THE COST OF SAFETY #2
Gabriel says, “Maia has been kind enough to bring us supplies, and she’s agreed to—”
“Agreed under duress,” she interjects, glaring at him. “Let’s be clear about that. If anyone else were asking me to do this, I’d never do it. It’s madness. If King Andreas finds out—”
“He won’t,” Gabriel says calmly. “Yours is the last place he’ll look, which is why it’s ideal.”
Ideal for what?
“Yes, you’ve made your position clear.” She scowls, and honestly, it’s nice to see someone else arguing with the Hunter. “But at the first sign of trouble, I’m sending for you.”
“I understand, and I appreciate that you’re doing this,” he replies.
That’s enough. Am I invisible? Is that it? Can they not see me?
“Hey!” I make no effort to temper my tone. I cross my arms, my nails digging into my skin. My Mark is hotter. Brighter. A wave of blue against the falling darkness, but I don’t fucking care. “Someone needs to fill me in on what’s going on here. Right now.”
I was an outsider for the first twenty years of my existence. A bystander to my own life, I spent years watching with Amelia as everyone else made friends, fell in love, got to live.
We were never included. The priestesses made sure of that, with their constant warnings that no one was supposed to get attached to the gods-blessed. No one was even supposed to touch us after we turned twelve, since we were waiting to be Given and for our lives to truly begin.
And for what?
To find out it was all an elaborate lie resulting in death.
I refuse to do that any longer. I will not stand idly by on the sidelines of my own life. No one, not the priestesses or Gabriel or the suns-damned king can tell me how to live. I won’t remain silent as plans that obviously include me are made without so much as asking for my input.
The two exchange a glance, and Gabriel steps forward. His size is intimidating, but I refuse to back down.
“What’s going on, Hunter?” My voice is cool. Icy.
“I sent a message to Maia this morning,” he says.
His calm tone merely serves to infuriate me further.
I grit out, “I gathered as much, since she’s here.”
His lips twitch into a small smile, and gods-damn it all, but something inside me stirs at the sight.
Why? Why is he so attractive? It would be easier to be mad at him and remember that he chased me across the country to bring me to my death if he were grotesque to look at.
Alas, he’s as good-looking as ever. Maybe even more, if I’m being honest with myself.
“And she’s brought supplies to help us on our journey.” The panther rubs against Gabriel’s leg, and he reaches down, petting his familiar’s head.
Us. We.
The Hunter keeps using these words, grouping me in with him. Automatically assuming that I’ll remain by his side, conveniently forgetting about everything that led us here.
The way he relentlessly chased me and was determined to bring me to my death.
He’s meant to be yours, a voice murmurs inside me, reminding me of the feeling that I had when I first looked into his emerald eyes after the fire exploded from my hands.
I shove that voice away.
No.
Nope.
That is not happening.
Zero fucking chance.
The voice cannot be right. There’s no way that after everything this man put me through, we could have that kind of connection.
He was hunting me, for the gods’ sakes.
Frustration bubbles in my veins the longer I look at Gabriel, so I drag my eyes to Maia. She’s significantly less infuriating, although admittedly, that isn’t a difficult feat to achieve.
“Thank you for bringing us supplies,” I say as calmly as I can manage. “I’m sure coming here was dangerous, and I appreciate your putting yourself at risk for us.”
Maybe that’s what they were arguing about earlier?
Maia smiles tightly, lines bracketing the sides of her mouth. “You’re welcome, and I assure you: I’ll do everything in my power to make sure your sisters remain unharmed.”
A rushing, roaring sound like waves crashing against a shore fills my ears, and for a moment, time seems to slow.
What did she say?
Surely, she didn’t . . . She couldn’t mean . . .
I search Maia’s face for a hint of amusement. This must be a joke, right? Some kind of trick that’s only funny to people who live in the capital. Maybe making cruel jests that even Tarna, the goddess of humor and frivolity, wouldn’t find funny, is their way of amusing themselves?
But no.
There is no sign of humor on her face, no twinkle in her eyes because . . .
Because . . .
Because . . .
Understanding is a thousand-pound weight smashing into me, crushing my chest. My lungs constrict. I gasp, desperate for air, but it’s nothing but a distant memory.
This is the true reason Gabriel sent for Maia. The supplies were nothing more than an excuse. My head shakes, and I stumble back. Wrapping my arms around my sisters, I hold them close.
“No,” I rasp, the word cracking as it hits the air. “No!”
I’m not sure whether I’m yelling at Maia, Gabriel, the gods, or this fucked-up world in general.
All I know is that this cannot be happening.
I cannot have gone through hell and back, snuck into the Winter’s Eve Ball and rescued my sisters from the king’s clutches, just to have them ripped from me the very next day.
“Wren—” Gabriel tries to say.
“No!” I shout again, speaking over him. “You can’t do this. You can’t split us up.”
This can’t be fucking happening.
“What?” Marie exclaims.
I tighten my hold around the twins, glaring at Gabriel. “I won’t let you.”
Not now. Not after everything else.
Kadyn’s body flashes before my eyes. Blood everywhere. A radiant pulse of green light. The way he landed at my feet, dead.
His life, gone. Snuffed out. Just like Amelia’s.
A sob rips out of me, resonating through the night. Oh, gods.
The Given may stick together, but what good is that when we all fucking die?
I thought that once I rescued my sisters and saved them from the king, we’d be a team and tackle whatever came next together.
But apparently, I was wrong.
“No. You can’t do this, you can’t split us up,” Violet says.
Marie turns to me, her eyes watering. “Birdie, you can’t leave us.”
The twins tremble in my arms, and my lungs squeeze tighter and tighter. How could this be happening? How could this evening have taken such a dark turn?
Gabriel is watching me, and I stare back at him, searching for a sign that I’m wrong and this isn’t the plan. But his face is serious, his eyes are dark, like a forest in the moonlight, and his lips curve into a deep frown.
No.
The word races through my mind. My body. My soul.
My fingers twitch around the girls, and I contemplate running away. We could do it—turn around and disappear into the woods. We could try to get away on our own . . .
But we wouldn’t get far.
Acting rashly will doom my sisters, sentence them to death. We don’t have any supplies or weapons except for my dagger. Our clothes were meant for the ball, not for the impending winter. We don’t have cloaks or food or water.
We have nothing.
“Don’t do this,” I plead, desperation coating every syllable. “Please, don’t do this.”
The last word escapes me on a whimper, and my knees knock together.
Here I am, begging again. It always seems to come back to this. No matter what I do, no matter where I go, we keep returning to this gods-damned awful place.
The Hunter, in a position of power.
Me, imploring him to change his mind and to save me from this fate.
Gabriel’s brows furrow, and he scrubs a hand over his face. Will this time be different? Will he listen to me and change his mind?
Suns, maybe this is all a bad dream, and the Winter’s Eve Ball hasn’t even taken place yet. Maybe Kadyn’s still alive, and there’s a chance for things to change. We can come up with a new plan, and people can stop dying all around me.
But then, Gabriel’s mouth dips. The crease between his brows deepens, and before he even says a word, I know this isn’t a dream. This is all too fucking real.
“We need to move quickly, Wren,” he says quietly.
Is that a hint of gods-damned compassion in his tone? What is it doing there? How dare he pretend to be sympathetic and understanding of my plight when he is playing a part in it?
He adds, “The king is coming.”
As if I could forget.
“I saw the ember,” I snap, remembering the way it glowed, reminding me of those crimson, rage-filled eyes. The promise in the king’s voice to find me cycles through my mind, even now. “I understand what it means.”
Marie hiccups, and I clutch her tighter.
Gabriel’s frown deepens. “The twins can’t come with us.”
“We can’t leave them,” I argue.
I can’t leave them. Not again.
“Bringing them will put them in even more danger.”
His voice is calm, and his words are reasonable, and that’s making things even fucking worse. My Mark is on fire, a furnace consuming me from the inside out, and I can barely think, let alone worry about that.
“I can protect them,” I say. I plead. That’s my job as their older sister. I’m supposed to be able to keep them safe.
Pure, agonizing silence stretches between us for several long moments. Each is more painful than the last, until it feels like every breath is drawing shards of glass into my lungs.
“Can you?” Gabriel’s words are so quiet, I almost miss them.
I wish I hadn’t heard the question, since it slams into me like a punch to the gut. I stagger back, gasping for breath that won’t come. “I . . . I . . .”
The suns only know how much I want to do anything for the girls, give anything up.
But this . . .
Gabriel’s question . . .
Ropes wrap around my chest and squeeze. Tighter, tighter, tighter.
I can’t . . .
I don’t . . .
“I’ll take good care of them,” Maia says softly. Pityingly. “I have powders to temporarily color their hair so they can blend in, and they can come work for me. My father is a very busy man who won’t blink twice at my adding a couple ladies’ maids.”
“But . . . why can’t we go home?” Violet asks, her voice so quiet that I have to strain to hear it. “Why do we have to do this?”
“I’m sorry, but you can’t go back.” Gabriel grimaces, shaking his head. “Not right now, and possibly not ever again.”