Get back to Straelon. To Lyriat and the deal he promised, and you can hide away.
Her heart sank like a rock when she turned and found Brand stationed in front of the last door, arms crossed, the fabric of a new tunic stretched tight over his muscled chest. “Are you done?”
Power lurched in her fingertips unbidden, a rawness there she’d never felt. It seemed to count him as a threat, spiraling out of her control.
No, no, no. Not him, of all people.
“Please, Brand,” she begged, hands clasped in front of her. “I need to leave.”
“Luna—”
“Move. Now. For your own good.” She failed to sound commanding, the desperation in her voice doing nothing to help her.
“You would hurt me,mate?” Sisters, he sounded so?—
Anotherflashand Lunara’s knees threatened to buckle, her father’s growling voice assaulting her.“Would you touch another’s mate thus?”A blink and Malachyr’s answering, unapologetic smirk was there, the Tear Stone’s glow highlighting the demented twist of his features.
Tears sprang forth and Lunara shook her head, trying to dislodge the memories as she backed away. “Never,” she whispered. “That’s the point. Don’t you understand? I’m trying to protect you!”
“Protect me from what?”
“From myself!” she snapped.
The glass dome rattled as a wave of power battered against it, and she tried—blessed moons how shetried—to rein in her panic.
He reached out, taking a step towards her. “Your eyes…”
“Stay back!”
Lunara only threw a hand up to keep the distance between them, but Brand was suddenly plastered to the door, grimacing and unable to move. She gaped at the tendrils of white-hot magic snaking from her fingertips and snatched the traitorous appendage back with a gasp. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She kept repeating it as Brand hit the floor with a groan.
Hit the floor… Hit the…
Flash. The wet slap of sundered flesh. Her father hemorrhaging, Malachyr’s fist buried in his chest. His manic grin. The mangled mess of her father’s heart hitting the ground beside her mother’s throat and face. Malachyr’s laughter shrieking above the din of the screaming and screaming and screaming.
“No, no, no, no, no…”
Lunara’s back hit a wall. A frantic search showed her the open doors leading outside. The night sky beyond them. The promise being offered.
Oh, no. What are you doing?
Saving him. Savingeveryonefrom the abomination she was.
“Please, forgive me, Brand. I didn’t… I never meant… I’m sosorry.”
She waited only long enough to check that his chest was rising and falling, before sprinting for the balcony.
Climbing the balustrade, scraping her hands and knees as she struggled, there was nothing of herself anymore. She barelyfelt the stone beneath her bare feet once she was finally poised on top, didn’t sense the icy breeze.
The only thing that mattered was him.
Fionerys had said she’d make Lunara wish she’d never been born if she hurt him—this would save the Empress the trouble.
Because Lunarawouldhurt him. Maybe not right now. Maybe not in a week, or a month, or a year. But eventually, she’d be like the others. Would ruin his life in ways that didn’t bear consideration.
You don’t have to do this. Get to Lyriat and demand your payment.
