Chapter 32: Shattered Peace

SERA

"Tell me about Lydia."

The words came out before I could stop them. We were still on the wall, the morning sun brightening, and I'd been working up the courage to ask for the past ten minutes.

Kade went very still beside me, "Why do you want to know?"

"Because she mattered to you, understanding what you lost helps me understand you." I looked up at him, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

He was quiet for a long moment, staring out at the forest. "She was fierce, stubborn, and had a way of making me laugh even when everything was falling apart." His voice was soft, distant, "She believed the Council could be stopped, that exposing their corruption would change things, I didn't expect to lose her."

"I'm sorry."

"But I'm learning that holding onto grief doesn't honor her memory, living does, fighting for what she believed does, and maybe.." He looked at me, "maybe letting myself feel something again does too."

I was about to respond when I heard rapid footsteps on the stairs leading up to the wall.

Marcus appeared, his face tight with tension, behind him was one of our scouts, breathing hard like he'd been running. The peace shattered instantly.

"Kade," Marcus said. "I think we have a problem."

My stomach dropped, I knew that tone, that expression.

"What happened?" Kade asked, already moving towards them, pulling me with him.

The scout held out a folded piece of paper, sealed with red wax, the Council's seal.

"A messenger arrived at the border ten minutes ago, left this and rode off before we could question him."

Kade took the letter, broke the seal and read, I watched his face go cold and hard. "What is it?" I asked, though part of me didn't want to know.

He handed me the letter without a word, my hands shook as I read.

To the traitor Sera Blackwood,

We have taken your father, Matthias Blackwood into custody. He is currently being held at the Council headquarters, charged with harboring a fugitive and conspiracy against the Council.

You have forty eight hours to surrender yourself to the Council authority, present yourself at the main gates of the headquarters by sunset two days from now. Come alone and unarmed.

If you fail to comply, your father will be executed publicly for his crimes, his blood will be on your hands, choose wisely.

The Alpha Council

The paper slipped from my fingers, my father, they had my father.

The man who'd already lost everything when my mother died. Who'd been broken by grief, who'd barely been holding on even before I'd left, now he was in their hands because of me.

"Sera," Kade's voice sounded far away, "breathe."

I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, the world was turning, narrowing down to those words on the page. His blood will be on your hands.

"This is my fault," I whispered. "He's there because of me, because I exist, because…"

"Stop," Kade gripped my shoulders, forcing me to look at him, "this is not your fault, the Council is doing this."

"To get to me!" My voice crashed, "don't you see? Everyone I love gets hurt. Maya was beaten because she's my friend, Lila was kidnapped because she's my sister, and now my father.." I couldn't finish.

"Sera, listen to me.."

"He's already broken, Kade. Losing my mother nearly killed him, If they hurt him, if they.." Panic was clawing up my throat, making it hard to breathe, "I can't let him die, I can't."

"And you won't," Kade's voice was firm, "We'll get him back."

"How? They want me to surrender in forty eight hours, If I don't.."

"You're not surrendering."

"But.."

"No," his grip tightened. "You walk into the headquarters alone and you're dead, they might kill you and probably kill your father anyway, that's not happening."

"So what, I just let him die?" My voice was rising, panic turning to something hard. "Let them execute him because I'm too scared to face them?"

"That's not what I said.."

"Then what are you saying?" I pulled away from him, "because it sounds like you're telling me to choose between my life and my father's, and I'm telling you right now that's not a choice!"

"Sera, you need to calm down and think clearly.."

"Calm down?" I turned to face him fully, how am I supposed to calm down?"

"By remembering that panic gets people killed!" Kade's voice rose to match mine, "By using your head instead of your guilt!"

"My guilt?" The word tasted bitter, "You think this is just guilt? My father is suffering because of me, Maya and Lila were kidnapped because of me, everyone I care about becomes a target, everyone I love gets hurt."

"That's their doing, not yours.."

"It's the same thing!" I was shaking now, silver light starting to glow around my clenched fists. "I'm the reason they're targets, I'm the danger, maybe if I wasn't here, everyone would be safer, maybe I should just.."

"Don't," Kade's voice went deadly quiet, "don't you dare finish that sentence."

"Why not? It's true!"

"It's not true, you're not the villain here. You didn't take your father, didn't hurt Maya or kidnap Lila, the Council did those things, evil people making evil choices."

"To get to me!"

"Yes! Because you're a threat to them, because you're powerful and you're standing up to them and they're terrified of what you represent." He moved closer, his eyes intense, "that's not your fault, that's them being monsters."

"Monsters who have my father," My voice broke completely. "Monsters who will kill him if I don't do what they say."

"Then we make a plan, we rescue him like we rescued Lila."

"This is different, this is the headquarters, this is.." I pressed my hands against my face, trying to breathe. "There's no way, we can't just walk in there and take him."

"We'll find a way."

"How? We have forty eight hours!"

"Then we use every minute of those forty eight hours to strategize." Kade's voice was steady, certain.

"There's no time for that!" I was shouting now, panic overwhelming everything else. "Don't you understand? My father is going to die and there's nothing we can do to stop it!"

"Sera.."

"No! Stop trying to fix this! Stop acting like there's some perfect solution where everyone lives and everything's fine, there isn't!" Tears were streaming down my face now. "People keep getting hurt because of me, maybe I am too dangerous to live."

Kade grabbed my arms, forcing me to look at him. His eyes were blazing, "don't you ever say that again, ever."

"Why not? It's.."

"Because you're important!" His voice broke. "Because losing you would destroy me, I just got you and I'm not ready to lose you to some noble sacrifice, so stop talking like your life is worthless because it's not, not to me, not to anyone here."

I stared at him, breathing hard, tears still falling.

"We will save your father," Kade said, quieter now but no less intense, "I promise you, but not by throwing your life away. We do this together, understand?"

I wanted to believe him, wanted to feel the certainty in his voice and let it steady me.

But all I could think about was my father in a cell, scared, alone, waiting for a daughter who might not come.

"Forty eight hours," I whispered.

"Forty eight hours," Kade agreed, "We make it count."

Marcus cleared his throat, "I'll gather the scouts, get everything we have on the headquarters, layouts, everything."

He left quickly, taking the scout with him.

Kade and I stood there on the wall, the morning that had started so perfectly now shattered completely.

"I'm scared," I admitted quietly.

"I know," he pulled me against his chest, wrapping his arm around me. "But we'll figure this out, I won't let them take him."

I buried my

face in his shirt, trying to believe him, trying not to think about the clock already ticking.

Forty eight hours to save my father or lose him forever.