Read Online The Fight for Peace by Autumn M. Birt - Free Book Online Page B

for Crystal City, so any changes weren’t really apparent to her except one. He was far more unshakable. Before she could have angered him. Or Linda’s demand they not speak of the Guard would have driven him crazy, especially considering how many people wanted to hear what he’d done. Instead, he’d shrugged and kept doing farm chores, talking to Phillip about how the goats and pigs had done while he was away. She’d thought he was asking because he intended to stay and pick up where he’d left off. Now Corianne realized he’d been making sure Phillip knew what he was doing.
    Together they walked up the stairs. Corianne hit the knocker twice. They waited in silence while she ignored sudden fears that Rhiol was empty.
    “You’re here,” the man who opened the door said. Corianne and Pyotr glanced at each other. He chuckled. “The Lady Grey told me of her promise. I just wasn’t sure if you’d come early or late. But I was betting you’d come. I’m Christophe, retired Guard,” he added, gaze running over both of them. It ended on Pyotr. “I’m not surprised to see you. You sure about this? You might have to fight the people you met in Crystal City, your family,” Christophe asked.
    “They’ve already shot at me. I want a gun so I can shoot back.”
    Christophe snorted. “And you ... you do know killing people won’t make what happened to you better?”
    “I know,” Corianne answered. “I’m not here for revenge. I’m here because I don’t want to be some wife married to a man who mostly feels sorry for me. I want a future that I choose and when this war is over, I might just get into politics. But yes, if another man ever touches me again I want to be able to defend myself – sword, gun, or knife.”
    Christophe stared at her with a blank look before a smile pulled at his lips. “I think you’re going to do well with us. Come in, both of you,” he said, stepping back from the door. “I’ll have your horse taken home and let Command know you are here.”
    Christophe showed them the kitchen and left them to fend for themselves for breakfast. When word came that their pick-up would be in three days, he showed them rooms.
    “Should we help do something?” Pyotr asked when they met Tomas in the kitchen at lunchtime.
    “Ya can if ya want,” Tomas said. “But tis your last three days of freedom. Ya might just want to enjoy it.”
    The practical advice left Pyotr and Corianne laughing. They were so eager to join and leave that hearing they should appreciate idle time was odd, but also made it feel real. They took a walk in the woods and got permission to exercise two of the quieter horses.
    It was the most time she’d spent with Pyotr, and certainly the longest where they actually conversed. As they rode side by side in the winter late morning sun the second day, Corianne got Pyotr to share what it had been like walking through the Wasteland, being taken prisoner, and arriving as a guest in Crystal City.
    “Does it scare you, to have seen what war did to the Wasteland and to have FLF soldiers shooting at you, to now join the Guard?” Corianne asked. “You probably know more than most new recruits about what fighting will really be like.”
    “I think it makes me realize how important it is. I expect most of the other recruits will be joining for some idea of glory or honor. That and wanting to pay the FLF back for what they did to Russia is what made me wish to join before I left. Now I don’t want to see what they did in the Wasteland happen here. Or to see Europe go to the kids I met in Crystal City. They don’t deserve it.”
    Corianne thought of that as they rode back and unsaddled the horses, grooming each properly before leading them to empty stalls. When they walked into the kitchen, Christophe glanced up from a roast he was prepping. Having her and Pyotr in Rhiol brought out his host side. Time spent in his company usually involved hearing how wonderful having Captain Vries and his