“He trapped ussss! He gave ussss to a monster who pinnedussss insssside a wooden panel as if we were toyssss on display. For sssso long, we—”
“He was eight years old, a mere nothing in their time,” Amronth said.
I was grateful he’d intervened, but I couldn’t remain here while they argued. If I didn’t get to Fury now, it would be too late. I pushed to reach the gap that remained as far away as it had been when I left the ground. My guttural cries of anguish rang out, echoing around me, echoing back at me. Battering me from all directions.
Iasar flew closer, and the heat of his breath singed my face when he spoke. “Our eggssss died because of you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You lured ussss. Allowed him to take ussss, you poor, pitiful, wretch of a thing that sssshould be blassssted from exisssstence.” He sucked in another breath.
“I can’t make it up to you. I know this. All I can do is tell you I’m sorry.” I drew myself up, but I did not meet his eyes. I couldn’t because he was right. I hadn’t wanted to do it, but he’d worn me down, poking at me with his sword and his power until I wanted to rip out my hair and scream. Itwasmy fault they were trapped. “She needs me. I’m her shield.”
“Tempest,” Amronth whispered by my ear.
“Please help me.”
Iasar’s lips curled up at the corners before smoothing. “For her and thissss one time only, we will allow you to travel to her. Do not wasssste the time you are given.”
A flash, and I stood in my bedroom inside Weldsbane Court. Tempest lay on top of the blankets, and I mourned that Iwasn’t able to lie beside her. Not me, that is. My still bodydidlie with her, his eyes closed, his arms limp by his sides. I tried to travel inside him, to wake him up to this world, but I couldn’t slip past his skin.
My fury tossed one way then the other, completely unaware that I stood close.
Not exactly me. Only my spirit, brought to this woman by sheer will and the whim of the only remaining Eratis dragons.
Drask peered at me from his perch by the window, but while he might sense I was near, he couldn’t see me either.
I reached out and traced my fingertips down Fury’s cheek. Across her neck where her pulse throbbed in rhythm with my own. I’d marked this woman. Bonded with her completely. Fused my soul to hers so tightly that I doubted even the fates themselves could see where she left off and I began.
I might never get the chance to tell her I loved her again, but I could do this one thing for her.
Turning, I crossed the room and melted through the walls, seeking . . .
I flashed to the forest outside the building where three fae men crept along a trail stabbing its way between the trees. Landing squarely behind them, I kept pace, releasing a feral grin that would terrify everyone other than my fury. She’d laugh. Stroke my chest. And curl her finger toward me, urging my face down for a kiss that would melt the anger away.
“Remember,” one said. “We kill them quickly. No wasting time. No playing.”
“Really?” one sighed.
“Not too long.”
They all chuckled.
They reached the edge of the woods and paused, staring toward my mother’s estate. When they started moving again, darting along the edge of the tree line, I remained with them.
Until I roared and sent my threads out.
“Walk with me,” I hissed.
They didn’t startle. They didn’t turn. They didn’t hear my words spoken by a mouth on a body still trapped within the ether.
But my threads had been starved and were eager to feed. Their ends snapped around the men’s necks and tightened. While they clawed at them, I let my threads taste the fear and dismay drenching from their pores.
I garroted them, ripping them up from the ground while their feet and arms flailed.
Once they went still, I shot power at them and burned them until nothing remained but the taint of their ashes lingering in the air.
A sound to my right sent me spinning.
