leaving you!” Emma’s voice was bleak with desperation.
“Please come here,” I begged. “I can’t stand to be apart from you for a second longer. We don’t have much time. I’m pleading with you not to waste it.”
Emma hesitated, before she gave up and collapsed in front of the bars again. She kept her head down as she cried. I reached out to stroke her hair. It was meant to calm her, though it had more of an effect on me than her. “You’ll be fine, onawilke. No more tears.”
“Stop comforting me.” Her expression blazed. “You’re the one in trouble.”
“My problems will soon be over.”
“Don’t talk like that.” She scrambled to sit upward and grabbed me through the bars again. “This might’ve failed, but we’ll find something, anything.”
“What will you do, little wolf? How will you stop Elijah, stop Gabby? They’ve already decided my fate.”
“I will fight Malovia and the whole world if it means saving your life,” she snapped. “I will kill anyone, I will do anything, I will burn this entire city to the ground. There is nothing that will stop me from bringing us together again.”
I gave a somber smile. She was such a fighter. “I don’t believe even the Seven Gods could save me now.”
“I can be stronger than the gods,” Emma vowed. “I can become anything if it means saving you.”
I played with the ends of her hair again, counting the freckles on her cheeks. Her passionate declarations were beloved, but unnecessary. She hadn’t given up, but I had. I merely desired peace, and in Emma’s aura, I received it. I wanted for nothing— I was a happy man.
“What day is it?” I rasped.
“January third,” she said.
I marveled at the fact. I’d lost thirteen days. The semester at Arcanea University would start soon. What I’d give to return to the school that was once my home, and escape this dreary fate.
Emma reached to the canvas bag behind her. “I brought this for you, just in case I couldn’t— well.” She slipped a red bundle through the bars. I unwrapped it. The bundle contained a roast chicken, a few potatoes and a large bottle of cool, clean water.
“My grandmother’s cooking,” Emma said. “She blessed it with Unseelie magic— it’ll sustain you longer than normal food.”
My stomach growled at the sight of it. I was desperately hungry, and thirsty, but I’d eat later. Emma’s presence gave me hope, and I needed her more than I needed food. “Tell your grandmother thank you.” I placed the meal aside and grasped my mate again. “It’s a much appreciated gift.”
“You must keep our strength up, so you can fight Eli.”
She wasn’t letting this go, was she? “You know the chances of me getting out of this are slim. The only way I’ll keep my life is if I prove my innocence.”
“Then you need to win your trial.”
“He wants to make an example of me. Elijah didn’t hesitate to slaughter Lady Iris and the rest of the Alicorn Court. I’m next to be executed.”
“I told you I’m not going to let that happen,” Emma growled. “We’ll find a way.”
“The evidence is stacked against me. They have more than enough to indicate my guilt.”
“Then we’ll find a way to turn it around against Elijah,” Emma insisted. “Gabby put me up to being the White Rose. I can come forward about that.”
“Emma, no. I won’t have you get tangled up in all of this.”
“Don’t you understand that we’re in this together?” She squeezed my arms tightly, and a fresh bout of love flowed from my heart. Gods, it was better than a drug— it was her. “I’ll fight dirty if it means convincing the Circle you need to go free. I don’t think you realize just how far I’m willing to go.”
Her words made a chill run up my spine, settling in my ribs. They made me think she’d do something crazy, like blow up the court house, or make an assassination attempt on the king and queen.
If Emma got desperate enough, she’d try. And that’s exactly what I was afraid of.
“Listen to me,” I said firmly. “You can’t interfere in the court proceedings. You can’t do something insane. Whatever happens, you must back down and let things unfold as they will, for your own sake.”
“Like fucking hell.”
Gods, she was stubborn. I was certain it was a punishment to be mated to such a bullheaded woman… and a delirious blessing.
“If you’re caught trying to help me, especially if you do something rash, you’ll die