Chapter 17
Rylee
Earth and water and emerald energy.
Wind and nightmares and endless strength flood my body, erupting from the very depths of my soul.
Protect them. My instincts react on a breath. There’s no situation where I don’t keep them safe.
A wave of power greater than anything I’ve ever felt—deeper than Axl’s Sapphire Sea, wider than Kal’s beloved sky—pulses out of me. A scream rips my throat raw at the release, my vision a whiteout. I see nothing but that white-hot light for a few seconds.
I smell it first.
The raw power, a sort of scorched earth scent. Then smoke. There’s so much of it as my eyes clear.
I fall to my knees. A sharp pain ripples up my bones from the impact, and tears fill my eyes at the scene before me.
Bloody strips of white canvas strewn along the cobblestones.
Ash and soot and broken bodies.
“Oh my goddess,” I gasp, my heart threatening to pound out of my chest. “No.”
Erin.
Arms scoop me up. Indigo eyes fill my vision.
“Look at me,” Jax demands, his voice primal.
I submit. Look at him and not the gruesome scene before me.
“They tried to kill you,” I say through gasps of breath. My face crumples in his hands as the severity of what happened strangles my heart. “Did I just kill my sister?” I cry, unable to stop the wobble in my voice.
“No, Rylee.” Jax shakes his head. “You didn’t. She’s not here. She’s not here.”
I’m trembling as he pulls me close. My teeth chatter as panic threatens to consume me. How does he know she isn’t here? She could be. And I . . . I . . .
I feel empty. Their powers are far away on the other ends of the bonds, returned to them.
What have I done? Erin . . . She could be among the bodies.
My eyes fly past Jax, to the dead Faders. So much blood.
Some of it might be Erin’s. Jax has no way of knowing.
Flashes of my sister, dead because of my lack of control, rip through me. My heart breaks, grief filling my soul. I’ll never see her again, never get to fix what’s broken between us.
“Jax,” I whisper, fisting his shirt. “Please. Make it stop.”
He pulls me to my feet, and a calming wave washes over me like soft, warm smoke. My trembling eases. Each pulse of emotion whispers, it’s okay, everything will be okay. My mind clears enough for me to think.
“This one is alive!” Kal calls.
Jax and I immediately race over to where he kneels next to a Fader, pulling off their mask.
I blow out a breath. Not Erin.
“Men,” Axl says, drawing my attention from where he’s scanning the bodies. “Rylee, they’re all men.”
Relief hits me, then couples with guilt so thick it threatens to choke me. There should be no relief in this.
“I didn’t . . . I don’t know what happened.” Such a pathetic excuse for this slaughter.
“You defended us,” Pierce says firmly. “You did what any one of us would do in the face of such danger.”
I hear him, but his words don’t absolve me.
What have I become?
More calm presses into me, and I squeeze Jax’s hand tighter.
Later. I’ll fall apart later. Right now?
“We need to take him to the dungeons,” I say. “We need to heal him so he can speak to us. Give us information.”
Axl nods to Kal, some silent conversation as Kal turns to me.
“I’ll take him,” he says. “Can you hold it?”
His power. All their powers are theirs right now. Blown right out of me and returned to their rightful owners.
“I’ll try.” It’s the only answer I can give, but as Kal bends to scoop up the unconscious Fader, throwing him over his shoulder before launching into the sky, I feel spent. Weak. Like I wouldn’t be able to call their powers back to me if I tried.
I feel like me.
When before . . .
“Look at me,” Jax demands. I turn, looking up into his searing eyes. “You did nothing wrong. They threatened us. You had no choice.”
Tears spill over my lashes as he brings me to his chest.
I don’t argue. I can’t. We need to get to the palace.
But he’s wrong.
There’s always a choice . . .
And I’m terrified of the one I made.