Chapter 35 #2
“I’ll only ask one more time. And then I will dispose of you and find another soul to tell me what I want to know.” Rian steps forward. Shadows drag after him like smoke. “Where did you forge your weapons?”
“Why does it matter?” Lev’s voice burns with fury, though defeat weighs every word. “They made no difference.”
A pang hits my chest. Almost sympathy. Almost.
Rian’s tone sharpens. “Because when someone comes for my men, I make it a point to know everything. And trust me, Lev Ironheart, I will learn everything. One way or another, I will discover who supplied you, and they will be dealt with. The only question is: how many fingers will you have left to stroke yourself when I’m done? ”
The grisly, vulgar words churn my stomach. I reach for Ferria. Her hand is limp, clammy. A glance reveals her pale face and the horrified look in her eyes.
Jaxon clears his throat again. “Rian… You have an audience.”
The darkness stutters. Rian stiffens then tilts his head, silver eyes burning as they land on me.
Shadows skim his face, masking him for a heartbeat before slipping away, leaving a grim frown behind.
“How did you get in here?” His gaze pins me in place, as if he already knows it was me who breached his wall.
“Um, well…you see…” Jaxon rubs the back of his neck.
“What are you doing here?” Lev’s voice breaks.
The sound jolts me. I look at him, and my lungs seize. His eyes rake over me, disbelief and concern colliding with fear. Searching for wounds that aren’t there. Wounds my power erased.
“Don’t you dare speak to her,” Ferria snaps, stepping forward, body angled in front of mine. “Not after what you did.”
The air ripples. Shadows press tighter to Rian’s skin before going unnaturally still.
“What”—his head turns slowly. His eyes lock on Lev—“is she talking about?”
Ferria freezes, realizing too late what she’s revealed.
My heartbeat skitters into my throat.
Lev’s jaw works, teeth grinding. He ignores Rian. His focus rests solely on me. “You’re supposed to be safe in the cell. You should have stayed where I left you.”
Safe?
I bite the inside of my cheek to hold back my scream. I wasn’t safe in that cell. Not for a single second.
Rian’s whisper slithers on his shadows, reaching every ear. “You locked Elara in a cell?”
Lev’s face drains of color. “I did it to keep her from you.”
Is that true? Or is he just trying to save his own skin?
Rian’s chuckle is dark and dangerous. “Ah. So you were jealous.”
Lev’s cheeks redden. “Go fuck yourself.”
“Come now,” Rian murmurs, “both you and I know I won’t need to do that.”
His eyes flick toward me, the implication clear.
Heat prickles down my neck.
Jaxon’s sharp tone slices through the tension. “As fun as it is to listen to you two fight over whose dick is bigger, can we hurry this along? Some of us would like to learn who betrayed us so we can thank them properly with a beheading.”
Ferria and I gasp, but Jaxon doesn’t show a hint of remorse for his morbid words.
The muscle in Lev’s jaw tics. “I already told you. I don’t know.”
“Liar.” Rian’s snarl rips the air.
Shadows whip from his body, ensnaring Lev’s throat.
His head jerks back, forced to meet Rian’s molten stare.
“Fae have left your pathetic town alone for decades,” he growls, “and yet you tried to create a weapon to annihilate us. I want to know who told you about it.”
Lev’s nostrils flare, but before he can speak, Ferria blurts, “That’s not true.”
All eyes fly to her.
“What?” Rian snaps.
“Fae haven’t left us alone,” she fires back. “You demand more astlerium shipments every year. Because of you, men die in the mines to meet your king’s insatiable greed.”
Power pulses outward, rattling the air.
Rian snarls. “Shall you tell them the truth, Lev, or shall I?”
Lev’s cheek twitches. “Fuck off—”
Shadows cinch his throat. He thrashes, wrists bound, eyes bulging as spit flecks from his mouth.
A chill races down my spine as I watch Lev’s struggle, all while confusion grows in my head.
What does astlerium have to do with this? I deduced the human soldiers used it to create weapons…that it can somehow impede magic when combined with something they call Fae Fire…but what else am I missing?
Lev’s face mottles red, then blue. His chest heaves against the constriction.
I remind myself I shouldn’t care. He abandoned me in a cell. He chose to fight the Fae.
But then I remember the boy who defended me as a Kinless child. The boy who befriended me despite the prejudice of every man, woman, and child in Verdanthia.
The young man who first took my hand when we were walking home from a day collecting firewood. The man who kissed me on a starry, moonlit night after telling me he believed he was in love with me.
A childhood of memories filled with goodness and kindness screams at me to save Lev—to end this.
No matter what he did to me.
“Stop,” I croak, then clear my throat and say with more strength, “Stop, Rian.”
His silver eyes slide to me, deliberate, deadly.
“Please.” A hot tear slips down my cheek. “Please…stop.”
The shadows bristle in protest. For a heartbeat, I glimpse something soft in his eyes.
With a growl, he slashes a hand down to his side. The shadows recoil and retreat.
Lev crumples, gasping, hacking.
Habit urges me to rush to him, to heal his throat. But I don’t. My fists ball at my sides, grounding me.
But Rian isn’t finished.
“Tell her. Now.” His booming tone brooks no argument.
Lev lifts his head, throat red and raw. His glare is dimmed, but stubbornness smolders. Then—
“The astlerium was never mined for the Fae.”
Silence deafens my ears.
“What the hells do you mean?” Ferria reels. “I refined the metal myself. I put it on the damned carts to be sent across the continent.”
Lev’s lips form a hard line.
His eyes shift to me, and remorse finally reveals itself. “I’m sorry.”
A shadow cracks across his face, snapping his head sideways.
“I said,” Rian hisses, molten eyes blazing, “tell. Her.”
Lev’s body quakes as he rasps, “The Fae never requested we mine astlerium. The Elders lied.”
The words splinter through me, followed swiftly by denial.
“But the Aella eagles…” I mutter, remembering how many times the majestic birds soared across the skies, bringing with them the king’s latest demands.
“I don’t know what messages they brought.” Lev shakes his head, a fresh red mark blooming on his cheek. “But it was never an order for astlerium.”
I…I don’t understand.
Ferria has told me how difficult astlerium is to work with. Steel and iron are easier to obtain and mold. Why would the Elders condemn countless men and boys for the metal if it wasn’t to ensure our town’s protection from the Shadow King?
“Then what was it for?” Ferria’s voice rises as her hands start to tremble. “Why have I spent my adult life refining astlerium if it wasn’t to be sent to the Fae?”
Lev presses his lips together.
“These fools believed astlerium could be forged into weapons to condemn Fae souls to meet The Mother.” Draven’s voice cuts through the air, sudden and cold.
He steps from a ripple in the shadows, as if he’s been there all along.
He strides toward Lev and spits on the ground in front of his hunched form before adding, “They thought they could create an armory to defeat us in an upcoming war.”
My stomach drops.
Draven sneers. “But they were wrong.”
Lev bows his head, staring at the trampled ground beneath him.
Ferria’s face hardens. “Bastards.”
The truth sears into me that our lives—hers, especially—have been one colossal deception.
She’s worked herself to the brink of exhaustion more nights than I can count. Ferria believed what she was doing helped protect Verdanthia. It was all a lie. And the desolate rage in her eyes tells me she’s well aware of that fact.
“Yes, well…” Jaxon clears his throat. “Perhaps we can pause this discussion until—”
Draven cuts him off, twisting the knife of betrayal deeper. “Anton tells me you left your lover to your men’s fists. If it weren’t for her powers, she’d be—”
“WHAT?” Rian’s roar rips through the air.
The wall of shadows trembles, and those pulsing around his body whip into a frenzy until one lashes out and wraps around Lev’s neck.
Ferria yanks me to her side. We clutch each other as the shadow drags Lev into the air. His feet kick, and the ropes around his wrists are gone, freeing his hands to claw hopelessly at his throat.
“Rian, no!” Jaxon shouts. “Control yourself.”
The vortex around Rian picks up speed.
His blazing eyes are locked on Lev. “You beat Elara.”
Lev gasps. “N-no.”
The shadows constrict, tightening around Lev’s neck. His flesh bulges grotesquely.
“Rian, stop!” The words tear from my throat. “He didn’t beat me.”
Rian swivels toward me, his inhuman, molten eyes scalding. “You defend him?”
“I-I don’t want him hurt.” I lick my dry lips. “Please.”
This time, my plea falls on deaf ears.
“Do not worry, Sunshine.” His glare slides back to Lev. “I will defend you…even when you won’t defend yourself.”
The darkness billows out and engulfs Lev entirely.
“NO!” I scream, panic consuming me.
I try to rush forward, but Ferria holds me tight.
Jaxon shouts his own protests.
Draven stands silent, face unreadable as his friend chokes a man to death.
Magic sparks hot under my skin, desperate to act.
And then—an idea flares. Wild. Dangerous. My only chance.
I drag in a breath, send a prayer to Olyra that this isn’t a horrible mistake, and shout—
“I can save Darius!”