execute her?" Sorrell roared. He stormed forward, grabbing me by the front of my shirt. His fingers clenched into the fabric and I could feel icicles forming in my lungs as he breathed in my face. "Next time,” he hissed, “lead with that.”
“What the fuck are we going to do?” Roan panted, his fires burning bright and fizzling out as the icy coat that was taking over the room lingered in the air above us.
“We don’t have much time,” I said as Sorrell released me and allowed me to stand.
“We have to move the Court again. We need to get to her. We cannot fail.”
I agreed. Cress needed us, all of us.
Roan gritted his teeth and turned his back on us. His long legs ate up the distance as he paced back and forth. Sweat collected on the back of my neck and spilled down my spine with every pass he made near me. I could feel the burning fire of his emotions—untamed, uncontrolled. Wild—like him and the depth of his feeling for a unique little Changeling.
"That's the problem, though, isn't it? How are we going to move the Court again to be close enough to the King's castle to rescue her if we're all drained? Gods, how are we going to keep it hidden from the humans?” Sorrell argued. “The very second we land in Amnestia, they’ll be on us like flies on cow shit.” He shook his head. “We need to strategize."
He was right, we did need to strategize, but I couldn't, not when my mind was filled not just with Cress's smile, but with my own fear. I closed my eyes and recalled the image of her just before it had slipped away. In my mind’s eye, I saw her before me once more. Her face was hardly illuminated, most of it cast in shadow but I could still see the way her lips trembled as she told me of her impending execution. It wouldn’t happen. I would not let it.
My eyes opened. "I will return," I said abruptly.
“Orion, wait! What about—” I didn’t stay to hear anymore. The doors slammed against the stone wall as I pushed out into the corridor. I couldn’t take the chance that they wouldn’t allow me this time—time that I very much needed. My footsteps sped up until I was well out of range.
She had been in my arms, and though I knew it had just been a fantasy, it had still felt real, and it had felt like a piercing blade through my chest to be ripped away from her again. My brothers only had to suffer through that once. It was so much worse the second time. I hadn’t realized it would be like reopening an old wound and infecting it with poison. That poison slowly seeped into my mind—telling me all sorts of horrible thoughts.
Would we get to her in time? What if we were too late? What if? What if? What if?
My legs moved faster and faster, as if I could outrun those questions. I wove through the halls and up and down stairs as I headed for the one place that was mine—not part of the Castle that I shared with the others, not a public area or somewhere that anyone could simply intrude—but my own safe haven. And the first place where I had taken Cress.
The door loomed in front of me and I reached out, shoving the wood as I slammed into my chambers, turned, and locked the door. Breath was released from my chest like a cork being pulled from a wine bottle. Relief—if only for a brief moment—touched me. And then there was nothing but anger.
I took two steps into the chamber, turned, and slammed my fist into the door. My knuckles split and pain radiated up my arm, but nothing could compare. Nothing could dampen my rage at this whole situation. Cress’s abduction. The impending execution. Tyr.
Never before had I felt the same darkness that I knew was in him make itself known in me. My brother was a monster, but for years, I’d simply let it lie. He was my brother—my blood. A part of me thought that perhaps if I never admitted it, I wouldn’t have to claim that piece of myself. Because as true as it was, his blood and mine were the same. His powers and mine were connected.
If he wanted to destroy the Fae and the humans then he would. And perhaps I wouldn’t have cared