For some reason, she’d asked for my name.
I couldn’t just ignore the question, but the thought of answering filled me with a deep, instinctual unease. Still, I forced the words out, my voice unsteady.
“Oakley Mercury,” I managed, swallowing the thick knot in my throat.
Joanne’s lips curled into a feral grin. “Oakley Mercury. Got it. I’ll remember that.”
Great. She’s going to remember my name. Just what I needed—attention from the literal poster child for chaos and carnage.
A flicker of dread twisted in my gut. Has she… taken a liking to me? No, there’s no way. That’s impossible.
Joanne stretched, the black cloak I had given her slipping off one shoulder, and gestured lazily toward the forest behind us. “All right, Oakley. Let’s head back. Nothing left for us here.”
“Huh? Oh, uh, yes, ma’am,” I stammered. “Actually… before we go, could I ask for one thing?”
“What?”
“I… I’d like to bury the others.”
For a moment, her spiral-patterned eyes tightened, her expression unreadable. Then, with a disinterested huff, she dropped onto a nearby boulder, stretching her bare legs out before her.
“Do what you want. Just don’t take too long.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Without another word, I set to work, my trembling hands dragging the torn, blood-soaked bodies of my fallen comrades into a shallow pit. I worked quickly, ignoring the dull ache in my ribs and the coppery taste still clinging to my tongue.
“You’re a strange one, Oakley,” she said, her green eyes narrowing as she regarded me with something that might have been amusement—or perhaps just curiosity.
I bit back the first response that came to mind. Coming from you, that’s rich.
With that, the bloody clash between the heretics and the Orthodoxy finally drew to a close, at least for now.
Little did I know, this small act would set my fate on a wildly different course.