Free Reign of Ash by Gail Z. Martin Page B

dead brother is back, talking to me like I’m still a child. For all I know, those damned biters got inside my head and you’re not even real.”
    Blaine extended his right hand. “I’m real enough, Carr. But we need to get out of here.”
    Carr sprang from where he crouched, landing a fist to the side of Blaine’s jaw hard enough that Blaine staggered back a step. Blood started from his lip. Unwilling to harm Carr, Blaine fell into a defensive stance but did not draw his sword. Carr stepped back, flexing and clenching the fingers of his right hand at the pain of the blow.
    “You’re solid. Doesn’t mean you’re real.”
    “By Torven’s horns! What was that for? I’m your brother for the gods’ sake.”
    “The brother who left us to starve? Dammit, Blaine, I know why you killed Father. I know he dishonored Mari. Gods above, I was sick enough of his beatings. But without Father, and without you, Aunt Judith and Mari and I had nothing left. The scandal meant that almost no one would trade with us, sell to us, buy our surplus crops. We were outcasts, unwelcome at court, and even the village peasants spit when we crossed their paths!” Carr was shouting now, and while his face was red with anger, tears glistened at the corners of his eyes. “We lost everything!”
    “So did I.” Despite himself, Blaine’s temper rose. “The king took my title, my claim to the land, and the sentence took Carensa from me,” he returned. “My betrothed married another man, bore his child. I spent three years in Velant, starving and freezing, under the commander’s boot. Three more years starving and freezing as a colonist, in the mines or on the boats. I would have preferred that Merrill execute me. But I went to Velant knowing that at least I had stopped Father from beating you and raping Mari, and that was enough.”
    “And after six years you show up out of nowhere and want it all back?” Carr challenged.
    “Keep the godsdamned title, if that’s what matters to you,” Blaine snapped. “But Glenreith is still my home. Aunt Judith welcomed us. That’s where we’re going, if I can ever get your stubborn ass out of this forest before we’re attacked again.”
    “‘Us’? You brought a bunch of convicts back with you? How wonderful. Did Judith tell you we sold the silver to pay for food, so there’s naught left to steal?”
    Blaine’s fists clenched at his sides, and it took all his will to keep himself from landing a punch. “There are bigger things at stake than your hurt feelings,” Blaine grated. “By Charrot! Grow up.”
    Carr fixed him with a baleful look. “Oh, I grew up, Blaine. I grew up working like a man in the fields when I was naught but a slip of a boy. I grew up hearing Judith sob herself to sleep because we had no food and no money to buy any. I grew up seeing my sister marry beneath her station because no one wanted the taint of the McFadden name. And I grew up with every kill I made in the name of king and country on the front lines.”
    “Carr —”
    “Damn you! I mourned you at first, and then I learned to hate you for what you cost us. So now you’re back. To Raka with you! We learned to get by without your help. Go back to Edgeland. We don’t need you. I can’t imagine why in the name of the gods you came here.”
    “Because I may be the only one who can restore the magic.” Blaine met Carr’s angry gaze as the other took in the words. Disbelief gave way to an angry smirk.
    “Have you figured the cost, dear brother? I’ve been saved once by you, and the price was too damn high.” With that, Carr strode for the edge of the forest, shoving his way past Blaine and disappearing into the darkness.

CHAPTER FIVE

    “I t’s hard to believe that only half a year has gone past since…” Connor’s voice drifted off to nothing, but the others did not need him to finish the sentence to know where his thoughts strayed.
    Castle Reach, once the bustling palace city of the kingdom of