Chapter 39
Quinn
Iwasn’tsurehowlong I’d faked unconsciousness, but crashing booms dragged me back. The cage was gone, and women climbed onto the ring.
The sounds of fighting erupted around me.
Everly came to my side looking like she wanted to wrap me in her arms, but unsure what part of me didn’t hurt.
“I’m alive,” I croaked, forcing a smile. “What’s happening?”
“We came to see you,” a woman a few years older than me said. A simple brown tunic and pants hung off her shoulders, and her short, light-yellow hair glowed. “This was supposed to be about free will. It’s not. We see that. We couldn’t just watch.”
Her words echoed my own doubts back at me, but instead of draining me, they filled me with strength. I memorized her face before looking at the others. The woman I’d seen between Seth and Hero stood just behind her, her large expressive eyes echoing the first woman’s statement. Some nodded, some looked around wide-eyed, while others murmured words too softly for me to make them out.
They were all here for me because I could make a difference.
Everly snapped her fingers. “What she said. But now there’s fighting everywhere, and we’re in the middle of it.”
“Let me through, now. I do not want to hurt you,” Cayden snapped off to my left.
“Oh, thank God he's here.” Everly wrinkled her nose. “I never thought I’d say that about a Lawson.”
She made a path for Cayden.
“Heal her. I’m going to organize these bitches,” Everly commanded.
“Why else would I be here?” Cayden growled, though his attention was already on me, while Everly addressed her recruits.
I reached forward and hugged my best friend around my injuries. “I didn’t want to kill her.”
“You didn’t,” Cayden said softly. “She couldn’t live without her tree.”I wasn’t sure I believed him, but it eased the guilt clawing at my chest.
Everly clapped. “Balls of magic, yes! Even weak ones distract.”
A yellow orb smacked a man; he yelped.
Everly grinned. “New plan, target dots!”
The crash of steel against steel answered her, men bellowing, women shrieking, the chaos of The Pit pressing closer as the fighting spread through the stands.
Cayden gingerly positioned my leg so that he could draw on the spot behind my knee. Despite everything, a shiver went up my body from the contact.
Our gazes locked, both of us remembering our shared dream that was anything but a dream.
“I want that,” I said.
Cayden squeezed my now-almost-healed knee. “Me too.” He looked down at my side and peeled back some of the leather. “We’ll make it out of here, Quinn. And the next time will not be a dream for either of us.”
Dots of Everly’s blood-red magic blinked over the men’s heads, faint but deadly markers as they battered the raised platform. More appeared in the distance. Ravana slipped to Everly’s side, pointing out her allies while more and more women grew bold enough to pick targets and throw.
The pain behind my knee vanished.
“Can I stand while you do my hand?” I asked.
Cayden brushed his fingers across my side. “I was going to do your side next, but yes, if you can manage the pain, just don’t start throwing magic around. No matter how much you have built up.”
It was a lot of power, but with Ezra’s help, I’d taken the edge off. I agreed and slowly rose to my feet.
