At least I’d figured out where the poison had come from.
Jade waved the vial under Relda’s nose, and the witch started to come out of her stupor.
“Oh, Jade, my dear.” She shook her head and started to sit up. “I had the worst dream. The Nex Appa…”
She caught sight of me. Her eyes widened, and she fainted dead away again.
Evan grinned, and I noticed she still had the backpack in hand, still protected The Path. “Does this happen a lot around you?”
“Relda, stop being such a drama llama.” Jade was starting in with her vial again.
It was time to go. “Kind of comes with the job. Come on. We’ve still got things to do.”
“Bye, Jade,” Evan said.
We turned to go.
“Hey, Nex Apparatus.” Jade was still cradling her mentor, but her attention was on me. “I want to talk to you before you leave. I was serious. I want to fight in this war. I want to join the king and his witches and take down that fucking wizard who killed my mother.”
I nodded.
And hated myself because I would let her come. I would let her fight. I would turn girls into soldiers because it was their world to fight for, too.
Fuck that. I didn’t hate myself. I didn’t choose this world. Myrddin did.
And he would pay.