The Burn (A Runner Series Companion)

Chapter 15: Jaron

209 A.B.

(6 months after the Runner's Rebellion)

"How is she?" I ask.

Meg sighs, communicating a million cares and worries with a single breath. "Not well." She admits. "She won't eat, won't speak. She's barely moved a muscle since we returned from Babel. I've never seen her this way." She runs a hand through her hair. "I only just managed to convince her to let Cade see to her wounds. He and Noah are with her, now."

I extend an arm and Megra moves to sit by me, nestling against my shoulder as I plant a kiss on her white-blonde head.

"Kay will be all right." I tell her. "She just needs time, that is all. Time eases all wounds."

Megra does not respond immediately. I glance about the roughshod tent, at the canvas walls fluttering in the desert breeze. This is a rare instance of peace, a stolen moment of privacy shared between a Queen and a Chieftain. Duty will soon demand that we return to the fray, back into our roles as leaders and decision-makers. With Babel's wall demolished and countless prisoners released, our people will clamber for guidance.

Let them wait a while longer.

My thoughts drift to the Runner, to the sounds of her screams as the Commander received the fatal injection. To watch helplessly as someone you love is killed...I shudder at the thought and draw Megra closer.

She cranes her neck to look up at me and I feel my chest give an unconscious lurch. Seeing my strong, willful Queen so heartbroken is a torture unto itself. My years of bloodshed and battle should have left me hardened to the sight of human suffering, but a certain pair of blue eyes has the power to inflict more damage than the point of the sharpest sword.

"I wish that there was something I could do to help her." Megra's voice is heavy with a world-weariness that belies her years. "Kay has been through so much, already."

I nod, not really understanding. Tales of the Runner's exploits have reached my ears in the form of rumours and gossip, passed across bonfires and whispered amongst my warriors. Undoubtedly, the events at Babel will push the Runner's story from fact into the annals of legend. Despite having witnessed some of Kay's famous deeds first-hand, I still find myself struggling to know her. I will admit that until I heard those wretched screams tear from her throat, I did not think that she possessed traits as human as pain or fear.

The combination of Megra's worrying and my youngest brother's ever-growing attachment to a reckless girl has set my alarm bells ringing. There is no doubt in my mind that Kay is marked for catastrophe and now, with the Commander's murder on her shoulders, her path to destruction is almost assured. When that happens, two of the people I love most in this world will feel the sting.

"She and the Commander loved each other very much." I state the fact simply, hoping to glean some more information about this ticking time bomb.

Megra nods. "They did, but their relationship was disastrous from the very beginning. Will wanted Kay to be someone she wasn't, and Kay lost herself in trying to protect him." She shrugs her narrow shoulders. "They were like minded to a fault, neither one of them willing to give an inch."

"Did you say so to her?"

"Gods, no. You can't tell Kay anything." Megra releases a sad little laugh. "Who knows, though. Perhaps if they were given enough time, they could have made it work."

I long to voice my concerns but sense that this is not the right moment; Megra is already hurting enough on behalf of her friend. Time may have run its course for Kay and Will, but it exists, still for Megra and I.