A despairing pain ripped through her, knocking the breath from my lungs and almost sending me stumbling back.
“You promised!” the hellion screamed, storming toward him. “A night and a day.”
The invasive energy, which I wished to seize and wrench from her body, snaked through her crushing emotions, heightening them. It was weaponizing her feelings in service to their bond. It forced her to her knees in front of him.
She lifted her head, tears shining in her eyes.
My praesidium, unending and cold, tempted my restraint.
He wanted to die. So why not kill him? I should end this all now.
My shadows murmured words of encouragement,feeding off my praesidium and the darkness woven through my being. I moved slowly toward Lucille and the pet, careful not to provoke MJ or Alexei. Rune walked with me, sending me mixed emotions that I ignored.
I stepped around Lucille, about to reach for my Soul Swords, when she latched onto my ankle.
“No, please,” she whispered with an ache that destroyed me. Then she said two words I wished burned from her mind, never to be spoken again. “Help him.”
Help him?
Help the male who destroyed countless lives? Help the male who broke her heart and her trust? Help the male who threatened her life with every second he breathed?
No.
I wouldn’t.
I couldn’t.
MJ and Alexei luscelered beside Aspen.
“Ro—”
A resounding crack shook the ground. The sentient wind from Veil Forest shrieked; with it came shattering, crashing, and a horrifying dread.
“Shard Storm,” Alexei breathed, his eyes widening.
No. Me and ice were no longer habitual acquaintances.
Chapter
Seventeen
Lucille
Every icicle in the Shard Field had snapped in half. A shrieking tornado plucked them from the ground, ice glinting in the violent wind. The accumulation of shards bulldozed through the field, breaking and pulverizing anything in its path. Section by section, it leveled the leftover stumps, reducing them to a glittering white cloud.
“But—I thought with me here it wouldn’t happen.”
Ronen grabbed my arm, yanking me from the ground and dragging me toward Veil Forest. “It’s not supposed to.”
“It won’t let us escape, Ronen,” Alexei said, striding beside us. His normally sparkling eyes and smile hid behind an ashen pallor.
“I know.”
“We need a plan,” MJ agreed, appearing utterly unfazed. Whether it was hidden or she truly wasn’t concerned, I didn’t know.
Every line in Ronen’s body vibrated with tension. Shadows seeped from his skin, only to become frayed pieces of vanishing darkness, like he couldn’t hold onto his power.
His jaw ticked. His attention darted. His chest rose and fell in quick succession.
