“If the gods kill me, they risk dying themselves,” I divulge, voicing the secret he should never know. “We are forbidden from killing each other.”
“You’re no longer one of them,” he accuses. “Why give up your power in the first place? If you hadn’t, you could just go get her!”
“If I’d done that, I wouldn’t even be in the equation. I would be like the rest of them, watching from the outside and only pretending to care about the outcome so no one knows we lost any mercy we may have had ages ago.”
“Fucking gods,” he sneers, looking at me as if I’m still one of them. I can’t even blame him.
“She’s in Windsheer, at the Frostburn Institute.”
“What? She’s at another institute? Then go fucking get her,” he demands.
“If it were that fucking easy, don’t you think I would have?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know why you do half the shit you do anddon’t do.” He emphasizes the last part of his comment, making sure I know he blames me for Briar not being here.
“I’m only telling you because I thought you should know. I’m working on getting more details, like finding out why she’s there, who is keeping her, and how we can get her back with us, but it’s going to take time.” The level of calm you can achieve when you know you don’t have any other choice is strange. Knowing thatif I do something rash or make a mistake could mean her death gives me an entirely new perspective.
“Is she safe? Are they hurting her?” Kage lets a little of his true worry slip to the surface. I hate that I can’t answer his question, even if it would only be for my own reassurance.
“I don’t have any details about her confinement. I’m still trying to confirm who’s behind it.” I’ve been racking my brain since Oaktar disappeared, going over everything she said and did to see if I missed any detail, or if she gave anything away that might help me understand why this happened, but the entire encounter is a blur. I know I’m not remembering all the particulars because I was too enraged to keep my head straight.
“Do you have too many enemies among the gods to even narrow it down? It’s not like they would have any other reason to take her other than to fuck with you.”
“It wouldn’t take an enemy to do this if having her would benefit them in some way.”
Kage shakes his head slowly in disgust, but then his head pops up, and he looks at me. “You can’t go, but I can.”
“You think they will just let you in if you knock on the door? That’s if you could get out of here. Syrinx would never agree to let you go. She’s already in a near fucking panic over losing Briar.” I still want to kill the banshee for dropping the wards and allowing Oaktar to come and go as she pleased, not that I believe a word she says.
“Make her. She’s afraid of you.”
“Yes, but she’s also desperate to win the fucking Undertaking.” I consider any leverage I might have to force Syrinx to release Kage, but the only thing that comes to mind is actually killing her, and I can’t do that now. It would leave me to deal with the Ivy and its role in the games, and that’s the last thing I want.
“You could make her if you really wanted to.” His words and the way he mutters them show how young and naive he is.
Instead of pointing it out, I tell him, “I will do whatever it takes to bring her back to me.”
“To us,” he insists in the same heartbeat.
I nod, but that’s all I can manage considering the circumstances.
“If going to get her isn’t your plan, then what is?” He crosses his arms over his chest as if he’s prepared for an argument.
I don’t have it in me right now to be evasive, so I tell him the truth. “I’m going to find someone in Frostburn to spy and report back to me. Then, we will at least know she is safe.”
Kage’s eyebrows rise. “That’s your big plan, to find someone to relay information?”
“If you have a better idea, I’m all fucking ears.” I spread my arms wide. Both of us are a breath away from snapping—probably on each other.
“I told you my idea. Get me into the institute where they are holding her, then I can spyandprotect her.”
I have to admit, there is merit to the idea, but I know Syrinx. She’ll never let Kage go—not unless I can give her something better in exchange. “I’ll see what I can do. Until then, quit fucking killing the other novices.”
The demon shrugs a lazy shoulder. He isn’t committing to anything. What a damn headache.
BRIAR
Ilook away when the male’s lids grow increasingly heavy. It may make me seem weak, like I let him win, but I’d rather be thought of as a weak prude than be party to their intimacy. I even think about getting up and trying to find another hole to camp in, but that would really seem like a coward’s move.
