I hurried to Gall’s side and whispered into his ear, doing my best not to draw everyone’s attention to him, and what he’d already given over to this enemy.
“Gall, I know it’s frightening. But we have a lot of strong men here. If she falls, we’ll catch her.”
“He’s going to hurt her. He won’t let her fall safe.”
“We can’t let him control us with threats. We can’t listen to him—when we do, things only get worse.”
Gall turned to look at me then, and his eyes…dear Lord,his eyes were green.
I blinked. “Gall,” I breathed.
Those beautiful, emerald green eyes welled with tears. “I don’t want to lose her, but I can’t go back.”
“Don’t. Don’t go back, Gall,” I whispered. “Stay strong!”
“But, if he kills her—”
“He can’t.”
Gall looked up at his precious mate, his face turned down in a frown. “I saw something when they were all leaving me.”
I blinked. “Leaving you? Who left you?”
“The… the others. The ones he connected me to. When I told him to leave me alone—and I meant it—it… broke the ties he used to bind them to me. They all died, and I can’t feel them anymore.”
“Feel them? You mean—”
“The power he gave me, it came from all of them. I could use their strength, and they would hear me if I called them. They’d help me.”
Oh, dear God. I put a hand on his shoulder. I had no idea. “Gall, that—”
“When it broke, Lucifer screamed, and he said… he said,he’ll never give up the girl.”Then my simple, sweet, loving son turned and looked me straight in the eye. “I think… I think that’s the only way. But I don’t want to do it.”
“What? What’s the only way, Gall?”
His chin trembled. “I think the only way to win is to… to love her, more than I’m afraid of him.”
“What?!”
But, without further explanation, Gall turned away from me, and took a few steps forward, yelling as he went. “Izzy! Izzy! I love you!”
“I know!” she called back to him. “I love you, too!”
“I’d climb trees for you, Izzy!”
“I know!”
“I’d give you my food, even when I’m hungry—you know that, right?!”
“I know!” she gasped.
Back and forth they called. I was confused. But just as I would have broken in, Yilan screamed in my head.
‘We need to remove the light! Get rid of the light! She can shadow walk—and he can’t see us when we do!”
I jolted, but Yilan had already turned and yanked Diadre and Jhonas to face her. None of them spoke—except in their minds. Then the picture bloomed in my head…
The room going dark. Yilan would prepare Istral. When things went black, she could shadow walk out of his arms, and to us.
