I stepped forward, grinning as my own eyes welled. “You’re okay,” I said under my breath, like I needed to reassure myself. “You’re alive.” I forcefully blew out a breath, hardly believing he stood before me uninjured.
Leif untangled himself from Lana and held out his hand. I grabbed it, tugging him closer, and froze.
My smile fell as fear tightened my chest and my stomach dropped. I let go of Leif’s hand, reaching for Lana. “Lana, get back.”
She turned to me and then looked back at Leif, whose arms returned to his side. He frowned at me. “Ian?”
I pulled Lana behind me before gripping Leif’s arm and shoving his sleeve up higher.
What should have been a moment of joy and gratitude lay ruined in an instant.
“No,” Lana whimpered. Her expression transformed from shock and confusion to one of pure outrage. Though it was impossible to hide the despair there too.
Her voice shook, tinged with anger and pain. “You had better have a damn good reason for that mark on your arm.”
As she spoke, her eyes rested firmly on Leif’s arm and the black mark designating him as a dark one.
Chapter 20
Lana
“Why, Leif?” My voice trembled along with the flurry of emotions coursing through my veins.
Anger. Hurt. Devastation. I’d lost another friend to this evil, and I wasn’t sure how many tears I had left to cry. These losses were too many.
“No! Wait, Lana, I can explain.” Leif took a step forward only for Ian to pull out his blade and hold it against his friend’s throat.
I didn’t miss the way his hand trembled as he clutched his weapon harder. The way he tried to keep his voice calm and steady, but instead it came out uneven. “Do not come near her.”
I lowered my hand to Apollo, now resting on my thigh, feeling the cool hilt between my fingers. I’d purge Leif of the darkness haunting his body. He couldn’t be trapped like this. Ian couldn’t handle losing someone else. Fates knew I couldn’t either after losing both sets of parents, and Elisabeth. And Kalliah—I couldn’t even think about the devastation she’d endure knowing he stayed behind and turned into the very evil we were trying to destroy.
Leif put his hands up in the air in surrender. “Hold on, just watch,” he said, lowering his arm.
I inched forward, earning a glare from Ian as I unsheathed my dagger. His eyes widened before nodding once, understanding my intentions.
Leif produced a cloth from his pocket and rubbed hard at the dark one's mark on his arm. I watched the ink faintly smudge.
“It’s not real?” I gasped, hope filling my voice.
Leif grinned as Ian tentatively lowered his weapon.
“Of course it’s not real,” Leif retorted. “I just came up with a way to fuck with them. One that allows me to get around as I please to get the information I need. It took a long time to get it right and be able to pass for a real one, but I finally figured it out.” He shoved the cloth back into his pocket and started mumbling to himself, “Going to take forever to fix that.”
My whole body relaxed as the tension released from my shoulders. I rubbed my neck to work out the last bit of ache in my muscles. Where were those damn shadows when I needed them?
“That’s—” Ian paused, shaking his head before he laughed. “Ingenious.”
Leif bowed his head, flourishing his hand dramatically. “Thank you, Captain.”
Ian finally put his sword away and pulled Leif in for a hug. “Fates, I’m glad you’re safe. I really didn’t want to have to hurt one of my friends.”
Leif opened his mouth to say something, but a shout interrupted him.
“Boy,” Tommy roared as he stormed back into the main area. “I told you to stay out of my kitchen. You’re a magnet for disaster.”
“A magnet you adore though, right?” Leif asked.
Tommy huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you weren’t such an integral part of this resistance, I’d have kicked you out the first time you thudded through my door.”
