“Ethalyn?” he asked, confused.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tears threatening to push through. “But I’m staying.”
Malakai’s gun slowly lowered at my words, as if rewarding me for taking a stand, sparing Lionel for now.
Lionel’s hands landed on each side of my shoulders, as he bent to meet with my eyes. “What’s wrong? Talk to me,” his voice grew desperate.
I met with his brown eyes, and no matter how much I wanted to tell him the truth, my heart couldn’t handle it. I already knew how he’d react.
He would hate me.
He would never look at me again.
He would turn his back on me forever.
So, like the coward I was, I kept it hidden once more. Because I couldn’t afford to lose him, I was scared of never seeing him again.
I was selfish.
“I want to talk to the mages.”
CHAPTER
21
The air felt heavy around us.
Lionel had not uttered a word to me since I told him I wanted to continue this plan. He had simply nodded, bewildered by my words, and kept close by my side. All his hate for the mages came from what he learned about them in Crowrun and from them murdering my parents.
Fog began to crawl around us in the forest, obscuring our surroundings. I heard Mey take a deep breath, her face focused. What was she doing?
“Relax, you’ll learn with time,” Nate interrupted as he patted her head.
“I want to be of use,” Mey murmured. “If I could manipulate the water in the fog, we could use it to our advantage.”
“Small steps,” Nate snickered.
Eve snorted, unimpressed and her grip around her rifle tightened.
“Easy there, being upset all the time will give you wrinkles,” Ashley teased with a taunting smile.
“I thought you hated mages,” Lionel whispered next to me, using the opportunity of their small talk to avoid having them eavesdrop.
“I…” I stuttered. The line had become blurred over the last couple of days. I hated mages, sure, the ones who were driven mad by the power and desires to become a tyrant, anyway. I glanced back at Mey; she hadn’t really changed at all since finding out what she was, and it helped change my perspective. I had been harsh towards myself, rejecting my abilities, hating myself for being one of them. But really, I was the one who determined how I’d use my gift. If I only used it to protect my friends and fight against demons, was I really a bad person for simply having powers?
“I hate those who kill for fun, those who look down on people without powers and ignore the real threat,” I continued. “That being said, there are people without powers who do the same towards the mages.”
“They call usungifted, Ethalyn, they all hate us,” Lionel scoffed slightly.
“We’re humans. Them. Us. We’re all humans,” I corrected firmly, trying to make him see reason.
He pressed his lips together, brows furrowing deep until a sharp line was formed between them.
“So, what’s the real threat, miss got-it-all-figured-out?” Lionel asked, a hint of mockery in his voice.
“Demons… but also humans.”
“What?”
