Dray licks at my throat and Beaufort pulls me up onto my feet, dragging me closer and examining my skin. He skirts his thumb against my pulse point.
“Grazed, just grazed,” he says, laying a kiss there next. “I knew he couldn’t be trusted,” he mutters, “we should have been taking better care.”
I let him wrap me in his arms, hearing the reassuring thud of his heart by my ear.
“It’s always difficult the first time,” he whispers.
“What do you mean?”
“Taking a life. It’s one thing exterminating demons but when it’s …” He trails off.
“You’ve killed before?” I ask in alarm, stepping away from him.
“I’ve had to, Briony,” he says, his expression turning steely, “we’ve all had to. There are people in our realm who want us dead, who want to overthrow the Empress, who want to seize the throne for themselves.”
“So you killed them?”
“When such an act was necessitated,” Thorne says.
My legs shake so hard, I’m forced to sit on the floor.
Am I surprised? I shouldn’t be. The Princes have a reputation for being ruthless. All shadow weavers share that reputation.
I sniff and wipe my face.
Can I judge them? I killed that man to save myself and yet I don’t know for sure that my life was even in danger.
Would I do it again?
It had been instinctual. He’d lunged for my throat, sharp fangs bared and ready to strike, and I’d struck him before he had the chance, hit him with my magic. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t do exactly that if it happened again. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t have killed him if he’d gone for Dray’s throat instead, or Thorne’s or Beaufort’s.
And deep down in my heart, I know if it comes down to it, I will kill Bardin in order to save Fox. I will scorch her from this earth.
“We never pretended to be good people,” Beaufort says quietly.
“I know,” I say, “but I guess I was beginning to suspect that deep down you were.”
“We try to do what’s right,” Thorne says, “isn’t that what anyone can do?”
I nod. “Yes, I suppose it is.”
Beaufort holds out his hand to me again. I stare at it. Am I really going to pull back because of this? The world is far more gray than I ever realized it to be. Good people do bad things and bad people do good. It’s all about the overall balance of things. These men have treated me well, they’ve had my back; currently they’re trekking across the demon wastelands because of me. In balance, they have good hearts and that is all I can ask of them.
I take Beaufort’s hand and he pulls me onto my feet a second time.
Without another word, he leads me out of that room and back down to the hallway where Blaze is sniffing around in ourbelongings. We find he’s discovered our rations and gobbled most of them up.
“Great,” Beaufort says, frowning at the dragon who is currently licking his lips. “We’ve lost most of our food.”
“He was hungry and he’s a lot bigger than us,” I remind him.
“Maybe so, but we’re going to have to limit how much we eat if we want this food to last us until we return to our realm.”
“Okay,” I say.
Beaufort glances the dragon’s way. “Aren’t you going to tell him off?”
“No,” I say, “he rescued me from that demon. He deserves extra snacks.”
