“Are you seriously saying I should let her have him?” I panted. “She’llkill him, Malakai!” I wanted to shove him, but I fisted my hands at my sides.
“She won’t.”
“Look at what she did to you.”
“But she didn’t kill even me.” He pivoted to stand in front of me, blocking my way into the foyer. “And I was an outright threat, a symbol of betrayal, while Tolek is only a pawn to her.”
“Torturing him is okay, as long as she doesn’t kill him?”
“He’ll survive it,” Malakai said—and it almost sounded like a reassurance for us both.
He was right. Physically, Tolek would survive it, but the damage it would do to his soul wasn’t worth it.
“I’m going.” I stepped around him.
“Ophelia, stop.” Malakai gripped my arm, and the delicate control I had on myself slipped.
“Let go of me!” I shouted, voice high and tattered, as I ripped out of his grasp and charged toward the stairs to my suite.
I needed to leave.
The walls were pressing in.
How long had she already had him? How much time did I have?
“If you give yourself to her, she’ll kill you both,” Malakai called after me, and I froze.
“I’d never allow that,” I replied without turning. Spirits, it was hard to draw breath.
“You can’t charge in there on your own. Not without a plan.”
I had a plan and it involved slaughtering Kakias and everyone who stood with her. I didn’t know how I’d find them, how many of them there’d be. The odds weren’t good, I’d admit it, but I couldn’t leave him. Not without trying.
I gripped Tol’s dagger against my thigh, clenched my eyes, and focused on breathing.
Once the world was spinning less, I turned back to my friends scattered throughout the foyer waiting for me.
“It’s not what he would want.” Malakai’s voice had lost its edge.
That argument stuck between my ribs, guilt welling around it. Tolek would certainly not want me putting myself in danger to save him. But he’d do it for me.
“What do you propose then?”
Malakai’s jaw opened as he blinked up at me, but he shook off the shock that I’d asked. “Stay here. She won’t kill him. You know she won’t. We’ll get him back eventually.”
Eventually. The word was a knife to my heart, carving out the pieces I was realizing I needed most.
“Malakai is right.” Barrett stepped beside his brother, who grimaced but didn’t protest. “My mother will not kill him unless she gets something out of it. You can’t play into her hands.”
I’d always been on Barrett’s side, but now I wished I hadn’t let him stay. I chewed my lip, taking in every expression turned up to me, from defeated to disgusted, and landing on Cyph. “What do you think?”
He dragged a hand over his face, head falling back, utterly crushed. “It goes against every instinct in my body,” he sighed, “but they’re right. You can’t go. We’ll make a plan and send a party after him, but we need to be smart about this.”
My bones were heavy, holding myself upright becoming harderwith each breath. What was left of my strength leaked away at the realization of what we were doing.
Nothing.
We weren’t doing anything to rescue Tol, though he had rescued me in more ways than one.
