Shock crossed Caelan’s face, followed by a bark of pain. We flew backward, my momentum carrying us at least a dozen yards back. Finally, we slammed to the ground, me on top of Caelan.
“HOW DARE YOU!” Magic thundered through the ground. Trees snapped and cracked under my power. Stones rumbled from the earth, massive ancient pillars of rock rising around us.
Caelan coughed up blood.
My hand was still tight around his throat, claws I’d never seen before dragging ragged gouges down the smooth skin of his neck.
“HOW DARE YOU!” I said one more time. My vision was misted in a fine haze of crimson. Dark hair streamed around me, floating in a wind I couldn’t see or feel.
“Evie,” Caelan wheezed. He stared up at me with wide eyes.
“DO NOT SPEAK, TRAITOR.”
A hesitant hand touched my shoulder. I stilled, squeezing my eyes shut when I realized it was Rowan.
“He tried to kill you,” I whispered.
“I know.” Rowan crouched down beside me, hazel eyes taking in my clawed hand and the spear buried deep within Caelan’s chest, along with the starburst black mark where the spear entered.
“Poisoned?” Rowan observed.
I nodded. Tears streamed down my face.
“Will it kill him?”
I nodded once more.
Rowan let out a breath and put a hand on my back. “Do you want to do this, Evie?”
Caelan bared his teeth. “She would not kill me.”
Rowan’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Look at my mate’s face, Lord, and tell me whether you still believe those words.”
Caelan blinked and met my gaze. The moment I saw him leaping through the air for Rowan’s exposed back flipped aswitch. Any love I’d ever felt for him died, dried up like a summer drought.
The ground rumbled once more. A wizened woman rose before me, carrying a glowing staff. She was old. Ancient. Her skin was the color of old bark and had the texture of an ancient tree.
“Daughter.”
I bared my teeth at her. “Busy right now.”
The crone’s gaze took in the scene. “I see that. If you kill him, you will reap unfathomable consequences upon your people.”
“I do not care,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Child,” the woman said quietly. “Of course you do. You no longer care for this man, but you care for your people, for the man beside you who will allow you to make whatever decision you think you must, no matter what hell it brings down around his head.”
I exhaled. “What do you want?”
“Is that any way to speak to a goddess?” the woman chided.
My dark look did not diminish. She laughed. “Very well. I have a proposal. It would solve your problem and one of mine.”
I scoffed. “You wish to bargain. Right now?”
“What better time than when poised on the edge of a knife’s blade?”
“Fine,” I snapped.
