Hers to Choose (23 page)

With a small sob at his use of h
er childhood nickname, she strangled her brother in an enthusiastic hug, then regained her feet. “You have never cared about your image and you don’t want people to fear you. I knew you would come. I knew it.” She swiped at her wet cheeks as she stood in the circle of his arms and beamed at him.

Her brother’s
blue eyes wandered her face and form intently.
I must look like I’ve been dragged behind a galloping horse.
His eyes returned to her face and a soft fingertip traced her split lip. He put her away from him gently, then turned an icy stare on Eric. Suddenly, Sophi
knew
why people feared Doral.

“
Neither your command nor my sister has prospered in your care, Commander DeStroia.” Her brother radiated cold menace as if an archangel had suddenly turned demonic avenger.

Eric bowed. “
It seems not. I take full responsibility,
Segundo.
”

“Consider yourself relieved of your command. And keep your distance from my sister.”

Eric opened his mouth then
snapped it shut. With a tight grimace, he acknowledged Doral’s cold words. “Sir,” he bit out.

Sophi listened
to their interchange with a growing sense of undiluted outrage. She rounded on her brother. “No! No, no, no! You are not doing this. You are
not
doing this!”

Doral’s expression of
blank consternation would been comical under different circumstances. Then she turned on Eric.

“
Are you going to meekly let him separate us? Strip you of rank? Aren’t you going to fight for me—for the woman you love? For the woman
Verdantia
has chosen for you?” Eric returned her furious outburst with an expression of tight-jawed restraint—and silence.

She
wanted to howl with frustration as Doral and Eric stood speechless, the former wearing an expression of disgruntlement and the latter, controlled anger. “Idiots. You are both
idiots
!”

With a shaking finger
, she poked Doral repeatedly in the chest. “No. No. No. You can’t do that to him. He doesn’t deserve it. You can’t do that to
me
! You asked me to consider him and I have. I choose him. I am free to choose! He is mine!” Frustration and outrage shattered her composure. With a wild glance at the large audience she had suddenly acquired, she turned and fled to
Primus
G’hed’s tent.

Doral’s growl of, “Talk to me
, DeStroia,” trailed her as she ran.

S
ophi jerked back the tent flap accompanied by the sound of tearing material as the tie-strips ripped from their moorings. She paced back and forth in the small space, arms folded tightly across her chest.
How can Doral be such an autocratic dictator? My brother never gave Eric a chance to explain. I know Doral loves me but I have some say in this! And how dare Eric not fight for me. What kind of love is it that rolls over without a fight? How…
Sophi halted mid-diatribe.
Now I’m being an idiot. There isn’t time for this. There are greater issues at work here.
She inhaled a long shuddering breath and regrouped.

She stood
, straightened her shoulders, pulled down her robes and marched determinedly out of the tent. Once outside, she cast a gaze around for her brother.
There.
A group of them stood speaking—
Primus
G’hed, Eric, Stephania Rickard and Doral. As she started down the slope to join them, Doral and Eric shot apprehensive glances her way.
Yes, you should be apprehensive.
Doral said something to the group and separated himself from them, meeting her halfway down the slope. He halted her resolute progress with the simple expedient of standing in front of her. She put her hands on her hips and stared straight ahead at his collar bone.

He cleared his throat awkwardly.
“I may have been too quick to judge Eric.” Doral placed his hand on her shoulder and she looked up. Love and apology shown from his eyes. “I rode from Sylvan Mintoth knowing only the Haarb sought to retake you and that my information was weeks old. Sophi, I…” He closed his eyes and pulled her into an all-enveloping embrace. “I can’t lose you again.”

Her anger vanished as if it had never been.
“I am so glad you came,” she whispered. “Thank you for coming for me.”

H
is arms wrapped her closely but his body sagged with fatigue and she wondered when he had last slept. She kept her concern to herself. Her enigmatic, iron-man brother would never confess a physical weakness to her. She returned his hold and they stood there for long moments. Finally, Doral sighed and released her.

“
Primus
G’hed tells me I should address you as ‘
Flight Leader
’.” One eyebrow rose in inquiry and a slight smile lurked in the corners of his mouth. “It is obvious you have regained your lively tongue. What other changes await me?”

She looked him straight in the eye.
“Well...you
were
being an idiot.”

Doral rolled his eyes heavenward as if asking for patience from
the divine being. “Sophi,” he ground out.

“The
Oshtesh
restored the old Sophi. You made a wise decision in bringing me to them. You made another wise choice with Eric DeStroia. He is special. I don’t have words to tell you how special.”

“So I am beginning to understand,” Doral murmured. “
Now it seems we go to war with you as the prize.” His worried face studied her and he took her hand. “Come, Bitsy, we have some strategy to plan.”

When they rejoined the others, she went to stand beside Eric and gently slipped her hand into his.
His eyes found hers with an expression of thankfulness.

“Sophi, I
—”

“Shhh.” She placed her fingers on his lips. “We’ll talk later.”

He frowned. “Yes
.
..later.”

* * *

Eric had thought there would be no later. Rarely had anyone infuriated him as thoroughly as Doral. But he hadn’t risen to his elevated rank without hard schooling in biting his tongue and the imperative skill of picking the right time and place for battle. The middle of the guerilla camp surrounded by suspicious
Oshtesh
and curious Blue Daggers was neither the time nor the place to confront Doral. Defeating the menace that imperiled Sophi, indeed all of Verdantia, dictated a unified front. So Eric bit his tongue bloody.
We’re not finished, Segundo.

To
Eric’s intense gratification, an unlooked for defense by
Primus
G’hed enlightened the
Segundo
without a word from Eric. Sophi must have spilled her soul to her surrogate father. The
Primus
gave Doral an astonishingly comprehensive narrative of the past few weeks. At the end of the recitation, Doral shifted his stance and looked off, his gaze unfocused. It was obvious he fought an uncomfortable, inner battle.

“
I committed what is frequently a deadly mistake. I allowed my feelings to overrule what I know to be true.” He swung his head and caught Eric’s eyes, holding them in a steady, ice-blue stare. “I know you to be an extraordinarily competent leader—one who has never failed to fully execute his orders. I was wrong in my hasty judgment.”

Still seething,
Eric nodded curtly. Green eyes clashed with ice-blue for long seconds. Doral looked away first with a sardonic tip of a lip—two alpha males agreeing not to fight. When neither man spoke further,
Primus
G’hed’s sober voice broke the awkward moment. “Lyre took the women and children into the foothills of Nathar. A labyrinth of caves pockmarks that region. It is easy to vanish into the maze. I thought to send Sophi to join her.”

“
Yes, that is still the best idea,” Doral confirmed over Sophi’s protest. His eyes flicked to Adonia. “You say the mercenary force tracking Sophi is forty strong?”

The brunette
medica
nodded. “With two
Fell
wolves.”

“With myself, Commander DeStroia, Captain Rickard and her Daggers, we make fifteen. Added to your numbers
,
Primus
— a total of thirty-eight—excellent odds.” Doral crossed his arms over his chest. “Sophi, Adonia and Maeve will ride with you to the caves. We will engage the merc unit on the Vergaza Plain where it narrows at the trade route to
Sh’r Un Kree
. That will give you time to reach Mother Lyre. Even if we encounter the unexpected, you will have too great a head start to overcome.”

Eric watched
a stormy expression cloud Sophi’s face.

“
Encounter the unexpected? You mean in case you get killed. I hate it,” she spat. “Why am I less expendable than the
Tetriarch’s Segundo
? Why do I have to ride away when the three people I love above all others put themselves at risk of death for me? Why?” Unshed tears pooled in her aqua eyes. “This is so unfair,” she whispered. “Do you know what torture you ask me to face? To wait and not know if you live or die?”

The agony written on her face tore at
Eric’s soul and he drew her into his arms. “It is unfair, my brave warrior,” he said, placing a kiss on her forehead. “But do it for the men who love you. We need to stop the Haarb and I, for one, cannot put my whole mind into it when I am gutted by worry for you.
Segundo
deLorion and I have faced far greater threats than this and carried the day.
Primus
G’hed and his men are fierce fighters and you know all about the Blue Daggers. I like our chances.”

Doral stepped close and caught a
single tear that overflowed her eye with his knuckle. “You are incredibly dear to me, Sophillia Glorianna but your value to Verdantia’s people is greater than even your value to me. Ari rides hard on my heels with the army of the
Tetriarch
. He should be here in another day, two at the most.” Doral’s eyes scanned those grouped around them.
“We will deal with this minor annoyance then rejoin you and Mother Lyre, hmm? Let our High Lord deal with the rest. He’d be very upset if I stole all the fun.”

“
Minor annoyance?” Sophi said, blinking rapidly. “I know what you’re trying to do by making light of it.” Tears ran down her face in a steady stream.

“But you will go
, daughter. You will go and be safe. Verdantia’s women are our future.”
Primus
G’hed’s quiet voice added the weight of his desires to that of Eric and Doral. All three exchanged looks of common understanding. Sophi’s safety was paramount.

She sagged in Eric’s arms, burying her face in his shirt, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
Ah, sweetling.
His heart broke for her, but he would gladly risk death again to keep her safe. His mind refused the intolerable thought of Sophi in Krakoll’s grasp. With certainty, that same nightmare scenario drove Doral’s and
Primus
G’hed’s actions. Abruptly Sophi straightened in his arms, swiped at her face and pushed away from his embrace. She turned and her fierce gaze stopped at her brother, her stepfather, then finally, back to him.

“You must promise to come back to me. You must promise.”

“Promise.”
Eric nodded and answered for all. “We’ll come back.”
If we can.

Doral’s voice carried quietly
. “Break camp. Bring the horses. We ride out immediately for the Vergaza Narrows.”

* * *

“Walk with me, Geoff.” Ramsey DeKieran motioned his second-in-command to his side as he walked away from a small campfire. Krakoll’s mutant captain had halted reluctantly when full night descended. Both Ram and the lizard-men lacked the
Fell
wolves’ keen sense of smell and superb night vision. Shackled to the stunted trees, the unnatural creatures prowled at the ends of their chains, viscous drool slavering from their muzzles as their blood-red eyes tracked the movements of the Verdantian mercenaries.
Gods-be-damned perversions.

The DeLorion woman was within easy reach. They would seize her tomorrow.
Goddess, help her. I warned her not to be caught.
Allegra Contradina and one of Krakoll’s minions had ridden out much earlier. Contradina would guide Krakoll’s forces up from Amboy Crater. The other creature rode for
Sh’r Un Kree
to lead back the Haarb armies currently occupying that city. They would trap the DeLorion woman between the two battalions. The Haarb leader was leaving nothing to chance.
Krakoll must want her desperately to expend six hundred men on just one woman.

Ram turned to the man beside him. “Geoff, about tomorrow
.” Ram’s eyes shifted to the Haarb commander sitting with Krakoll’s guard, segregated from the Verdantians. His gazed narrowed in cold satisfaction. “I am making a slight change.”