Page 87 of Iridian

“It’s an impossible choice, Taland. What can I even say? It’s an impossible choice,” I finally said.

He pushed my hair away from my face and reminded me, “We’ve faced the impossible before.”

“What doyouthink?” I asked.

“I think a lot of things, but the most important is, what the Council can do to the world if we don’t stand in their way. And also what they can do to these soldiers if they get their hands on them somehow.”

That made me stop breathing for a second.

“What do you mean?” I dared to asked, even though I was pretty sure I didn’t even want to know.

“There are ways to take control of them,” he said. “Only a Laetus could do it, but by now I have no doubt that they’ve charged Nicholas, have given him colors, havepreparedhim for the bracelet.” Shivers ran down my back because I believed that, too. The Council had been ready to drain me and try to take my energy to give it to Nicholas before Taland came and stopped them.

“How? How could they possibly—you ruined everything Hill had with him on that mountain!”

“But who’s to say that they haven’t already found a copy of the original curse?”

Fuck, I was shaking. “Taland, that’s?—”

“It’s okay, sweetness. I would have to allow it. Even if they find the spells, I would still have to…share—and I am not going to do that.”

I laughed bitterly and leaned back to look at him. “Let’s be honest with ourselves here for a minute,” I said.

“I am honest,” he said.

“Good, good,” I said, stepping back to lean against the edge of the table. “So, I need you to promise me that then.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t—” he started, taking my face in his hands, but I cut him off.

“Promise me that if we do decide to go down there and fight, you willnotlet any Council member take control of your soldiers for any reason, Taland.Anyreason—including if they get their hands on me.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “That’s not going to happen.”

“I know it’s not, but unless you can promise me that, I can’t really talk to you about going at all. I just want to make sure we’re on the same page, that’s all.”

Taland clenched his jaws so hard I heard it. “No.”

I grabbed his wrists. “Promise me.”

“No.” He kissed me on the lips. “They won’t get their hands on you. Nobody will touch you.”

“Then promise me—it shouldn’t be hard. Promise me.” He didn’t. He just continued to hold onto my face and touch my forehead with his. “Come on, promise me,please.” Because I wasn’t going to risk this—not this. If there was a chance that we gave the Council the only power that could stop them, I wasn’t going to agree to it.

“They won’t come close to you—I promise you that,” he finally said.

“Taland, I?—”

“I promise youthat. There is no way that they will gain power over those soldiers because they will never come close to you. That is the best I can give you,” he cut me off.

And I knew by the tone of his voice that he wouldn’t budge. For now, it was going to have to do, but that didn’t mean that we couldn’t negotiate later on. I could get through to him, I thought.

But right now, the others were waiting on the porch, and we had a decision to make.

“Okay,” I reluctantly said. “Okay, fine. I’ll take it. Nobody’s going to take those soldiers from you. The question is, do you want to fight?”

“Of course, I do,” Taland said, lowering his head. “I want to fight. I can’t just let them win. If things are as bad as they say they are, and the soldiers are no longer here, the Council is going to get to us eventually. They’ll find us no matter where we run.”

“But if we do fight, the soldiers…” I shook my head, squeezed my eyes shut. “They’ll remain under the curse.”

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