So hewasstealing the jewel for a noble cause. Excitement sparked inside me before I realized he was probably lying.
“I...”
Lurena’s eyes widened, and then she studied Valen carefully. Her silvery eyebrows drew together, and she bit her lower lip.
The air crackled with unspoken tension—or maybe that was the magical energy from Lurena’s wand. A low hum, almost imperceptible, vibrated out from the gemstone atop the polished wood. A prickling sensation ran down my spine. Lurena might seem as timid as a mouse, but bears were timid too—until you got too close, and they mauled you.
Valen had finally crossed the distance between them. “I need you to trust me.”
After a long moment, Lurena lowered her wand, and the gemstone’s threatening light went out.
Valen exploded into movement. He ripped the wand from her hands and pushed her. She yelped, stumbling, and Valen yanked manacles from another pouch on his belt. He shackled her to the statue, one cuff around the pegasus’s stone leg. He moved so fast that I could barely follow him.
And he wasn’t finished yet. He wrenched the rings from her fingers and ripped off her necklace, snapping the delicate chain. Those magical crystals weren’t just jewelry; they were weapons in the fey’s hands. Valen tore off every piece and then strode away without a word, leaving Lurena shaking with shock.
I slipped through the shadows, catching up with Valen once we’d left Lurena’s sight.
“Did you have to attack her?” I hissed. “She wanted to help.”
Valen reached the fence and climbed. I jumped, gripped the cold metal bars, and scrambled up. Reaching the top before him, I carefully avoided the spikes and slid down the other side.
Valen landed beside me a moment later and immediately set off down the street. “It’s too risky. Lurena can never stand up to her mother for long.”
I ground my teeth. He could have at least given her a chance. Anger at his callousness coiled in my stomach, a knot of tension that constricted my breathing. She’d already seen him, so it’s not like shackling her to the statue would keep her from telling everyone who had stolen the jewel. I wanted to shake him, but then I realized that my anger wasn’t really on Lurena’s behalf.
I’d just watched Valen sweet-talk another woman, gaining her trust, only to turn on her. I wanted to believe I was different, that Valen wouldn’t manipulate me like that, but the truth couldn’t be more obvious if it bit me on the ass.
“Over there!”
“Stop! Thief!”
And now the guards had found us. This night just kept getting better.
Valen shoved the pouch holding the jewel into my hands.
“Go,” he ordered. “I’ll hold them off.”
I stared at him, feeling numb. Cold realization swept through me, a sharp contrast to the hot jewel in my hands. Valen’s gaze was so intense, so sincere, that I almost fell for it. My heart beat a slow, shocked rhythm against my ribs, each thud a painful reminder of the harsh truth that had settled upon me. He was setting me up to take the fall. The guards would chase the shining beacon I now held, while he could slip away, free as a bird.
“No.” I threw the pouch back at him. “I don’t want the jewel. I don’t want anything to do with you!”
And I ran.
Chapter 41
Valen
The world seemed to tilt beneath my feet. My chest constricted as if someone had wrapped iron bands around my ribs and was slowly tightening them. Each breath felt like swallowing broken glass, sharp, wrong, and impossible. The pain was so sudden, so complete, that for a moment I couldn’t move.
She was gone, vanished into the labyrinth of alleyways that twisted between the temple spires. She’d looked at me and seen exactly what I was—a killer, a monster who’d murdered his own brother—and she’d run. As she should. As any decent person would.
She’s better off without you, I told myself, the thought cutting deeper than any blade.Let her go.
“Spread out!” The captain’s voice echoed off the stone walls.
I forced myself to move, my legs feeling wooden and strange. If they caught us both, Emmeline would rot in a dungeon for the rest of her life. I couldn’t let that happen. Whatever she thought of me now, I could still protect her.
I stepped into the light where the guards could see me clearly, then bolted in the opposite direction from where she’d gone.
