just so we’re clear,” he says to me, “you’re involved now.”
He steps closer, the crunch of his boots on the dirt carrying to my ears, though the ringing hasn’t stopped. Vale draws near enough that I see the dark green of his eyes. Close enough that I see Perry and Liv in his strong nose and the slight tilt of his head. In the way he measures me, like he’s gauging the heat coming off a fire.
“Because you mean something to my brother and sister,” he says calmly, “I’ll give you a choice I ordinarily wouldn’t. Leave?” he asks. He shifts his weight, tilting his head to the other side. “Or stay and pay the price?”
Banishment or a beating. It’s an easy choice. “Stay,” I answer.
Vale’s eyebrows climb. He smiles. “You might regret that.” He looks to Perry, who’s still beside me. “Hold him, Peregrine. And keep him still unless you want to take his place.”
The hair on my arms lifts. It sounds like an offhand comment—but it isn’t. Nothing is coincidental with Vale. He calculates everything.
“No, Perry!” I won’t let him take my punishment. I step in front of him, but he shoves past me.
“Since you offered,” he says, “I will take his place.”
Vale’s eyes widen, but his surprise is false. He shakes his head, like he’s disappointed, but he’s gotten exactly what he hoped for. “If that’s what you want.”
“I do,” Perry says, still as death. “And I’ll try not to hit you back.”
A murmur moves through the crowd. Perry has taunted Vale in front of everyone. There’s no turning back now.
I move to Liv’s side and whisper, “I’m sorry.” It’s a weak offering, but there’s nothing I can do. This isn’t about me or Liv any longer. I don’t know how this became a battle between Perry and Vale, but that’s how everything seems to end up.
Perry and Vale.
Liv doesn’t answer. She doesn’t even look at me. Her eyes are fixed on her brothers. Brooke appears at her other side and glares at me.
I look away and scan the people around us, finding Bear and Molly, Gray and Old Will. I know what they’re thinking. We’re all remembering the shadow of bruises on Perry’s face. On his arms and back. Only the youngest in the tribe escaped those memories—those too young to have known Jodan. The rest of us carry the guilt of those beatings inside us. We were afraid of Perry’s father. We did nothing to stop him. And here we are. In the same situation again.
A small figure darts out from the crowd. Talon looks from his father to Perry. “What’s wrong? What are you doing, Dad?”
Uncertainty flickers in Vale’s eyes. “Get home, son,” he says. When Talon doesn’t move, Vale says, “Mila, take him inside.”
Talon dodges out of his mother’s reach. “No! I don’t want to go!”
“Talon,” Perry says, “it’s all right. Go inside.”
When Talon stops to listen to Perry, Wylan grabs his arm and drags him away. For long moments after I can’t see him, I hear Talon arguing, his voice raised, crying, as he’s hauled to his house.
At the solid thud of a door shutting, Vale walks up to Perry. They stand eye to eye, both well over six feet tall. Vale is older by seven years. It has always been a significant gap, but I don’t see a day between them now. They are so different—one dark and the other light—but the look in their eyes is the same. Unbending.
This is the challenge we’ve all been waiting for. It will be, if Perry does what he’s threatened and fights back.
He holds his arms out wide. “I’m ready, Vale.”
I see that he is ready. Perry has taught me everything I know about fistfights. I take in his broad stance and the loose set of his shoulders, and hear his voice telling me, “It hurts less when you’re relaxed.” I see his expression grow distant and hear him say, “Never show emotion. It only feeds them.” If anyone knows how to stand and take a hit, he does. Perry won’t even flinch. I know he won’t.
Talon is shut inside his house, but through mortar and tile and across a hundred paces I still hear him crying. Outside the tribe is silent.
Bracing.
Vale drives his fist into Perry’s stomach. He moves surprisingly fast for someone his size, and he’s merciless, using the full power of his substantial strength.
It’s a hammer of a blow. I know because Perry doubles over and my breath is gone and Liv is trembling beside me. I know because Perry gasps as he hugs his waist and Vale is flexing his hand, opened and closed. The blow hurt him, but not nearly as much as it hurt Perry.
When Perry straightens, his face is red. His eyes are half open and unfocused like he’s somewhere else, maybe in a memory. If he is, I don’t want to know what it is.
“That was for Roar,” Vale says. He speaks quietly, for Perry’s ears only, but I hear him. Every Aud in the clearing hears him. “This one is just for you, little brother. Try not to hit me back.”
He punches Perry again in the same spot. Even harder.
This time Perry buckles and falls, thudding down to one knee. I watch him muffle ragged coughs against his forearm. I watch his shoulders shake as he struggles for control over the pain we all know he’s feeling. I see it through a blur. He was quick to recover after the first punch, but not this time. Every second that passes, my ear rings louder. Every second, I’m closer to drawing Liv’s half-sword and going after Vale.
Liv tenses beside me. I grab her hand, keeping her at my side. Neither one of us can step in right now. Perry has to stand on his own. If he doesn’t, Vale wins.
Finally Perry climbs to his feet, but he’s hunched over, unable to straighten all the way. I notice that he’s failing at one of his own lessons; there is hatred in his eyes.
“Are you finished?” he asks, his voice strained.
Vale isn’t done. I know he isn’t. But Liv breaks away from me and hooks her arm through Perry’s. “Yes, he’s finished,” she snarls at Vale. “You’ve brought enough happiness to our family today, haven’t you?” Then she looks at me as she tows Perry away, her gaze willing me to follow.
She didn’t need to tell me. Wherever they go, so do I.
No one says a word in the half hour it takes us to walk to the sea. I’m stuck listening to the shallow breaths my best friend is taking because of me.
I should have known Vale would do this. Perry is fiercely protective of Liv and Talon and me. Over everyone in the Tides. Vale took advantage of that trait. He twisted the situation so he could show his dominance over Perry—the main threat to his power as Blood Lord. He even calculated the blows he delivered, punching Perry in the stomach so the result of his punishment would be hidden from the tribe. Tomorrow, instead of remembering brutality, the Tides will remember justice.
I know he planned it that way. It’s all clear now. All the strategy I just witnessed.
It makes me sick.
When we’ve left the compound behind us and reached the pressed sand by the water, Liv stops. It’s almost dark and a thick blanket of fog is rolling in from the ocean. It tumbles toward us, swirling through the air in waves.
“I want to see, Perry,” Liv says.
I shove my fingers into my hair, tugging until my scalp hurts. I know where this is going. There is more torture to come.
Perry shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”
“Show me anyway.”
“Liv—”
“I don’t care! Let me see.”
I hate this. They did this when they were younger, too. Liv always had to inspect him afterward. It’s like she wants to feel each and every bruise herself.
Perry mutters a string of curses. Liv crosses her arms and waits. She never backs down. At nearly six feet, she’s only a few inches shorter than him and every bit as stubborn. At times like this I wonder if they’re twins who were somehow born a year apart.
Perry shakes his head and finally relents. He looks away, his neck corded, his arms flexed so tight as he lifts up his shirt that I half expect the material to tear. A bruise has already bloomed on his stomach—I see it even in the twilight—but the worst part is the look on his face. I bite down until my jaw aches, willing this moment to end. Shame doesn’t belong on Perry. It’s the last thing he should ever feel.
After a moment, he tugs his shirt down. “Enough, Liv. I’m fine,” he says, but Liv still doesn’t move away. I know she’s searching for his temper to see if he really is fine.
“You are?” she asks.
Perry nods. “Yes,” he says. He sounds spent. Liv’s concern has worn him down. Force has never been the way to break him. I wonder if Vale knows that.