“Before Beaumont let me go, Seb gave very clear instructions to not return with you,” Kohen deadpanned.
“Who cares. He’ll get over it,” I snapped.
“I promised,” Kohen clarified with a shrug.
“I. Don’t. Care.”
A scowl took up a lasting residence on my face. Though we weren't together anymore, I still cared about Sebastian more than I did myself—more than I did most people in this world. My stomach lurched as I recalled what I said to him when he told me there was another journal. Together or not, ifthatwas the last thing I got to say to him?—
“We need to go back. Beaumont will kill him.” My chin began to quiver, so I clamped my teeth together. Not now. I wouldn't lose my composure quite yet.
“They won’t kill him.” Sawyer sounded unsure as he began his own pacing ritual, running a hand through still damp hair.
“Is that a risk you're willing to take?” I sneered, repeating his own words back to him.
His eyes narrowed on me in a testing glare. “For you, yes.”
I can’t lose you.
My lips sealed tightly together.
I wouldn't survive it.
“Where’s Archer?” Kade groaned into his palms before running them down his face to reveal an expression that exhibited nothing other than stress.
“He’s with Venay.” Pia sniffled into a handkerchief, using it then to gently dab the corner of her eye.
“She’s already back?” I returned to my feet. “When did she return?”
“This morning,” Delani answered almost silently.
“How did I miss this?”
“I suspect because you’ve been too worried about Hawthorne to pay attention.” Metal rattled as Kade unbuckled his chest plate, tossing the armor to the side of his chair. “Did she find any survivors?”
Pia nodded. “A few. They are questioning them now to make sure they can be trusted. Venay is using her weird blood, pulse tactic. I dunno. She only checked out a few of the villages though. Draemornian soldiers were everywhere.”
Looking for me, I assumed.
“She said everything that she saw was essentially just runes.A shell of a kingdom, she called it,” Delani added. “I think some smaller villages survived, but Craterra was for sure destroyed.”
That plan would have to be set on the back burner for now. Of course I wanted to help any Caelestians we could, but with that new information, it seemed unlikely there were many left to help.
Rationally, I knew that Caelestis’ situation was not entirely my fault—though I was undoubtedly a very large factor. Regardless, the self-accusation in my cerebrum could not be rerouted.
“I’ll head to the interrogation room to let Archer know we're back and tell him what happened. The rest of you should get some rest.” Kade rose, dragging a hand over the stubble on his chin before sauntering towards the exit.
“No. We can’t waste any time. We need to go backnow. Please,” I begged at his departure, my eyes locking with Sawyer’s for all of a second. I couldn’t stand the thought of what Beaumont would do to Sebastian—the idea made my body feverish.
“We will,” Kohen assured me with a softened version of his eyes. “But we really need to think about this. There's no room to screw up. They will be waiting for us to return—not to mentionwe killed the Draemornian soldier that Beaumont sent back with us. That surely won't go over well.”
“We have to find a way to get in without being seen,” Sawyer explained. “We have some time, I think. Not a lot, but some. We need to really think about this.”
I sank back into my chair where I promptly shoved a finger into my mouth, my teeth chattering on the already splintered nail. “What do you think they will do to him?” My words were so subtle that I barely heard them myself.
“Don’t think about that, Maeve,” Pia advised, her eyes finally dry.
She and I both knew that was not a plausible request.
