see. Change is coming. Someone has to be the sacrifice. The catalyst.”
She bristled. “If you take me back home, I’ll tell everyone what you did. I’ll tell the Crown of the Council.”
He laughed. “Who would believe you? Trust me, my way is easier. You won’t feel a thing in the end.”
Leena spat at his feet, a glimmer of the fire I fell for shining bright, and my heart rammed against my rib cage. “I’d sooner die.”
The smirk dropped from Wynn’s face. “Yes, well, that’s the plan.” He signaled to the group of Charmers, and they tightened their ranks, edging toward Leena. “You don’t know what we’re up against. I’m doing what’s necessary to protect our home.”
She barked out a sharp laugh. “Sure, Wynn. You keep telling yourself that.”
“How are my actions any different than his?” He gestured toward me, and Leena pursed her lips.
“What do you mean?”
Wynn snapped his fingers. “Bring me the Gyss.” One of the Charmers stepped forward and handed Wynn a transparent box with golden trim. The air inside the cage shimmered, and Winnow banged her fists against invisible glass. Staring at me, she mouthed words I couldn’t hear.
Leena’s resolve cracked. “Winnow?” Winnow turned, a single tear trailing down her cheek, and rested one palm against the pane. Horror racked Leena’s frame, and her fingers trembled. “Let her go.”
“Nifty contraption, isn’t it?” Wynn tapped on the glass, and Winnow covered her ears. “Another one of my experiments you’d probably disapprove of. But don’t worry. It won’t hold her for long. The beast realm will call her back within the hour. I just wanted to make sure she didn’t slip out before then.”
He handed the gilded cage to one of his lackeys. The panes of glass magnified Winnow’s fear, and her wide eyes threatened to break me into a million pieces.
“Imagine my surprise when she appeared in my chambers with your exact location.” Wynn shook his head. “After you’d stolen my Scorpex and murdered my Femsy, I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I couldn’t send another beast in case your charm somehow broke the bond again, and I knew you wouldn’t stay in Ortega Key long.”
Fury stoked fire in my veins, and the weak shadows leaking from my frame desperately tried to lash out.
With his back to Leena, Wynn offered me a private smirk. “But the solution fell right into my lap in the end. Noc wished for this.”
My world went cold.
Leena’s voice wavered. “No, it was his guild. He had to give up—”
“Did you even consider he might lie?” Wynn’s grin deepened, and the veins on my neck bulged as I tried to scream. None of this was true. But I could see the flicker of doubt in Leena’s wounded gaze.
Wynn extracted heavy metal shackles from his robe and latched them on her wrists. She didn’t even fight back. She only stared.
He brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. “Look at the facts. He made a wish, and now here you are. Back in my hands.”
Tears endlessly spilling down her face, her eyes silently accused me of everything I knew I was.
Filth.
Scoundrel.
Liar.
“Leena,” I croaked, the harsh weight of the gravity beast’s magic threatening to smash my vocal cords to oblivion. “I didn’t know. I swear.”
Her chest heaved. How on earth could I make her believe me when we both knew her greatest fear was once again being collateral damage at the hand of a Gyss?
Each tear that fell from her cheek was shattering, my heart aching for everything I’d gained and destroyed in such a short time. I should have known. Because whether he knew it or not, Wynn was right.
Cruor wasn’t something I’d achieved—it was gifted. A rite of passage from one leader to the next. I had formed the ranks, built a family. But nothing in this world was more precious than what I had built with Leena: trust. Love. A future.
Gods, I should have known.
Wynn yanked on Leena’s chains. Blazing white, his Charmer’s symbol erupted, and the same lizard beast he’d summoned in Devil’s Hollow appeared by his feet. A fresh portal sparked to life in its unhinged jaw. “Come, Leena. As you’ve said, you know what happens when you put your trust in a man who is willing to wield a Gyss.” He turned to the stone beast beside my head. “Hold him until your time runs out. Then, return to the beast realm.”
Pushing Leena into the swirling gateway, he offered me a parting sneer. Shadows tried in vain to