“I’ve done what needed to be done. For my folks, dead and the living.” I breathe out.
Her glare is full of pity. “You have no idea of the consequences of your actions.”
The words bring me into another time and the lid containing my power and my emotions snap, but nothing happens; there’s only the hunger consuming it.
I feel it eating on me.
“Take her to the cottage,” Aidon orders, his voice tight and his eyes flickering with unease. Jestin lifts me effortlessly.
“Allow me,” Riven says, his deep voice low, pointing at his wings. Jestin hesitates before reluctantly passing me into his grasp.
At this point, I am a trembling mess and have no say.
“She overdosed,” Aidon says quietly, then falls silent, as if speaking to himself.
“Sels… what?” Jestin recoils, his voice sharp.
“It shouldn’t work,” Aidon mutters, his brow tightening. “It’s just a root.”
Jestin gazes at me, grief written across his features.
“How many bloodlines have significant blue hair?” Riven asks, breaking their trance.
Three. Lake nymphs, bridge trolls, and Argos line.
I see it in their faces, a sudden shift, a dawning realisation, but I cannot tell what it is.
“What are you thinking?!” I snap, though I’m not certain my words are coherent as my teeth clatter.
The silence drags like a Solstice sermon, and I don’t know if they answer, as Riven raises into the sky and I drift off, soothed by the gentle wind and the steady beating of his wings.
Chapter 24
“I should have nicknamed you Trouble, not Minx,”Aidon’s voice resonates in my mind, the first lucid thought to break through the haze.
I snap my eyes open and jolt upright. All three of my companions drag chairs inside and settle into the small space of the bedroom.
“Here, drink this. It should help.” Margorate offers me a weird-looking tonic.
I glance at Riven for reassurance.
He nods once, so I pour the mixture down my throat. It burns, but my body begins to settle.
“I restricted the apprentice. Are you considering it treason?”she asks dryly. It’s strange how only now, after what she’s done, she seems suddenly concerned about our alliance.
What she’s done.
What I’ve done.
What…
I look at the males; their faces are more haunted now. Aidon smiles, but the grimace is strained.
“No, she isn’t,” Jestin answers for me, and I’m not even upset.
Not after how I acted.
“Care to explain what happened?” I ask, though my voice comes out raspy and weak.
