“Zak was right. We should have let him rip you apart when we had the chance.”
A desperate roar rips from Kael’s throat. A soldier charges toward Kael to shut him up, but he throws himself forward. Shoulder launching in a frenzied arc that uppercuts the soldier under the chin. All I hear is the sickening crack of bones before the dirty blonde soldier swipes at Kael with the back of his hand.
Kael drops to the ground.
“NO!” I cry, desperate to get to him.
The soldiers drag him back to his knees, blood and dirt mingling on his face, hair falling forward into his eyes.
“Let’s not get distracted here, children,” Maldrak says calmly. “We came to make a deal, did we not?”
The dirty blonde soldier leans down, whispering something into Kael’s ear, and his eyes dart to the rocky outcropping again.What can he see?
He shakes his head in defiance, but says nothing.
“We made a deal, didn’t we, nephew?” Maldrak pushes again, calculating, calm.
“Yes,” Kael grits out.
I whip my gaze to him.
What?
But he keeps his eyes ahead, fixed on Maldrak.
“Care to share what that deal was,prince?” The last word is thick with venom.
Kael doesn’t speak. His body is pinned in place, except for his eyes, still frantic, as they race between the rocks and Maldrak.
“Did we not make a deal for the Lightborne in exchange for your dear sister?” He mocks.
The air is stolen from my lungs.
I can’t fucking breathe.
What is happening?
“Well?” Maldrak probes.
There’s a long pause, and I can’t breathe. My chest rises and falls too quickly. My hands tremble in the chains.
“Yes,” Kael confirms. “We have a fucking deal,” the words come out like a rasp.
My gut roils. Its contents threatening to spill out.
“I wouldreallylove to hear you say it, nephew. Just so the Lightborne is clear about the terms.”
Kael swallows thickly, eyes darting, but he refuses to meet my gaze.
“Elyssara for Nalya,” he admits, and I unleash a scream that rattles the world.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT
KAEL
She screams—sharpand raw, the kind that doesn’t sound human.
The kind that rips the world in half.
