I take a deep breath and say as clearly as I can, “You can ask Baelen after it happens.”
Everyone relaxes. After another quick glance at Baelen, Macsen finally breaks into a grin and drops a kiss on my forehead. “Glad to have you back, sister. The army needs you.” He raises his voice. “Maybe now Commander Rath will stop raging around like a shadow panther with a sore tooth.”
Baelen snorts from across the courtyard. It’s a light reply, but it sounds forced. “Don’t count on it.”
He turns to set my ladies down, finally releasing them from the thunder. They stumble and flinch to the ground, disoriented, some of them flinging their arms over their heads because the last thing they remember was the glass ceiling about to fall on them.
My mother calls for help and other elves race from the house to assist my disoriented ladies. But once they’re back on their feet, they gracefully decline the offered hands, striding toward me. Reisha leads them. She hasn’t lost any of her elegance or stealth despite the mistreatment she’s experienced over the last month. She was always calm and intelligent, thinking before she acts. She pulls to a halt. Each female holds out her arm horizontal to her chest and rests her forehead on it. It’s the elven gesture of remorse.
Reisha speaks without raising her eyes. “Forgive us, Princess. We were unable to protect you.”
I’m aghast. “Against Grayson? Nobody could protect me from him.”Except Baelen…I look for him again, finding him even further away from me. Every time I look up, it seems he’s distanced himself even more.
“It’s our job to fight for you. To never give in to fear. We failed.”
I swallow my tears. I won’t let them believe that they failed me for another second. I’m the one who failed them. “Storm Command! Heads up!” I stride between their neat lines. “You have succeeded by surviving. You have protected me by staying alive. My heart would have broken if you hadn’t…” I swallow my emotions. “You have made me proud.”
I stop in front of Reisha. “Raise your eyes, Storm Commander. You owe me no remorse.”
Her voice catches as she swallows back her emotions. “What are your orders, Princess?”
“You will eat and rest, Reisha. All of you must regain your strength for the fight ahead. Go now and allow these elves to help you. You must be ready to fight with me when the time comes.”
As my ladies disperse, Mom takes my arm, leading me inside the House. I glance back to Baelen. He’s a silhouette against the falling dusk, watching me go. He doesn’t make any move to follow me before he turns and heads in the other direction. It seems like the freer we are, the more distant he becomes and it’s scaring the hell out of me.
Mom says, “I know you must be tired and hungry…”
“But I need to see Elise.” After the pain I felt when I thought she died, I’m desperate to see her, hug her, and reassure myself that she’s okay.
“She needs to speak with you. She’s been shaken and distressed ever since she got here, refusing to eat or sleep.”
Refusing to speak is one thing, but refusing to eat or sleep is another. I’m alarmed by this news. Elise was always the calm one, balancing out my emotions. It takes a lot to unsettle her this badly.
Jordan and Sahara follow closely behind us. Jordan says, “At first we thought it was because of the torture—”
Rage burns through me. Grayson told me the Elven Commanders were trying to get information out of her—that they went too far and thought they killed her. “Tell me.”
Jordan doesn’t soften the details, knowing I’d rather have the facts. “She arrived with burns to most of her body.”
My stomach turns. I will kill each of the Elven Commanders, slowly, one by one. Grayson can’t stop me anymore. I want to turn around right now, find them, and rip them apart.
Mom rubs my arms, a soothing gesture. “She’s okay, really sweetheart. Sahara and the other healers have been working on her for two days straight to make sure she is completely healed.”
That would explain why Sahara looks so exhausted. Her normally glistening silver-green eyes are dull, her shoulders slumped.
Mom continues, “But nobody can get Elise to eat. She won’t until she speaks with you.”
“Then take me to her right away.”
Jordan leads the way even though I know this house and all its rooms far better than any other place. If I wasn’t so focused on Elise, I would stop and take it all in. Being back in the Rath mansion is surreal after so long and everything that’s happened since I left.
We arrive at a guest room on the lower level. A healer sits beside the bed in the middle of the room, removing a dressing from Elise’s arm. “This is the last one, Elise.”
Elise catches sight of me and launches off the bed. “Princess!”
I run to her as she slips off the side of the bed before the healer can stop her, her knees buckling immediately. I race to her, lifting her into my arms. She’s far too light.
“Princess,” she whispers. “Is it safe to hug you?”
