Chapter 47 #2
“How many of our troops do you think are left in the castle?” I asked, mostly to Sebastian.
“Uh, I don't know. Likely more Draemornians than our men. Those fuckers are searching high and low for you.”
I nodded. Good. The less of our kind I had to kill, the better.
“How about your father?” I asked next.
Sawyer scoffed, answering before Sebastian could. “That coward fled through the tunnels as soon as we all left the throne room. He's long gone by now.”
Okay—also good. Although he was a complete ass, I wasn't too keen on killing the father of the man I loved.
“By the way things are going, it looks like we are going to lose the castle anyway.” I paused to glance between the four of them.
“I think we should lure as many Draemornians inside as we can. Then I’ll burn the castle and whoever is inside to the ground.
If what Blythe said about me having the power to manipulate the stars is true, I should have no problem conducting enough power to finish the job.
” My eyes bounced between my friends. “We can rebuild a castle, but we can’t rebuild lives. ”
“Absolutely no fucking way we are doing that!” Sebastian shouted, grabbing me by the shoulders.
“You don't even know for certain what your new powers are.
And just because you have the power doesn't mean you should use it. It could kill you!” His eyes drifted to Pia and they gave each other a look that said that they knew something the rest of us didn't.
“What was that?” I raised an eyebrow in suspicion, acknowledging that I saw their shared glance.
Pia bit her lip and Sebastian dropped his arms from me, shaking his head in denial. “Nothing.”
I crossed my arms and pointed a finger at Pia. “The look on your face says enough.” Then I directed my finger at him. “And you're a horrible liar.”
Sawyer interjected before either of them had a chance to defend themselves. “Maeve, I gotta agree with them. No offense, but you don't have a great history with using your magic, and now is really not a good time to test fate.”
My eyes shot to him, then I flipped him the finger for not defending me. He scrunched his nose, but backed down.
Kohen took his turn arguing with me. “Sorry, Maeve, but they're right. You’ve never used this side of your magic before. You don’t know what you're capable of or how to control it.”
I tapped my foot in annoyance. “You do realize I could compel every single one of you to screw off, right?”
I swear I could see Sebastian tightening his shields as he flashed me a look of warning. “Don't you dare,” he snarled.
I was taken aback at his tone and prepared to counter when Pia jumped in. “Okay, everyone calm down. The more I think about this, Maeve may actually be right in some sense.”
“Pia, stop.” Sebastian's eyes begged for her to listen.
What was he not telling me?
She ignored him. “I'm sorry, Seb, but we have to look at the big picture here.
The castle is almost a pile of ruins, anyway—there's no chance Caelestis is winning this war. If you can even call it a war, I mean, it's been a day. But anyways, the best case scenario is that we destroy as many of Beaumont’s soldiers as we can before we get out of here.”
Sebastian’s nostrils flared and he clenched his fists. They were turning white when he looked back to me, his face softening as he pleaded for me to listen. “Let’s just all make for the dungeon. We can get out of here.” He put his face close to mine. “Please.”
Gods, he was beautiful. I loved him. More than I had ever loved anyone or anything. But I couldn't falter on this. I had to do this for myself. For my mother and Delani. My head hung as I shook it. I couldn't bear to see the betrayal on his face another time today.
His feet backed away from me slowly, and the sight hurt my heart—just as it did before. I would make it up to him later, right now I had some Draemornians to fuck up.
Sawyer piped in. “Fine. I'm in. But if we are doing this, I want a say in how it's executed.”
I offered him a grin as a thank you, then turned my attention to Kohen, waiting for his approval as well.
He caved with a hearty sigh. “Okay, I'm in, too. But I think we should attack from inside the dungeon, that way we can start right through the passageway when you're finished. Can you work from the ground up?”
“Guess we’ll find out,” I replied, rolling the sleeves of my shirt up to my elbows.
I turned to Sebastian, who looked completely devastated. I took his hand in mine, pulling him off to the side to give us a little privacy. His eyes refused to meet mine.
“What's going on?” I asked.
“I thought we were in the clear now that the sacrifice has been taken care of.”
“What are you talking about?” We couldn't just be in the clear. We were in the midst of a battle for the gods' sakes.
He raised his gaze, giving me the eye contact I'd been waiting for.
An anguish filled breath poured from his mouth.
“There's things I haven't told you…things I swore I was going to, but never did.
I know there's no time to explain it all right now, but I really need you to trust me.” He shook his head. “I can't lose you.” His lip quivered.
“You aren't going to lose me,” I assured him, but he was persistent.
“No, Maeve, you're not listening. I know things about this war and its potential outcomes that you don't—”
“A goddess just gave me her damn magic, Seb! I can do this, I know I can. Why are you so insistent on fighting me on this? ”
“I'm not trying to fight with you, I'm trying to make you understand!”
We were interrupted by Sawyer calling back to us. “Hey. Uh, sorry to interrupt what sounds like a very endearing moment between the two of you, but there’s been a change of plans.”
Sebastian and I shot our heads towards our friends, who were face to face with King Beaumont and a hefty group of his soldiers.