Chapter 44
Rylee
“Goddess damn it, Erin,” I snap, my hand splayed over my chest. “I hate it when you do that.” My knee-jerk reaction to her ability to become invisible immediately fades the moment I meet her eyes.
They’re the same, but . . . different. Heavier. Tired. Her blond hair is slicked back and tied in a tight braid that she’s spun in a knot on the top of her head.
She’s here. She’s really fucking here.
“Hey, sis,” she says.
I swallow hard, a million emotions rushing through me—relief, hope, anger, heartbreak. I try to catch one and stick to it, but it’s impossible.
She shifts her weight, wearing the Fader uniform, the full-face mask in her right hand.
Tears prick my eyes. I’ve imagined finding her for over a year. Imagined wrapping her in my arms and crying in relief that she’s safe, alive. And after the Athanry, I imagined strangling her, yelling at her, convincing her to stop this madness.
Now, confronted with her, I’m frozen.
“How did you know I was here?” I blurt out the first question that springs to my mind. I’ve had her journal forever. There’s no way the leader of the Faders has been waiting around for me to show up.
“Magic,” she says with a shrug. “I was alerted when you disrupted the endpaper of the journal.”
Which explains the weird heat emitted by the book.
I grit my teeth. The betrayal of what she is, what she’s done, burns me from the inside out. “So, you have Occuli working for you, too?”
“I thought you’d find my journal a lot sooner,” she says, avoiding my question, and her voice pricks my heart with a love it has no business feeling. My sister . . . left me.
She left me to join a group trying to kill the princes and innocent people of Lumathyst. I can’t be happy to see her. I can’t.
“You could’ve just sent me a message telling me to meet you,” I snap, anger flooding my veins. “You know I would’ve met you anywhere—”
“I couldn’t,” she fires right back. “Actually.” The word looks like a struggle, and she shakes her head. “You’re constantly surrounded by . . .
them.”
“Them?”
“The Legends.”
“My mates,” I correct her. “And I’ve been alone for more than a week now. You could’ve sought me out.”
“I couldn’t,” she says again.
The weight on my chest grows heavier. “What are you doing, Erin?”
She opens her mouth like she’s going to say something, flinches, then tries again. “What I have to,” she says on a released breath.
“You don’t have to,” I argue. “Hurting innocent people? Those dying in the streets? That’s not you. That’s never been you. The leader of a radical group?” I take a step closer to her. “That’s not you.”
Erin presses her lips together, shrugging.
That shrug makes me see red. I mimic it theatrically. “That’s it?” I ask, tears stinging the backs of my eyes. “All this time. And that’s all you have for me?” My entire body trembles with anger and grief. “Why did you want me to find you, then, if you have nothing to say?”
She parts her lips, agony contorting her features before she blows out a breath. A flash of anger before she settles into cold resolve. “Are you taking care of Ash?”
The question gives me whiplash. She’s worried about her fucking cat?
“Of course I am,” I snap. “He’s gorging himself on fish in the palace.”
A small smile. “Thank you.”
I gape at her.
“The enhancement,” she says, glancing to the side as if she’s waiting for something.
“The shit you’re peddling to innocent people? Hooking them on it in the hopes they’ll join your cause?” I grumble. “Who’s your baker?”
She groans, looking like she’s trying to lift something heavy as she speaks. “Ivy,” she says. “Get some to Ivy.”
“And just how am I supposed to get some?”
She opens and closes her mouth, then shakes her head, clearly torn, but unable or unwilling to say more.
“Who are you working with, Erin?” I ask, my voice softening at her obvious discomfort. “Tell me. I have . . . I’m in a position to negotiate now. We can end this. Start again. Find a peaceful way to move forward for Lumathyst.”
“The kings are the problem,” she says.
“The Legends aren’t the kings,” I argue. “They’ll take the thrones, and we’ll work together to implement the changes we’ve always dreamed about—”
“They won’t! They stand for everything we hate, Rylee. How can you not see that?”
“You don’t know them,” I say. “Do you think for one second I would’ve chosen them had they been anything like the people we’ve fought our whole lives? Do you think I would’ve gone through the Athanry? Dying for them? They sacrificed their powers to bring me back—”
“Dying?” She gently clenches my arms. “You what?” She blinks rapidly, her hands dropping as she takes a step back. “And they . . .”
Shit. I shouldn’t have said that. I just want her to understand how deep our love is, how wonderful they are. They’re the change Lumathyst needs.
“They . . .” She lowers her voice to barely a whisper. “They gave you their powers.” She looks me up and down, something like devastation crumpling her face.
“It’s complicated,” I say. “Tell me who you’re working for. I know you didn’t come up with this scheme. It’s too predatory. Tell me who’s at the head of this. Who’s supplying the weapons, the enhancements. I’ll make sure we can end this. Together.”
Erin parts her lips. Shuts them again. What’s wrong with her? Does she not trust me?
My stomach plummets.
“You don’t trust me.” A knot forms in my throat. I’m the princess of Lumathyst. Mated to the Legends. Would I have trusted anyone with those titles a year ago?
No. Probably not.
But I’m her sister.
And she’s mine, but it’s hard to recognize who stands before me.
“Rylee.” She says my name like a plea. “I need you to . . .” She pauses. “Wake . . .”
My body tenses.
“Up.” She exhales the last word like she had to climb a mountain to say it.
“I’m not asleep,” I say confidently, despite reaching down to pinch myself.
I’ve gotten too lost in dreams lately that keep turning out real anytime Evaluna shows up in them.
My nightmares? They’re all of Erin. Either I can’t find her, or I do, and she betrays me all over again.
“If I was, you’d have stabbed me in the back already,” I add.
“I wasn’t the one who threw blades at you,” she deadpans. “That would be the Nightmare.”
The Athanry.
The night I found out who she was.
It seems like an age ago.
“My Nightmare,” I say, possessive bite peeking through. “And he was aiming for you.”
“You shouldn’t have stepped in the way.” She sounds utterly defeated. “Should’ve just let the blades hit their mark.”
“Erin.” The words aren’t her, either. She loves life, even the small, fractured one we had. She would never be so cavalier about her death.
“I’m tired.” It’s almost like an explanation.
“Then come back with me,” I say, hope rising in my chest. “Come home with me and tell me who is doing all this, and we’ll stop it. Ivy and Layce are at the palace. They’re with me. And I have powerful friends now. Please, come home with me.”
“Home?” She tilts her head. “You call the palace home now?”
“I call wherever my mates are home.”
“I’m happy for you,” she says, and it sounds genuine. “I want you to be happy, Rylee. Safe. I want you to wake . . .” She hisses like she’s been hit with something. “Up. Goddesses,” she says, exasperated.
I scrunch my brow. “I’m awake,” I snap. “You’re the one who won’t just talk to me. And I’m so tired of proving myself to people. The last person in the realm I should have to earn trust from is you.”
“You’ve changed.”
“So have you! We should be together on this, not on opposite sides. Tell me who you’re—”
A loud boom cuts me off, followed by sounds of chaos.
“Shit!” Erin snaps. “I told them to hold.”
I glare at her. “An attack?” I growl. “You set up another attack?”
“No, I didn’t. I—”
I’m already moving for the door, instinct propelling me toward the sound of breaking glass.
“Don’t.” Erin grabs my arm, hauling me back.
I whirl on her, jerking out of her grasp. My hand drops, my entire soul drowning at the sight of her already wearing her mask.
Fader.
Princess.
Two sides of the same coin.
“We can stop this,” I say. “Together. We can end all of this.” I extend my hand, trying one more time to reach for the sister I once knew.
She doesn’t take it.
A fearful cry splits the air, and I’m out the door.
Dipping into Kal’s power and racing through the streets, I follow the sounds, then come to a screeching halt amidst the chaos.
A dozen Faders tear through the streets in the club district of Obsidian City, blasting those magical weapons at anything that moves. I see a green flame hit someone in the leg, hear their agonized scream and the thwack as their body hits the cobblestones.
Power consumes me, building like a storm beneath my skin. I’m instinct and anger and pure survival. I move, a collective power on the tip of my fingers—
Heat bursts against the side of my head, spinning me around with the impact. A Fader punched me from behind. I’m stunned, wobbling on my feet, scrambling internally for my power. Wind slips through my fingers, flighty and hard to grasp.
The Fader throws something at me. I brace myself for the blow, only for a rain of white powder to hit my face instead.
I cough, wiping frantically at the substance burning my skin.
It coats my fingers, which shake uncontrollably as I scramble backward, away from the Fader.
My legs become lead weights, and I hit the ground with a smack.
The nullifier. The one Atlas nicknamed Tox.
I can feel it hit my system, draining me.
It locks on to every ounce of energy I possess and tears it away.
I cough again, trying to force the stuff from my lungs.
The Fader bears down on me, grabs me by my hair, and drags me toward the fray.
I reach for my power, any power, and hit a dead wall.
It’s gone. All of them are gone.
“I’ve got something here,” the Fader calls out, drawing the attention of the others as he drops me in the middle of the street.
I huff, cringing against the sting of the fall.
All twelve Faders head over, their attention on me. Good. At least they’re no longer shooting at innocent people. That’s something. Hopefully the people can use the distraction to get to safety.
I scan the uniforms, looking for my sister’s build. She’s nowhere among them.
She’s supposedly their leader, and she left me for dead.
I didn’t think my heart could break any more, but it does.
Shatters into a thousand pieces I’m sure will never fit together the same way again.