I raised it, ready to strike, ready to end his life. This was my last move. My King ending the game.
Just as I prepared to lunge, someone grabbed my hand.
"Scarlett?"
My heart stuttered and the dagger fell to the ground. Ragathon continued on, oblivious to how close he was to the end of his life as I turned to the man who had stopped me.
It couldn't be…
Jax wrapped his rams around me and held me against his chest, his voice a breath against my ear. "Scarlett, I'm back."
Chapter 19
The Dark Templars
He bent to pick up the dagger I'd dropped at our feet. "This wouldn't have changed anything, Star." He handed it back to me and I stuck it in my bag. "Some other Inquisitor would just take his place. Maybe even someone worse—"
I didn't care about any of that, I just cared that he was alive, standing before me, well and beautiful and still here. I hugged him again, hard, my heart filling with happiness. "How are you alive? I thought they killed you."
Part of me was still angry he hadn't left with the rebels, with Nightfall, and I didn't understand why he would choose death over fighting the system that unjustly convicted him.
He smiled and stroked my face while he spoke. "The Chancellor overruled his execution when I proved loyal. By refusing to join with Nightfall I inadvertently became a powerful symbol for Normals and Zeniths alike. The Chancellor argued that by killing me we would be inflaming the passions of the public toward anarchy, but by reinstating me we would show the people that those loyal to the Orders are protected."
"But you couldn't have known that would happen," I argued. "For all you knew, they would have killed you. Why didn't you leave with the rebels? You risked your life!" I punched him lightly in the shoulder, as emotions warred in me. Fear, sadness, anger, relief, love… all of it filling me with contradictions.
"Leaving with the rebels would have solved nothing," he said. "Nightfall spoke of justice, and yet she was threatening an entire group of innocent people, not just soldiers. How is she any better than what she claims to fight against? I can't align myself with that. I have to fix the corruption from within. Your parents died for the Orders, I couldn't dishonor them, our Order, everything we stand for, it would all have meant nothing if I sold myself out to save my life."
"You really believe that? That it would have been better to die than join the rebels?" I tried to hide the pain that caused me, how personal this conversation was to me.
His face hardened. "Yes."
We began to walk toward the water as we talked, moving away from the Castle and anyone who might overhear us. "But they're on your side. The Nephilim are fighting so Zeniths and Normals can live equally. For years, they've been fighting. Can't you see, that all this time, they're the ones we should have been rooting for?"
He turned to look at me, his hand resting on my arm. "Scarlett, if Nephilim had won the war, they would have killed everyone who opposed them."
"And have we done any different?"
Jax sat on a bench under a tree over looking the water. "Look, there's no point in regretting a past we have no control over. You and I can change things now. We'll rise up the ranks, and we'll make a difference. One day, when a Grandmaster like Ragathon is to be replaced, we'll be the ones to replace him."
I had too much energy in me to sit, so I paced next to him, the beauty of the night lost to me. "And what about Nightfall?"
"The Nephilim? She'll pay for threatening all those people."
I wanted to smack him, but I refrained, pulling in all of my frustration at his narrow-minded views. "Whether you like it or not, she saved you today. She may not have rescued you, but she became the mechanism by which you were exonerated."
Jax shook his head. "I didn't ask for her help and I owe her nothing."
Before I said something I'd regret, I turned away. "I need to go."
But he stood and grabbed my hand before I could leave. "Scarlett, just… just wait a moment."
I turned to look at him. Moonlight highlighted his dark hair and his face had softened with a familiar smile. "I almost died today, it's true. And my last thoughts would have been of you. I thought I'd never see you again and it hurt more than anything else. So…" he stepped forward and I could smell the mint of his soap as it caught on the breeze, "I just wanted to say that I'm so glad to see you again. Glad you came back. And, it means a lot to me that you were willing to avenge me."
He leaned in and kissed my cheek, a light peck but it left a mark on my skin, like a burn that traveled through my body. "Goodnight, Star."