“And you’re letting her live?” Lionel shot against him, his voice accusing. My pulse raced, fear of him hating it, the lack of understanding. If he wouldn’t accept Mey, he’dneverforgive me.
However, I also feared that Malakai’s patience was running thin, all of us shouting and questioning him. Usually, he hid his emotions well, but irritation was written all across his face by now, and his eyes had found their target on Lionel.
“Lionel,” I pleaded, my hand tugging at his shirt, but his eyes were locked on the Lieutenant, not me.
I felt something closing in behind me, as I saw Lionel’s eyes follow the movement.
“Yes,” Malakai answered, right behind me. “Last time I checked, I get to decide who lives or dies in my team.”
Lionel huffed low, a taunting smile appearing on his face. “So, you take responsibility for all of us when the Ashen Corps declare us traitors for harboring a mage?”
No.
You can’t mean that.
Please stop.
From behind me, an arm stretched out, a gun pointing straight at Lionel’s face, and I froze, as I was standing right between them.
“I can take responsibility right now,” Malakai hummed behind me. “Accidents happen, especially to those who don’t fall in line when told to.”
“Lionel,” I whispered, but he didn’t hear me.
“Mey’s a mage,” Lionel continued, voice sharp. “She was sick when I last saw her, on death’s door. Now she looks alive, almost better than I’ve ever seen her… so tell meLieutenant, how do you know a demon hasn’t possessed her?”
My hand gripped his clothes hard, my hand trembling. Malakai cocked the gun, the clicking sound echoing in the air, and I began holding my breath.
I knew, because I had seen it and I had felt it myself. The relief once the magic was let out. How my fever had evaporated once I let my flames dance wildly. I wanted to tell Lionel, I wanted to share the feeling with him. How my fears of the powers taking over had subsided. Tell him about my shame, that I still felt guilty for having theabilities, for hiding them from him all this time. I wanted to tell him, I wanted to—
“We should kill her, just to be safe.”
My hand stopped, as my grip slipped, my hand falling to my side. It was as if his words had cut my hold of him off, shoved me to the side. Even if he didn’t know about me specifically, it was as if he had denied me as well. He wanted nothing to do with mages—they were unpredictable, unreliable and deceitful. He was right, I had lied to him all this time, I was no better than his hateful words.
But it hurt.
Godsdamn, it hurt.
Because it washim, it was Lionel. The man I’d had a crush on since forever, and would never be able to confess to because of this moment right here.
My shoulders sank, I felt like I could disappear without even caring.
“I say she stays alive, so she does,” Malakai deflected, his voice firm, like usual.
“Then what? She turns on us? Gets us all killed?”
“Stop it,” I whispered, weakly, my hand nudging carefully against Malakai’s wrist instead, hoping that he’d spare him. “Please.”
“I thought our mission was to control the border, kill the mages that had crossed it and report back?” Lionel continued, voice rising in anger. “But this? It’s suicide, and sparing one mage won’t change that.”
“That’s my sister you’re talking about,” Nate shouted through his teeth.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Lionel said, his cool eyes looking at Nate, as if the execution had already been carried out.
I felt Malakai’s hand tensing, his finger moving around the trigger, itching for it.
Lionel’s hand wrapped firmly around my wrist. “Let’s go home.”
I ripped out of it, staring into the ground.
