His hands were cuffed. A rope wrapped around him and the post, restraining his arms so he couldn’t embrace me, but I didn’t care.
That spicy citrus scent caressed me, and I sank into it, losing myself to a reprieve.
I have him back. I have him back.
The mantra brought tears to my eyes, my breaths turning shallow as I tried to stifle them. I must have repeated it out loud because Tolek whispered against my ear, low and soothing, “Easy there. I’m right here.”
I pulled back, assessing him. Bruises littered his torso, a purple one dotting his cheek. I couldn’t see any new scars, but as I ran my hands over his ribs, he winced.
My eyes snapped up to his. Where I expected to see the sting of physical pain, I instead found reluctant anguish.
“What is it?”
“Hell Spirits…” His head dropped. “You shouldn’t have come.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not quite the gratitude I was hoping for,” I teased, retrieving my dagger and sword and slicing through his ropes. I inspected his handcuffs but couldn’t see a keyhole anywhere to pick.
“You know I’m always happy to see you, Alabath, but I’ve neverbeen more frightened about it than I am now.” His voice held none of his usual mirth. “Didn’t you realize it’s a trap?”
“Of course, I realized that.” Didn’therealize I’d stop at nothing to save him?
“Then, why are you here?” Loathing snaked into his voice, and for a moment it stung. But then, his eyes fell to the cuffs around his wrists, and it hit me. That shame wasn’t directed at me. Spirits, it wasn’t even directed at Kakias.
It was athimselffor getting caught.
Tolek had been raised with undeserved blame on his shoulders, and I was still learning to pick apart the pieces of him that he used to hide it from the world. Deep down he warred with the guilt his parents had shoved on him since birth.
Didn’t he see he was more than that? He was the brightest source of light in my life. Teasing stares may mask how he really felt, but there was no hiding from me.
I gripped his chin, turning it toward me. “Because I don’t care what youthinkyou deserve, Vincienzo. I would never leave you here.”
Saying those words aloud unlocked a latch within me, some small shard of my heart sliding back into place.
It seemed to do the same to him. For a moment, I watched my words sink in, lifting spots of that loathing, disbelief unfolding in its place. His face brightened beneath the bruises.
Tol’s eyes dropped to my lips, and his own parted.
But he didn’t get to speak, because boots thundered outside the tent.
“You know,” a familiar voice scolded as the tent flap swept open, “I told her this plan would never work.” Aird stepped into the dim space. My gut curled when I saw Angelborn in his hand. “But I suppose I overestimated your intelligence, Miss Alabath.”
Tolek cursed beneath his breath, stepping closer to me.
I hadn’t asked who was responsible for his capture. I’d assumed it was only Kakias. But I supposed the enemy you knew was not always the greatest threat. It was those lurking in the shadows who wielded the sharpest knives.
“Aird,” I sneered, summoning my mask of Revered and stifling every other emotion. “It appears we both were victims ofoverestimation.” Aird raised his brows. “I wasn’t foolish enough to trust you after the Rapture, but I assumed you weren’t dim-witted enough to fall prey to Kakias’s scheming.”
The Mindshaper chancellor laughed, meandering across the space. Tol tensed, reaching for me, but he realized with his hands cuffed he’d only be in my way and dropped them.
Still, the look on his face turned more murderous with each step Aird took.
“You think I’m the fool?” the chancellor asked. “I don’t engage in deals unless I’m gaining more than the other. She’s promised me things you can never imagine.” Power emanated from him, practically blurring the space around his body.
I stood straighter to block Tolek, though both men towered over me.
“And what exactly has she promised you that made you turn against the rest of the continent so easily?”
A manic gleam entered his eye. He removed a small, jagged knife from his belt—the Mindshaper weapons, I finally realized. Kakias had them in her army, too.
