ASHES OF BETRAYAL THE SORCERER'S VENGEANCE

CHAPTER 10

He stopped as he began to sense something was wrong.

The squad, seven figures in identical uniforms, stood in a line, perfectly still. Too still. They weren't talking, weren't moving, weren't doing anything a group of warriors on an active monster hunt should be doing.

They were just... standing there. Watching him.

"Sir?" 

Kael's voice came out smaller than he intended. "What's going on? Why aren't they…"

"Kael."

The voice came from the line of squad members. A woman's voice. Familiar and beloved and currently devoid of all warmth.

Lyanna stepped forward from the group.

She looked different in the Elite Squad uniform. More dangerous. Her golden hair was pulled back in a practical braid, and her sky-blue eyes, those eyes he'd stared into last night while making love, regarded him with the cold assessment of a butcher examining meat.

"Lyanna!" 

Relief and confusion warred in Kael's chest. 

"Thank gods you're here. Something's wrong, I think we need to…"

"Nothing's wrong, darling." 

The endearment should have sounded sweet. Instead, it sounded like mockery.

 "Everything is going exactly according to plan."

Kael's hand tightened on his knife.

 "What plan? What are you talking about?"

Behind him, Kael heard movement. He spun around and saw Marcus backing away, back toward the tunnel they'd entered through. The captain's expression was neutral, professional, as if he were simply completing a routine task.

"Sir? Where are you going? The monster.. "

"There is no monster, Ashford." 

Marcus's voice echoed in the chamber. 

"Well, not the kind you're thinking of, anyway."

Cold dread began spreading through Kael's veins like poison. He looked from Marcus to Lyanna to the rest of the squad, his mind refusing to accept what his instincts were screaming at him.

"I don't understand.”

"Of course you don't."

 Marcus had reached the tunnel entrance now. He stood in the opening, backlit by the faint light from beyond, his face cast in shadow. 

"You were always too trusting. Too naive. Too... weak."

That word, weak, hit Kael like a physical blow.

"We're leaving now."

 Marcus continued. 

"Our work here is done. Squad, fall back."

"No." 

Kael took a step forward, reaching out as if he could physically stop what was happening.

 "Wait. You can't just, there's a mission. We have to…"

The squad began moving, filing past Kael toward Marcus and the exit tunnel. They moved in perfect synchronisation, trained warriors following orders. Not one of them looked at him. Not one of them hesitated.

Except Lyanna. She paused beside him, so close he could smell her perfume, the same perfume she'd worn last night.

"Lyanna, what's happening?" 

Kael's voice cracked.

 "Why are you…"

"This was fun while it lasted." 

She said softly, her lips curved in a small, sad smile that didn't reach her eyes. 

"You were actually quite sweet. Better in bed than I expected, too."

The words were knives sliding between his ribs. 

"What?"

"But business is business, darling."

 She reached up and patted his cheek, the gesture almost affectionate.

 "No hard feelings."

"Lyanna, please. I don't…”

"Goodbye, Kael."

 She walked past him without looking back. 

"Die well, darling."

The words, HIS words, the ones he'd said to her in happiness just yesterday, spoken back to him with such casual cruelty, broke something fundamental in Kael's chest. 

He stumbled after her, reaching out, desperate to understand, to fix this, to wake up from whatever nightmare this was.

"LYANNA!"

She didn't turn around. She joined the rest of the squad at the tunnel entrance, and they began filing out one by one. Marcus stood aside, letting them pass, his expression still professionally blank.

"WAIT!" 

Kael ran toward them, panic and confusion making his movements clumsy.

 "YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME HERE! WHAT ABOUT THE MISSION?! LYANNA! LYANNA, PLEASE!"

The last squad member disappeared into the tunnel. Only Marcus remained, standing in the entrance. He looked at Kael with something that might have been pity or satisfaction or both.

"Your parents will be glad you died." 

Marcus said, his voice echoing in the chamber.

Then he stepped backwards into the darkness.

And a massive iron gate slammed down, sealing the tunnel entrance with a deafening CRASH that made the crystals rattle.

Kael ran the last few steps and crashed into the gate, his hands wrapping around the cold iron bars. 

"NO! NO NO NO! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY PARENTS…”