What have I started? Suddenly everything feels out of control.
Vale lifts a hand. “Stand down,” he says, annoyed. “Put away your weapons. ” Around me, knives and swords lower and disappear.
Satisfied that he has the tribe under control, Vale draws two fingers over his chin and then holds them up. The blood on them is bright red even in the fading daylight. “Just so we’re clear,” he says to me, “you’re involved now. ”
He steps closer, the crunch of his boots on the dirt carrying to my ears, though the ringing hasn’t stopped. Vale draws near enough that I see the dark green of his eyes. Close enough that I see Perry and Liv in his strong nose and the slight tilt of his head. In the way he measures me, like he’s gauging the heat coming off a fire.
“Because you mean something to my brother and sister,” he says calmly, “I’ll give you a choice I ordinarily wouldn’t. Leave?” he asks. He shifts his weight, tilting his head to the other side. “Or stay and pay the price?”
Banishment or a beating. It’s an easy choice. “Stay,” I answer.
Vale’s eyebrows climb. He smiles. “You might regret that. ” He looks to Perry, who’s still beside me. “Hold him, Peregrine. And keep him still unless you want to take his place. ”
The hair on my arms lifts. It sounds like an offhand comment—but it isn’t. Nothing is coincidental with Vale. He calculates everything.
“No, Perry!” I won’t let him take my punishment. I step in front of him, but he shoves past me.
“Since you offered,” he says, “I will take his place. ”
Vale’s eyes widen, but his surprise is false. He shakes his head, like he’s disappointed, but he’s gotten exactly what he hoped for. “If that’s what you want. ”
“I do,” Perry says, still as death. “And I’ll try not to hit you back. ”
A murmur moves through the crowd. Perry has taunted Vale in front of everyone. There’s no turning back now.
I move to Liv’s side and whisper, “I’m sorry. ” It’s a weak offering, but there’s nothing I can do. This isn’t about me or Liv any longer. I don’t know how this became a battle between Perry and Vale, but that’s how everything seems to end up.
Perry and Vale.
Liv doesn’t answer. She doesn’t even look at me. Her eyes are fixed on her brothers. Brooke appears at her other side and glares at me.
I look away and scan the people around us, finding Bear and Molly, Gray and Old Will. I know what they’re thinking. We’re all remembering the shadow of bruises on Perry’s face. On his arms and back. Only the youngest in the tribe escaped those memories—those too young to have known Jodan. The rest of us carry the guilt of those beatings inside us. We were afraid of Perry’s father. We did nothing to stop him. And here we are. In the same situation again.
A small figure darts out from the crowd. Talon looks from his father to Perry. “What’s wrong? What are you doing, Dad?”
Uncertainty flickers in Vale’s eyes. “Get home, son,” he says. When Talon doesn’t move, Vale says, “Mila, take him inside. ”
Talon dodges out of his mother’s reach. “No! I don’t want to go!”
“Talon,” Perry says, “it’s all right. Go inside. ”
When Talon stops to listen to Perry, Wylan grabs his arm and drags him away. For long moments after I can’t see him, I hear Talon arguing, his voice raised, crying, as he’s hauled to his house.
At the solid thud of a door shutting, Vale walks up to Perry. They stand eye to eye, both well over six feet tall. Vale is older by seven years. It has always been a significant gap, but I don’t see a day between them now. They are so different—one dark and the other light—but the look in their eyes is the same. Unbending.
This is the challenge we’ve all been waiting for. It will be, if Perry does what he’s threatened and fights back.
He holds his arms out wide. “I’m ready, Vale. ”
I see that he is ready. Perry has taught me everything I know about fistfights. I take in his broad stance and the loose set of his shoulders, and hear his voice telling me, “It hurts less when you’re relaxed. ” I see his expression grow distant and hear him say, “Never show emotion. It only feeds them. ” If anyone knows how to stand and take a hit, he does. Perry won’t even flinch. I know he won’t.
Talon is shut inside his house, but through mortar and tile and across a hundred paces I still hear him crying. Outside the tribe is silent.
Bracing.
Vale drives his fist into Perry’s stomach. He moves surprisingly fast for someone his size, and he’s merciless, using the full power of his substantial strength.
It’s a hammer of a blow. I know because Perry doubles over and my breath is gone and Liv is trembling beside me. I know because Perry gasps as he hugs his waist and Vale is flexing his hand, opened and closed. The blow hurt him, but not nearly as much as it hurt Perry.