“Stop fighting, Thay, it’s me.”
All the air in my chest rushes out of me. My hands claw at the grass as I spit the metallic wad out.
I cling to the hands helping me stand.
“Lambrit. You shouldn’t be here.”
The slow rising sun provides the smallest hint of light and the confused features on his face have my mind whirling. He cups both of my cheeks, forcing me to look at him.
“What is happening?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know where we are, but you have to get out of here. Run.”
I try to shake my head, but he tightens his hold.
“Run…run where? Where is everyone? Rose, Yemi, Havar, Sevryn? Derivius? My Valtrue? Where are they?”
His lips tighten as he glances over his shoulder and nods. A shimmer flows through the air, revealing Havar, Rose, and Yemi. I huff a breath of relief until I notice how red Yemi’s eyes are.
I tug out of Lambrit’s grasp and in two strides, I have her wrapped in a hug. Her trembling body has me squeezing once before pulling back and gripping her shoulder.
“What’s wrong? What’s going on? How are all of you here?”
“I don’t know. The God of Chaos summoned all of us to your house. Everything happened so fast. One minute, we were there and everyone was yelling. The next, I know your Valtrue and…Sevryn…they…”
Panic clenches my heart as her mouth opens and closes repeatedly. I shake her, attempting to snap her back to reality as gently as I can.
“They what? What happened, Yemi?”
“Nero, Iric, and Doren said they were going to Valveilious, but I refused. I wasn’t leaving Sevryn. Then your Valtrue, they just left. They starshot out and he…followed. He left me. Now, fuck, I don’t even know how to get to Valveilious. I don’t—”
“Hey, hey. It’s okay. We’re going to figure this out. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Where the hell did my men go?
Why did Sevryn just leave her?
“No.”
I whirl around at Lambrit’s bark, and my eyes widen at the anger on his face. My head twists back toward Yemi as Havar pulls her out of my hands and tucks her behind him. Rose’s bottom lip trembles as she gives me a sad smile and moves toward Lambrit’s open hand.
“What…”
“Go.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re going to run.”
I swallow the lump in my throat and clench my shaking fists at my sides.
“Then we’re all going to run. We’re going to go—”
“No. None of us are going with you. We’re going to get somewhere safe until whatever is happening is over. The Godsdawn is on lockdown and your Valtrue has dove off the deep end. We’re staying as far out of this as we can from now on.”
My lip trembles as I stare into his unwavering but watering eyes.
“Lambrit…”
