Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
Sorin
The longer we stay at the Jade Guild, the more I realize just how small the rooms are. The six of us fight for space around the small table in the conference room. The same room I met Thaddeus in just a couple of weeks ago where I once marveled at the beauty of the greenery and openness, only now it feels stifling.
“We can’t stay here long,” Agnes says. “ None of us.” She nods to Evren and Thaddeus across the table.
“You’re asking us to leave the Jade Guild?” Evren’s brows furrow. He and Thaddeus exchange a glance.
“If what Elora and Sorin say is true, Galen will know where Sorin is hiding,” Agnes says. “He knows of mine and William’s ties to the Jade Guild. He’s a smart boy despite this cruelty.” Agnes closes her eyes and takes a long breath. “It’s only a matter of time before the guards are at your doorstep, Thaddeus. Look at what he’s done to my home.” Her voice shakes on the last word, and I’m grateful for my sister who takes her hand, giving it a squeeze.
Agnes clears her throat and sips her tea. “He’s cornering us,” she says. “He knew burning Loxley would drive us out. Would drive us here .”
I run a hand across my stubbled jaw. I’m so used to taking the lead, I’ve almost forgotten where I’ve learned it from. Agnes glances at me across the table. “My mother is right,” I say. “He didn’t find what he needed in Loxley, so he’ll know where to look next. I’d be surprised if we have more than a few days.”
Thaddeus shakes his head, his gray eyes focusing on his lap. “We’ve been safe here?—”
“We’ve been hiding,” Evren says, sharp enough that his uncle’s gaze snaps to him. Their silent exchange sends a pulse of energy around the table.
Elora and Calix flank my sides and I can practically feel them tense.
“When Sorin showed up at the Jade Guild,” Evren continues, “we promised we’d make a change. Didn’t we?” Thaddeus remains silent but he nods. “The last thing I want to do is leave, but what other choice do we have, Uncle? Do we hold our ground and risk the lives of those we harbor? Do we fight, knowing the odds are stacked against us?”
Thaddeus sighs as he rubs his eyes. “We’ll do no such thing. Not without resources, anyway.”
“And where will we find these resources?” Elora asks. I slide my gaze to her, admiring the look of determination set in the sharp features of her face. “I’m not opposed to a fight.” This earns her a smile but she’s so focused on Thaddeus it goes unnoticed, so I brush the back of her hand with my knuckles under the table.
“You can stay at the Onyx Guild.” All eyes turn to Lord Calix. He straightens his shoulders, puffing out his chest. “We had planned for some of you to arrive anyway, we can certainly make accommodations for more.” He looks at me, perhaps waiting for approval, but I remain silent. The idea of moving everyone from the Jade Guild, including those from Loxley, all the way across the Trinity Forest and up the Kirsguard Mountains feels impossible. But I know my mother is right, there’s no other choice but to leave. “It will at least buy us more time,” Calix says. “If this Galen person is as determined as you claim?—”
“He is,” Elora says. “He won’t stop until he gets exactly what he wants, which is the Awakening Stones and me.” She bites her bottom lip, and I can see the thoughts swarming in her eyes. She sacrificed herself once before to save the Stones, I’ll be damned if I let her do it again.
I take her hand under the table and give it a squeeze which seems to snap her out of her thoughts momentarily.
She mouths “thank you” and it takes a great deal of strength not to lean over and kiss her.
“So, we’re all in agreement then?” Thaddeus asks, glancing at each of us around the table and one by one, we nod. “Then we shall head to the Onyx Guild in waves. Starting with the children and elders tonight. I don’t want to waste any more time.” Thaddeus runs a hand through his thin, gray hair. It trembles as he places it back on the table.
“We have failed you,” he says, pointing his attention to Elora and Sam. “We closed our doors to protect one but turned a cold shoulder to so many. This ends now. Our people will fight.”
“As will ours,” Agnes says.
Elora took the wolves out for a quick walk around the Jade Guild with Tallulah. Her presence has seemed to ease Elora and she insists she’s fine but my mind keeps replaying the bruises on her skin from our first night at the Onyx Guild. Yellow and purple marks made from him.
From Galen. My fist clench at my sides as I pace back and forth. Sam and Jarek enter the room without a knock or a hello.
“Why is it that you’re always pacing?” Sam asks with a chuckle as she takes a seat on the foot of the bed.
“Why is it that you’re always barging into my room?” I shoot her a glare and continue my steps.
“What is your problem?” She sighs, her gaze darting between me and Jarek. “Are you upset about the meeting?”
“No.” I sigh. “It was fine.” I collapse into one of the chairs near the fireplace. “I just can’t stop thinking about him. About what he did to her. About Loxley.”
Jarek joins Sam on the bed and the two of them pass a glance between each other. “Me too,” she says. “We’ve all lost so much, the thought of starting over is unbearable.”
Starting over.
“When Roman is off the throne, Valebridge will change. There won’t be any need for secret villages in the woods.”
Sam huffs loud enough to draw my attention. Her brows are furrowed and nostrils flared. “Loxley was more than a hidden place in the woods, Sorin. I thought you knew better than that. Maybe our people won’t want to live in Valebridge.” She throws her hands in the air, a deep blush creeping over her cheeks with her rising anger. “Maybe what they want is exactly what they already had.” Jarek moves his hand to grasp hers but she pulls it away.
“Maybe they won’t get a say,” I grumble and immediately regret my words.
Sam scoffs, rising from the bed. “So that’s how it will be? You’re on the throne and suddenly you forget where you came from?”
“Sam…” Jarek starts but with a swift look from Sam, he tightens his lips.
“Except I didn’t come from Loxley.” My voice raises along with my temper, and before I realize what I’m doing, I’m out of my chair and in front of Sam.
“You’re right,” she whispers, the crease between her brows now gone, a look of hurt replacing it. “You didn’t .” She brushes by me, bumping my shoulder as she goes.
My chest caves in on itself, knuckles whitening at my sides.
“That was uncalled for,” Jarek says once Sam is out of the room.
I spin on my heels and he’s already there. Behind me. Arms crossed and rage brewing.
“You’re angry.” He shakes his head. “You have every right to be angry, Sorin, we all do. But you don’t get to take it out on your sister. She’s been through enough.”
Taking a step backward, I pull my fingers through my hair. Of course I shouldn’t snap at Sam, she’s done nothing. She has lost everything, just as I have. “I…” I shut my eyes.
And if the people of Loxley choose to rebuild, why would I stop them? But the rational part of my brain stopped working the moment Elora fell into my arms, and now all I’m left with is this pent up anger, this betrayal from a man who was my best friend. The loss of my home .
“I feel as if I’m going to explode,” I admit, meeting Jarek’s gaze again. “How could he…” I refocus my gaze to the ground. My hands shake at my sides. Sharp pains thread through my chest where my heart has been cracked open.
My mind, a carousel of images I can’t shake.
Galen at the ball.
Roman in the hallway.
Elora’s bruises.
The scars around her wrists and the ink along her neck.
The ink she still refuses to tell me about.
“He betrayed all of us,” Jarek says softly, the frustration he had with me already diminishing. “All of that anger… All of that rage…needs to be let go.” He takes a step closer, his massive frame casting a shadow over me. “Hit me.”
“What?” Stepping back, I scoff up at him. “Don’t be absurd.” Though, the idea of hitting something feels rather tempting.
“I’m not.” Jarek shrugs. “You need to release those emotions, Sor, or they’ll eat you alive.” He pushes my chest, not strong enough that I budge but not light enough that it doesn’t send some primal fighting instinct straight to my brain. “Now come on, I can take it. Hit me.”
“I won’t,” I grumble, attempting to push past him. But before I make it far, his hand wraps tightly around my arm, shoving me back against the wall.
“Coward,” he sneers.
“Move.” I grind my teeth.
Jarek smirks. “Make me.”
A few seconds go by before I attempt to move around him again, but I’m unsuccessful as his arm blocks me. “There’s no escaping this, Sor. Let out that anger before it kills you or gets someone else killed.” With that, he leans into me further, the full weight of his body pressed against my chest. “Think of Elora. Think of the hurt she’s feeling. Your best fucking friend lied to you. Used you. You’re telling me you’re not angry?”
I tilt my head to the side, attempting to put as much distance between myself and his words.
The truth.
My best friend betrayed me. He betrayed her after she trusted him. He hurt her. Hurt Loxley.
My lip snarls, recalling the day he helped Elora with her magick. The day he led us right into a trap.
I think of Ruse and how we nearly lost her.
I think of the puppies and how broken Alaric would have been.
Heat rises to my cheeks and trickles down my neck, my hands beginning to pain from how tightly I’m clenching them.
“You know,” Jarek whispers, his palm still holding me steady against the wall. “Elora wouldn’t have been taken if it weren’t for you.” My body tenses. “Had you not convinced her to leave, she would still be at her cabin in the woods, living the quiet life just as she wanted.”
I know what he’s doing. He’s trying to get me to snap, and Mother-be-damned, did that just work.
“I’ll ask you again to step aside,” I say, clenching my jaw. He’s right. Galen betrayed me, but I brought her into this. I used her just as much as Galen used me.
I had a strong intuition that she was a Dyrsjel the day we met on the river. And I knew that if it were true, if she really was, only she could control the Stones and get Sam’s magick. Knew she had to have been from Valebridge. Knew she would be able to get me in unnoticed. I knew all of those things, and I fucking convinced her to come with me without a thought of how it might effect her life.
And I hate myself for it.
Jarek offers no reply, the pressure on my chest where his palm rests increasing slightly.
“Fucking move , Jarek.” The line between anger and violence is paper thin and when Jarek doesn’t budge, it withers as if it were never there.
Unclenching my fists, I shove him backward with as much force as I can muster. He stumbles, freeing me from my position against the wall.
“Do it, Sorin,” he says. “Let it out.”
I shake my hands at my sides and ball them into fists. All I see is Galen.
Before I can think any further, my fist connects with Jareks jaw with a loud crunch. He does nothing to deflect my punch, though I know he’s more than capable. Slowly, his head turns toward me. He runs a hand over his jaw before giving me a feral smile.
“Again,” he commands.
And this time, I listen.
Another punch to the opposite side of his jaw.
One to the stomach.
Another to his kidneys.
He stands like a statue, solid and unmoving as he takes hit after hit.
With each strike, that rage burning inside me lessens. Each strike, I envision Galen. I see the man who betrayed me. Who hurt me. Who hurt her, and I can’t stop. In one sick moment, the face I picture morphs again and I imagine I’m hitting myself for all the pain I’ve caused. All the years wasted and lives lost because of it.
Over and over, I throw my fists at Jarek, and over and over, he takes it. My body is drenched as I finally drop to my knees, attempting to catch my breath. Shakily, I bring my hands to my face, inspecting the blood and bruises littered across my knuckles.
I snap my head up to Jarek who waivers on his feet but remains standing. His face is bloodied, his right eye beginning to swell. Deep purple starting to set across his pale skin. A line across his lip where my ring cut into is thick and swollen as blood runs down into his beard.
“Fuck,” I whisper, pulling myself to my feet. “Jarek I’m so sorry.” My breathing is heavy, the exhaustion from the day settling upon my shoulders.
Jarek laughs, that deep bellowed laugh, as he grabs my shoulders, shaking me slightly. “You needed this,” he says. “The anger and rage would have been a distraction, we need our bastard leader back and this was the only way.”
Nodding, I scan his face again. No hint of anger lies there, but perhaps there’s a bit of pride shining through his blackened eyes.
“Let’s get you cleaned up.” I wrap my arm around his shoulder, ushering him out of the room. Though, we hardly make it out of the door before Elora appears.
“What—” Her face twists before her eyes narrow. She passes a glance between myself and Jarek, pausing on my bloodied knuckles. She lets out a long sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes.
“Why are men such idiots ,” she mumbles. “Come on, let's get you to Tallulah.”