Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
Ellery
The girl glanced at the others before reluctantly disentangling herself from some of the children. She took a few hesitant steps before her small hand slid into mine.
I grasped it and gave a small squeeze. I resisted the urge to pull her close and hug her—I’d probably scare her if I did.
Instead, I led her from the cell. All along the hall, more children emerged from their cells with other amsirah. Two of the children in the cell took the girl’s hand as they emerged, one at a time, from their prison. Luna stepped into the next cell while Ryker entered one across the way.
The hallway was filling with teenage boys and girls, as well as children so young they broke my heart. Near the front of the cave, the remaining amsirah were splitting the children into groups of twos and threes.
With a whole lot of encouragement, the first group climbed onto the gargoyles’ backs or were tucked into their arms as the creatures carried them around the bend of the tunnel.
I didn’t like not being able to see the children or the gargoyles taking flight, but I trusted them to get the children to safety.
I led the girl and the other children to some of the gargoyles before giving her hand another squeeze and releasing her. “You’ll go with them now. They’re going to take you to the Revenant Woods. If all has gone well, your parents will be waiting for you.”
The girl stared at me for a second before flinging herself into my arms. Her impact rocked me back, and I braced myself before hugging her. I didn’t care how bad she smelled; she was absolutely amazing as I hugged her close.
“What if our parents aren’t there?” she whispered.
I brushed her stringy hair back from her pretty, oval face. “Then we’ll do everything we can to find them, and if we can’t, we’ll keep you safe. You have to get out of this place; we can sort all that out later.”
She nodded and squeezed me again before herding some of the smaller kids toward a waiting gargoyle. More and more gargoyles left with as many children as they could carry.
The teens helped organize the younger ones, sending them out ahead unless the children protested. One young boy cleaved to an older one; tears streaked his face as he pleaded with his brother to leave with him.
“Go,” Ianto urged the older boy. “We’ll get all the others to safety too, but your brother needs you. And the younger kids will need some of you with them on the other end too.”
The older boy hesitated before bowing his head and climbing onto the gargoyle’s back with his brother. Scarlet and Tucker helped herd more children.
Tucker was about to pluck a young boy from the ground when he froze to kneel before him. I couldn’t hear what they said, but the boy started crying before he threw his arms around Tucker’s neck.
Tucker pulled him close and lifted him off the ground. He said something to an older girl, and she took the boy and placed him on a gargoyle’s back. She climbed on behind him. Tucker grasped the boy’s hand and held it until the gargoyle was ready to leave.
When Ryker came to stand beside me, he slid his hand around my waist and pulled me close. “Who is the boy?” I asked.
“Val’s son, Georgie. He was there when the duke killed his mother.”
My hand went to my mouth as the boy disappeared into the tunnel. “How horrible.”
“It was, but look at what you’ve done here. Look at what you’ve given them.”
“Look at what we’ve done. All of us, together. We’ve been working to unite the amsirah, and while we didn’t accomplish it how we’d planned, we are uniting them. None of us worked alone for this.”
“It’s not over yet,” Samael said as he stepped forward to stand on Ryker’s other side.
My mouth curled into a sneer before I clamped my lips together.
“We’ve succeeded in debilitating the duke by killing the aristocrats and freeing Ryker and these children, but the wrath he’ll unleash on this realm is something that will destroy many. ”
“We?” Ryker inquired.
Samael’s smirk grated on every one of my nerves.
“I did free you,” he reminded Ryker. “Without me, she’d still be crippled by your captivity, and so would you.”
“And without me, you’d be dead when this is over,” Ryker told him.
“He still might be,” I muttered.
Samael chuckled. “Bloodthirsty woman, isn’t she?”
“Don’t push me!” I snapped.
“I take it you’re still pissed about me searching your manor.”
His cavalier attitude wasn’t helping with my irritation. “My mother made some of the things you and your men destroyed. You didn’t have to trash our home like you did.”
If he shrugged, I’d kill him.
“No, we didn’t,” he admitted.
For some reason, his honesty irked me too. “Then why did you?”
“Because we could.”
My teeth ground together until I was certain they’d shatter. When lightning flickered across my fingertips, Ryker grasped my forearm. My lightning calmed, but I’d still love to shoot a bolt straight up Samael’s ass.
“He’s an asshole, but he knows this palace better than almost everyone in it,” Ryker said. “We need him.”
“If he doesn’t stab us in the back,” I said.
Samael didn’t look at all perturbed by my words. “It wouldn’t matter if I handed you over to the duke right now. I freed Ryker from his cell; Veni will kill me no matter what I do now, and he won’t make it an easy death. Turning on you wouldn’t save me, so why would I?”
“Because you enjoy the suffering of others.”
“Says who?”
“I saw the look on your face when your goons destroyed our things; you enjoyed our misery.”
He looked like he was about to deny it, but then he sighed. “I carried out my orders.”
“Is that your excuse?”
“No, it’s my truth.”
“Fucking prick.”
His eyes held mine before he finally looked away. With the connection broken, the tension eased from me as I rested my hand on Ryker’s chiseled abs. Drawing strength from him, I tried to breathe through my anger, but it wasn’t working.
“You can kill me, but it still won’t solve your problem,” Samael said. “The duke will punish Tempest for this.”
“That’s why we can’t leave here with him still alive,” Ryker said.