Chapter 28
Banging on the door interrupted the most delectable dream—one where I was wrapped up, naked limbs tangled with Ace’s, in his bed by the fireplace. Warmth licked my skin while he held me in his strong arms.
The banging continued and I groaned as I pried my eyes open. Ace lay behind me, an arm draped over my waist, but our legs weren’t entangled, and the fire no longer burned beside us. Instead, a chill hung in the air—the kind where you dreaded flinging back the covers.
“Ignore it,” Ace mumbled into my ear.
“We’re not in the position to ignore anyone right now.”
Ace’s chest rumbled along my back as he chuckled.
“Don’t make a joke about positions,” I warned.
“I didn’t say a thing.” He rolled onto his back, his arm slipping from my waist.
I flung back the covers and flinched as the cold air smacked my skin.
With a shiver, I padded over to my clothes.
They were still soaked, so I left them where they lay and walked over to Ace’s dresser to pull out a shirt and pair of pants.
I had to yank on the drawstring and fold down the waist multiple times to keep the pants from slipping off my hips, but at least the shirt went down to my mid-thigh.
If I ended up losing the pants while I answered the door, at least I wouldn’t be flashing anything.
Ace grumbled while he mirrored my actions, pulling on the first dry shirt and pants he found. He didn’t bother trying to tame his wild hair, opting to leave it as a wild dishevelled mess.
I liked him like this. Less put together. Like I disturbed his peace and ruffled his feathers. I was annoyingly pleased with how Ace’s hair looked and knowing I’d help make it that way.
“I’ll get it,” he muttered. “It’s my door.”
The knocking hadn’t abated. Instead, it offered a steady beat as we approached the entrance.
Ace strode ahead, his large shoulders blocking my view. My weapons were still out of reach. I plucked one of Ace’s spare bows from where it hung on the wall—the man really knew how to decorate.
“Just re—” Ace swung open the door.
Orion stood at the entranceway, casting a long shadow into the room. Nala stood at his feet.
Upon seeing me—or probably more accurately upon smelling me—Nala whined, her eyes squinting in pain. But for once, my familiar’s discomfort wasn’t my focus.
My brother stood behind Orion, the knife in his hand pressed to the healer’s neck.
“Let’s talk inside.” Paul pushed Orion forward which bumped Nala.
My familiar yipped and hobbled forward.
I’d never wished pain or suffering on my brother until now. Even during his betrayal, I never wished him harm. I could forgive my brother a lot. But hurting Nala?
No.
Who was this man?
Pauk winced as he stepped into Ace’s cabin, he kicked the door closed behind him. The heavy wood swung shut but didn’t latch.
I could shoot him.
This could all end with a single arrow. I wouldn’t have to worry about him betraying me again or killing Ace.
“Sorry, Nala,” Paul whispered.
“Don’t try to pretend that you care,” I snapped. “If you cared, you wouldn’t have set me up as a murderer, sent your thugs after me or kept me in the dark about everything.”
I probably should shoot him. But this was my brother. My twin. I still couldn’t consolidate the boy I grew up with the man standing in front of me with a dagger to our friend’s neck.
I couldn’t kill my own brother.
My hand clutching the bow grew sweaty.
Paul met my gaze, pain and sorrow pulling at his expression. “But I do care. That’s what’s got us into this mess. That’s why he’s here.”
Paul pressed the dagger into Orion’s neck. I tightened my grip on my bow. I could shoot him in one fluid motion.
“Don’t, sister. You’re fast, but not fast enough to save Orion.”
“Why are you here?” Ace asked.
Paul kept his gaze locked on mine.
“You need to come with me,” he said. “Now.”
“You threatened to kill Ace and imprison me for an indefinite amount of time. You’re leading a group of rebel hunters who have actively attacked me and have tried to kill me on numerous occasions. I love you, even now, but I won’t be leaving with you.”
He shook his head. “You need to come with me. I’ll explain everything.”
“You had your chance to explain everything already and you phaaned that up pretty well.”
Paul squeezed his eyes shut. “I’ve never been perfect. I know that. I still thought I could contain the situation, and it’s my own arrogance that prevented me from explaining everything before. If you knew the full truth, everything, you’d see things my way.”
I scowled. That was a weak excuse. He had so many opportunities to tell me what was going on.
“I have my faults. Struggling to admit them is one of them, but I would also never knowingly do anything to place you in danger. You must believe that. You’re my twin, Em.
I love you. Drop the bow and come with me now.
” He adjusted his grip on Orion, exposing the edges of a design etched into his leather vambraces.
The Broken Tongue. The symbols confirmed what we already suspected. Paul was a part of the Circle.
“Why would I go anywhere with you?” I asked.
“You’re in danger.”
“That’s not enough incentive. I’ve been in constant danger and it’s all because of you. I need more information before I go anywhere. Did you kill the old man?”
“Phaan yes, I did. He never should’ve sent the men after you.”
So Old Man Reilly had been behind the attacks. The confirmation didn’t feel good. Instead, it created a sour taste in my mouth. “I thought you were in charge, Paul. Start talking.”
He pressed the dagger into Orion’s neck, drawing blood. It pebbled along the blade and dripped down his skin. “I will start with—”
Paul didn’t finish the sentence.
A sickening thud echoed in the room. Paul froze before slowly looking down. An arrowhead protruded from his chest.
My brother looked back up at me, gaze wild. “Em?”
Orion shoved Paul’s hand away and stepped out of his reach. My brother staggered to the side.
Behind him, Sley stood in the doorway, her bow now lowered to her side.
I lunged forward, catching Paul in my arms before he crashed to the ground. We fell to the floor together.
“Em?”
I hauled him onto my lap, his blood pooling around us. I wiped his hair from his face—a face I had etched into my brain and could trace from memory. I pulled the arrow free and blood sprayed everywhere. He’d taken a direct hit to the heart.
The wound didn’t close.
Why wasn’t he healing?
He was a pureblood phaanon, like me. He should heal with or without a familiar.
I held the arrow up to my nose and sniffed.
Poison.
No. No. This wasn’t right. This couldn’t be happening.
I glanced down at Paul. His lips moved as if he was trying to say something.
I leaned forward.
“I love…you.”
“I love you, too,” I whispered. I always had and I always would, even if I’d never understand why he’d chosen to take this path.
“I’m sorry. For…every…Don’t…”
I ducked down so my forehead touched his.
“Don’t trust…”
He never finished his sentence. His body jerked and his last breath slipped past his lips.
I kept my arms wrapped around him, trying to pull his limp body up in my lap. His arms flopped to the side, his head dropped forward.
No. There had to be a way to fix this. There had to be a way to stop the flow of blood long enough for him to heal.
Blood.
The words from the prophesy rushed back: Unknowing what their blood is for.
Blood contained iron.
I could control iron.
I reached for my power. I didn’t have the luxury of time to coax it out. I grabbed the stubborn magic and wrenched it forward. A wave of nausea slammed into me, but I refused to give in or let go.
The metal-like magic slithered along my skin as I focused it on my brother. My heartbeat thundered in my ears.
I pushed my magic forward, trying to meld it with the iron flowing in his blood. Paul’s body twitched in my lap.
But his blood slid past my control.
I pulled more magic. It flowed into my hands like molten iron, so hot it felt cold. I screamed from the painful rush. The blood vibrated under my power. An echo of a heartbeat matched mine but then faded.
Someone spoke near me, but I ignored them. I directed my magic into Paul, searching for something, anything.
Only silence answered.
No heartbeat.
Paul had no heartbeat.
I surrounded his heart with my magic and squeezed. Maybe I could pump life into it again. The magic swarmed my senses, flowing from me now like a massive, uncontrolled flood.
“Mouse.” Ace knelt beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “He’s gone.”
No. He couldn’t be. He was supposed to walk beside me through this life and the next. I looked down at his lifeless body.
He was gone.
The power thrummed all around me. Consuming my vision. Seering my senses.
He was gone.
I released my hold on my magic and let it flow away. It slammed back into me, vengeful and furious, as if it had a personality of its own and was angry at not being used. My head spun. My stomach twisted. Blood dripped from my nose.
I tightened my arms around Paul’s still warm body. I’d seen enough death to know there was no saving Paul now. He had hung on longer than most, long enough to tell me he loved me and try to warn me.
But who should I not trust? Did he mean Ace? Orion? Or…
“Let him go,” Orion said. “He’s dead.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped. I looked at my best phaaning friend standing in the doorway. Her gaze on the blood-soaked floor, her shoulders drooped and folded inward.
“That was quite a shot.”
Sley bit back a sob and threw the bow to the ground. “Oh, Emi. I’m so sorry.”
She rushed over to me and leaned forward, arms wide as if to hug me, but she hesitated at the last second. Her gaze dropped to my brother, still in my arms, and instead of a hug, she rested her hand on my arm and squeezed.
“I thought… You said he betrayed you. I thought I was saving…” She gulped and stopped talking. She stared at me and for once she looked unsure of what to say. “Why don’t we get you cleaned up?”
I didn’t care about the mess. I didn’t care about her or Orion or their feelings. My dead twin lay in my lap in my arms, his blood pooling around us as the heat of his body faded. I couldn’t save him. He was truly gone.
Orion stood stiffly to the side, a trickle of blood running down his neck.
My familiar had padded over to lay on the blood-soaked floor beside me, her head resting on her paws.
Ace stood behind me, a silent wall of support.
“I don’t want to let him go,” I said.
“I know.” She squeezed my arm again. “But you need to.”
I shook my head.
“Let us help you.”
“But Paul…” I couldn’t leave him on the floor in a pool of his own blood.
“Let us worry about Paul,” Ace said. “We’ll take care of him.”
“It’s over now, Em,” Orion said. “He can’t hurt you anymore. He can’t hurt anyone.”
What? How could he say that? Orion spoke with such finality, like all our problems were now solved and this chapter had ended.
But I still had so many unanswered questions. Who was the third head of the snake? Was it Orion, Sley, Ace, Queen Titania, or someone else? Or was the naiad messing with me? What was the true extent of my powers? How was Mab my mother when the war ended so long ago?
Before I could say anything to Orion, Nala shot to her feet and growled. Her whole body vibrated as she faced the entrance of the cabin.
An old woman with a wrinkle-lined face stood in the open doorway. The hood of her long maroon cloak cast shadows across her face, but I’d recognize that piercing blue gaze anywhere.
“You have other things to worry about,” Hecate said.
Ace swore under his breath.
My arms tightened around my brother. The old hag didn’t know what she was talking about. What could be more important than my brother?
“You have a unicorn to kill.”