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@wingiby-iggiby

YOU ARE SO FUNNY!!!!!! “Little dwarf!!” XD And yes; when they hack into things way too easily, LOL or when the good guys are always beating the bad guys so easily, argggg!! Have you ever seen the movie Zootopia?

Thanks, that was an almost literal quote from my dad XD And yes, that scene was beyond hilarious! “What– do– you– call– a– three— humped—- camel?—” LOL!

LOL! Thank you!! I think I’m getting a tighter grasp on his character; I’m at least hoping.

I think you are! Dancrow is consistent and quite interesting! He’s in a different story from Kiark and Wylo, right?

You said it all. Period.

Also, Liorah: I love her attitude! “Big block of bricks,” specifically. XD That’s the best.

Thank you so much! Liorah isn’t handling this situation well at all XD Wait until I write her reaction to Gavril volunteering XD *Distant explosion*

@this-is-not-an-alien

Oh– my– goodness! I’ll never forgive myself for scaring Ehud! SORRY!! Aww, I feel so bad now! Btw, there’s no way out of the room, it’s completely closed in. I might have been a bit vague about that, sorry 😉

@joelle-stone

I feel horribly guilty about torturing poor Riure XD. Oh, dear… I’m just so glad nothing will actually happen.

Liorah

“I’ll do it.” My throat closed as I recognized Gavril’s voice. My grip on my boots loosened and they slithered to the ground. A thunderous crack sounded through the room, making it quake around me. Perhaps. It might have been my vision that had tilted. My ears buzzed and I had gone numb.

“I’ll do it too,” Gwen said, and it sounded as though it had come from far away, barely recognizable.

“I’ll go, it’ll take more than a drop to kill me,” The metal man said. A large crack slithered in front of his feet, splitting to where my boots lay sprawled next to me. That must have been the sound I’d heard.

Rosario was talking, snapping out commands with determination, but I saw only her lips moving. I couldn’t hear anything above the ringing in my ears.

A bright, clear laugh cut through my daze. Riure.

“I fear no death,” she said, her sweet voice clear and strong.

I was frozen in time, frozen in place.

What was going on? What did that mean?

Somewhere, far away, I realized what it meant.

Gavril would leave me.

A long, long time ago, he’d promised he would never leave.

It had been right after Father’s death. I was reeling from the giant hole carved in my heart, a huge gap nothing could ever fill. The elders had staged a coup. They’d tried to keep Uncle from taking the place as Regent. It had come horribly, terrifyingly close to a civil war, which would split our tribe beyond recovery. One of the noble’s sons had cruelly told me they were going to kill all of us, the entire royal family.

I’d only been eight at the time, and I’d been terrified. I remembered running to Mother, begging her to tell me it wasn’t true. She’d been in the middle of a conference with Uncle, and she’d brushed me off rather sharply. I remembered her exact words.

“Shoo, I don’t have time for you. Go play with your dolls or something.”

Perhaps she hadn’t meant it harshly, but it had cut me deeper than she’d thought. I’d gone quiet and left, feeling the eyes of everyone burning on me. For the first time since the war, I’d been sure I was going to die.

I’d hidden in the tent, huddling in a corner and praying that everything would go back to normal, and father would come back.

Gavril had heard me and had somehow convinced me to tell him what had happened. He told me the nobles and elders were just worried and scared, and they wouldn’t actually do anything.

“But Uncle and Mother don’t care, and you’ll grow up and I’ll be all alone,” I’d wailed in eight-year-old logic. One disaster had occurred, so everything else was sure to follow.

“I won’t leave. I’ll never leave you,” Gavril said, pulling me into a hug.

As time passed and everything smoothed out, I’d never forgotten the occurrence. The sting of Mother pushing me away when I needed her most and the safety and comfort of Gavril had seared themselves into my memory. Something had shifted that day, something that couldn’t move back. I’d grown up that day.

And now he was leaving me. He was breaking his promise.

“No, you can’t. Don’t– Gavril… don’t…” I said, my words broken and disjointed. I had no idea what language I’d said it in, I had no idea whether I’d even said it out loud.

“I have to do this, Li’ah. It’s what Father would have done,” Gavril said, quietly.

“And he’s dead! You promised!” My voice exploded from me twice as loudly as I’d intended.

He pulled me close. My face scratched against the wool of his cloak.

“I’m not leaving, you know, I’m just going ahead.”

“I don’t want you to. Don’t leave me alone,” I said, my voice cracking.

“I need to do this, and you won’t be alone, Mother and Uncle–”

I shook my head, interrupting him.

“Let me go instead,” I said, barely thinking about the words as they left. An iron stiffness took hold of me. Dying wasn’t so bad, staying behind was what I feared.

“No, Li’ah, I can’t. I’ll– I’d be the king soon. This is what I have to do.”

“Yes, you will be king,” I said, almost angry. “That’s why you have to go home. I’m only a princess, the youngest. The biggest thing I’ll accomplish in my lifetime is to marry some prince for politics. Nobody needs me.” I said, determined. My eyes were burning and my throat ached with suppressed tears. The habit of holding back, seeming strong, was so deeply ingrained in me that I couldn’t let it go, even now.

“Of course they need you–”

“No, they don’t. Face it. I have. I’ll go instead.”

“And what should I tell Mother and Uncle? That I was too scared and that I sacrificed you so I could live? No, never.”

“You aren’t scared, you offered to go. There’s no shame in backing down now.” I said, trying to convince him.

“I won’t. Princess Liorah, you don’t have a choice. I won’t let you.” Gavril said, his voice steely now.

The tears finally burst free, tears of rage and pain intermingled.

“What do you think I am?” My voice was dangerously quiet. “How dare you decide for me.”

“No, Li’ah, I’m trying to prote–”

“Protect me?” I snapped. “I don’t need your protection. Goodness knows I’ve gotten along without it often enough. I can accomplish more in five minutes by going instead of you than if I lived a hundred years.”

“I can’t live with that. Liorah, I can’t.” Gavril’s voice broke. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him cry.

My words finally left me and I let out a long, quivering breath. I went numb again. I wouldn’t be able to convince him. He was just as stubborn as I was.

____________________

Oooohhhh… Liorah will never forgive me when she finds out that nothing actually happens.

I dropped in Liorah’s ‘ghost’, (If y’all know what I mean by that?) and I’d really appreciate constructive criticism on it! Most of her character arc in the first book is realizing that she’s built up a false image of her family and basically learning that she doesn’t have to do everything all by herself. Was the backstory too cheesy? It kind of sounds like it…