“I had a run in with your brother Adriel that’s going to leave some intense scars on my soul. I thought you were him. I didn’t realize he was a twin. Your face threw me off.”
I internally facepalm.Your face threw me off? Really, Vinna?
“Um...I know it looks like I’m here to start some shit, but I swear that couldn’t be further from the truth. I was just hoping for some answers, that’s all.”
“Where is my brother now?” Sauriel demands, and from the looks of things, he looks like he’s ready to fly out of his throne and hunt his twin down himself.
“He was in the Belarus area when I found him,” I offer vaguely, my eyes darting over to Becket and back again.
I don’t know if telling Sauriel that I ashed his twin is going to workforus oragainstus. Right now, I’m oh for one in thehey, by the way, I killed someone in your familydepartment, and this could go either way.
“Was?” Sauriel demands. “As in he’s gone underground again?” Sauriel bashes his fist on the arm of his throne and shouts something that sounds like a curse but in a language I don’t know.
“No...I killed him,” I state casually, hoping the fist bashing is a sign that he might be open to his brother’s death being a good thing.
Sauriel’s shocked gaze flicks up to me.
“That’s why it was such a shock to see you waltz through those doors. I’m sorry for that whole trying to kill you thing, but I promise it was just a case of mistaken identity.”
I cross my toes in my boots, hoping somehow Sauriel and the creepy eyed guy will be somewhat understanding. It’s not lost on me that neither of them have checked on the Sovereign. I’m not sure why Suryn and these two are awake when no one else seems to be coming to, but by the stars, I hope they’re in a forgiving mood.
“You killed Adriel?” Sauriel asks, his voice a disbelieving whisper.
“I did.”
“You said you breached our protections to get some answers, what did you mean by that?” Creepy Eyes asks me, his features contemplative.
I debate for a moment where to begin with my story. “I’ve been told that I’m a Sentinel, but no one seems to know exactly what that means...including me. I thought for the longest time that somehow I was the last to exist, and then I found out that I wasn’t. I’m trying to figure out what all of this means. Who I am, and why I can do what I can do.”
I pause for a moment, not sure what else to say.
“We’ve all been making the best of a difficult and confusing situation, but I’d hoped in coming here, that we could stop navigating in the dark. If I had known you would just try to kill us, I wouldn’t have come.”
Another groan pulls everyone’s attention away, and Ory’s wings flex slightly as he fights to regain consciousness.
“The dispatch for death was not unanimous. In fact, it was only supposed to be executed if you posed a threat,” Creepy Eyes states, and then he turns his weighted gaze to Suryn.
“Tawv, did you not see what she did here? She clearly is a threat,” Suryn offers in response to Creepy Eye’s scrutinizing gaze.
I growl at Suryn and take a threatening step forward. I’m probably not helping myself here, but her casual disregard for the lives of the people I love is clouding my good sense.
“Bullshit. My Chosen were unconscious when you dropped from the sky. It was six of us against more than two dozen of you.”
“Seven of you,” Ory corrects, pushing his long black hair out of his face as he shakily gets on his feet, like somehow my count being off by one really makes any difference.
I don’t correct him, not wanting to point out that Vaughn is basically a catatonic puppet that couldn’t raise a hand to defend himself on his own, let alone attack them.
“It doesn’t matter anyway, they sustained no casualties and the fighting stopped when Suryn marked some of them as Chosen,” Ory states while dusting himself off.
He misses the subtle shaking of Suryn’s head and the death glare she shoots him when he doesn’t zip his lips the way she’s silently communicating she wants him to do.
“What?” Sauriel yelps and turns on his daughter, his eyes demanding an explanation.
I wonder why she called my Marked possefilthwhen her own dad is a lamia Chosen. You’d think she’d be more understanding of Sentinels that were created and not born.
“How?” Sauriel demands when she doesn’t immediately explain.
“I don’t know, I moved to slice one of their throats. As soon as I touched him, my light sparked. I couldn’t control it.” She pauses, dropping her eyes away from Sauriel’s like she’s ashamed. “Do you think Wekun would remove—”
