Chapter Fifty-Six
Creed
I windwalk out of the house with the wind on my side, talking to me, helping me, and delivering me to Addie’s exact location, but I hit the lawn right as the blast sends us all flying and then sprawling to the ground. I’m on my feet before the shaking even stops, and I find myself facing off with Tad, who is holding a gun to Addie’s head. He can’t windwalk. I won’t let him. It’s not a power I’ve ever wielded until now, but I feel it—I feel the wind. I hear it tell me it won’t happen.
He can’t leave.
But he’s a coldblooded killer with a gun to my lifebond’s head. “The general, for his daughter,” Tad bargains as Caleb steps to my side.
The fool must think the general can still give him Red Dart, or he’s just buying time until reinforcements arrive.
Fuck that shit, is all I can think. I unleash the wind with nothing more than a thought, and his gun flies out of his hand, the wind curving around him and him alone, imprisoning him. “You get Addie,” Caleb says. “I’ll handle Tad.”
I charge for Addie, who’s stumbling toward me, and once she’s in my arms, I release the wind, and Caleb takes over with Tad. Renegade soldiers swarm the area, but there are few soldiers left, all dead or long-retreated.
My mother rushes to our side, ashes smudged on her face. “I can’t keep this,” she says, reaching for my hand—something I never thought she’d do ever again in my lifetime. “The Red Dart Crystal. It’s what makes it work. Keep it safe.”
I inhale sharply, my fingers curling around the offering, though I’m unable to fully consider the magnitude of my mother’s actions right now. She didn’t destroy everything, as she led us to believe. But instead of using the crystal for personal gain, she’d given it to me, and now I am free to end this battle without recourse, with no fear that Lawrence still held the power of Red Dart.
“The general is gone, though,” she warns. “He’s trouble.” She squeezes Addie’s arm. “I’m sorry, honey, but he’s a monster and a deceiver. He made me believe so many things that weren’t true.” Her gaze returns to mine. “I’m sorry, Creed. I’m sorry for everything, but right now, you have to find him. You have to stop him before he acts again.”