The general stood, his body rigid and mask firmly in place. “You sure fucking look fine,” he said, voice mocking. “Do you honestly expect to be able to run another ten miles in an hour?”
My muscles and lungs screamed no, every fiber begging for rest. But the urgency that had momentarily faded in the general’s arms—the same burning need that only grew stronger with each day I went without Aspen—flared back to life.
I lifted my chin. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Something flashed in his expression. Begrudging respect? Pride? Surprise? I couldn’t tell. And before I could make sense of it, it was swiftly buried beneath a layer of anger.
“Go to your rooms and rest.”
“What? But?—”
“This isn’t a negotiation, Hellion. Go. Lucifer has requested extra time with you. I’ll let your squad leader know you won’t be training today.”
“No.” I understood we missed my power training lesson, but I didn’t want it to cut into my time with the Tormentors. “I have to?—”
The general stepped closer and removed his shadows from my legs, cutting off my protest. I slumped into Rune, shaking too much to hold myself up. His shadows whipped around him chaotically before swarming back to me.
“Bed. Now.”
I opened my mouth.
“Nephilim,” he snapped. “Help her to bed and make sure Sam comes up to check on her.”
Oliver hurried to my side and wrapped his arm around my waist. The general watched us in silence as Oliver and Rune led me out of the empty arena, the heavy echo of our footsteps filling the quiet hallway as we entered the castle.
I gritted my teeth, understanding I needed rest, but having no patience for it. Frustration simmered beneath my skin, and I wanted to go back and lay into the general.
“This isn’t a joke, you know,” I snapped. “You can’t lusceler when it’s too hard to run. Did you happen to forget that the only wayinto Lilith’s kingdom is with Ember Manacles? Manacles that suppress our powers, Oliver. What will you do then?”
“The ten miles just stressed me out. I’m not good in the cold, Luce, and you woke me up in the middle of the night. Torun.”
I scoffed. “So if it’s too cold or in the middle of the night, you’ll leave your sister to what? Suffer at the hands of Lilith until it’s a balmy seventy degrees and just after lunch?”
Oliver let go of me, forcing most of my weight onto Rune.
“And what about you?” he said, his emerald eyes flashing with fire. “Are you going to push yourself until there’s nothing left of you?”
“I’m getting stronger!”
He shook his head. “You look really strong right now, Lucille.” He jabbed a finger toward me, each word sharper than the last. “If you didn’t have me or Rune, you would’ve been dead from hypothermia at the bottom of that hill. How many times have you pushed yourself to the point of passing out? Today was the first day without me, and you didn’t even make it through the door. Anyone else would’ve left you out there to suffer or die. You can only push yourself so far.”
I couldn’t believe I was hearing this.
“We need the general’s favor if we have any chance of helping Aspen or Melanie! The only way we do that is if we rank!”
“Yeah, fine. But you need a healthy stopping point.”
No. There was no stopping. Not until Aspen was beside me.
“What I need is for you to take this seriously and stop complaining. It’s no wonder you haven’t rescued your sister in ninety-five years.”
Oliver jolted as though I had struck him, the hurt snuffing out the flames in his eyes.
“Rune can help you to bed. You can find someone else to carry your unconscious body up the hill,” he said, turning away.
I reached out, my voice catching. “Wait. Oli!”
He shrugged off my hold, walking away without a backward glance.
