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Daer under her command, these Borderkind were still loyal

"Orders, Coer asked

She saw that he looked not at her, but past her, and Daathered on the field of battle They had been scattered by the latest Atlantean push, but now they ed a hundred yards ahead, and it appeared Atlantis had gotten the upper hand

Damia Beck raised her sword, a smile on her bloody face

"Attack!"

The wounded outnumbered the dead Collette feared for her brother, but the pain and anguish around her would not allow her toin her own concerns The idea of being left behind did not suit her, but if she had to stay here in ca with the injured was the best way she could think of to do that As a high school girl she had volunteered at a local hospital, which combined with far too many medical shows on TV to provide her with all she knew about eon put her to work immediately She could clean and dress wounds and check on patients’ pulses Already she had held down a soldier while the doctor a about cauterizing wounds She wasn’t looking forward to that

But she had to do so

Someone shouted her name She turned to see one of the healers--an ironic word on the battlefield--beckoning to her as two soldiers carried another on a blanket stretched between them

Collette ran over as they set the blanket down The healer slapped thick shears into her hand and Collette got to work i the soldier’s chest There cah and a spatter, and when she looked she saw blood bubbling from the soldier’s lips That crimson smear on her mouth made Collette realize the soldier was a woman Not even a woman Her eyes were ocean blue, her skin soft and alabaster white, save where the blood speckled it Her cheeks still had a bit of baby fat The girl could not have been ain, breath ragged, and her eyes found Collette’s Blood dripped froeon tore away her tunic Collette had wondered where she had been cut or stabbed, but there was no open wound Instead, the girl’s entire right side had beco under the bruised skin Her s, but on the right side she ollen Between her breasts and lower, her skin had pulled taut over ridges underneath

Broken bones

The girl had been beaten by so inhuain and saw the desperation there, the pleading for so soldier, tell her everything would be all right, that the surgeon would save her But already the healer was drawing the torn scraps of her tunic up to cover her nakedness There would be no surgeon for her

Collette held the girl’s hand and watched her eyes as she died, hoping she provided some peace in that moment but unsure if the soldier could even see her or feel her touch

She tasted salt on her lips and realized she was crying

The girl’s hand was limp Collette placed both of the soldier’s arms over her chest A shadow loo out the sun

"Dahed to clear her throat "We’re all daue He had his helm and armor off and one of his shirtsleeves had been torn away Blood and dirt sash had been cut just below the shoulder

The surgeon appeared behind him "Collette, could you clean His Majesty’s wound, please?"

She nodded Wordlessly she went to fetch a bowl of fresh, ater and a clean rag First she washed out the wound as best she could, then applied a rough cream that she assueon had reappeared and quickly stitched up the king’s wound

Hunyadi donned his arrip on the hilt of his sword, and thanked theh the opening in the face of the heler and sadness in his eyes were plain He turned and shouted a coe rushed over with a horse Hunyadi mounted the sleek black beast and rode down to war once more

Collette watched him diminish as he rode downhill While she stood there, Julianna ca blood from her hands

"Are you sick of this yet?"

"Of blood? Oh, yeah Never liked blood, even when it isn’t my own," Collette replied

Julianna shook her head "Not just that All of it You’re a legend, Coll To these people, anyway I mean, I understand why I’ with an asshole in a bar or a perv trying to dragto stay alive here for as long as I have But you…you’ve got this incredible destiny and you’re just cooling your heels I’ve seen what you can do"

Collette shook her head "It’s not like that You think they left me behind because I’m the woman? This whole o And if he was going, I had to stay behind I still have no idea what, if anything, our destiny is, or what thetoto have to wait until the war’s over Right now, these people just need soainst Atlantis by just acting as symbols

"I’m here because…"

She saw the flicker of fear in Julianna’s eyes, and Collette realized she could not complete the sentence They both knehat the next words would be: I’m here because Oliver could die

Oliver could die

Collette knehat that would doend-Born She didn’t care None of that mattered to her

All she cared about was her brother co back safely so that they could end all of this So they could go home Whatever home became when the war had come to an end

Where the hell is Sivearound the library chaan to force their way through the rubble of the fallen arch and soldiers cah the other doors

Kitsune appeared at his side, fur cloak rippling around her She stared at hi the prince!"

Frustrated, Oliver glared at her "I’o of the boy’s arh he’d gone catatonic Kitsune grabbed his arth and quickness he’d never i he was half-legend hie Prince Tzajin from his chair

"We need S around in a frenzy "He could move the boy"

"He’s not here," Oliver said "Just take hih"

Kitsune nodded, eyes sparkling as though they were sea glass, likefor the fabric of the Veil the way that only Borderkind could, and a look of horror spread across her face

"What’s wrong?" Blue Jay asked, dancing in toward them, the blood of Atlantean soldiers on his hands and streaked up his arms The feathers in his hair were spotted with scarlet

"I can’t reach the Veil," Kitsune said