Page 160 of A Tongue so Sweet and Deadly

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t want it to come to this. But you need to decide whose side you’re on. This is bigger than me. Bigger than any of us, Lessia. It goes far beyond Ellow. And when the next phase starts… those that stand against us… it won’t be pretty.”

“Who are you working with, Ard? And what do you want?” she cried. “You can’t ask me to stand with you when you won’t tell me anything!”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled again.

Pacing back and forth outside the cell, she covered her face with her hands. “You need to stop this. You need to promise you’ll work with Loche and Frayson and the rest. Maybe they’ll spare you if you agree to spy for them.”

“I can’t do that.” Ardow’s eyes glossed when she looked up at him.

“They’ll kill you!” she screamed, not caring if the sound traveled to wherever the rest had gone.

“Then they kill me,” Ardow said gently. “I am happy to die if it will allow others like me—like you—to lead a better life. Think about Kalia, Harver, Fiona, and the rest. You convincedme we needed to help them, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Trust that, if nothing else.”

“There must be another way!” Lessia stared up at the stone ceiling, the cracks weaving their way through the white stone mirroring those splitting her heart open. “Loche has promised to make it better for us here. I believe him, Ard. Please!”

“And what about those not in Ellow? We can’t rescue every single half-Fae from Vastala. Especially not if it becomes common knowledge what we’ve done.”

She wrapped her arms around herself when his words cut deep into her heart.

There was truth to what he said.

But Ardow would die.

“Please, Ardow. Please don’t do this,” she begged.

When he remained quiet, she shook her head. “I can’t let them execute you.”

“Lessia—”

Steps reached her ears, and she steeled herself, hardening her shattered heart.

“No! I am so angry at you right now. So. Damn. Angry. But I can’t live without you. I’m sending Amalise away. And once I can, I will get you out. We’ll have to find somewhere to go after that—all of us.”

Ardow stared at his boots. “I’m sorry it’s come to this.”

“Me too.” Lessia breathed a shaky sigh as exhaustion crept into every single one of her limbs.

Voices drifted toward them as the group returned, and she forced herself to reach in and squeeze Ardow’s hand.

“I’ll get you out,” she promised under her breath when the first guard walked into the cellar.

Loche’s eyes sought hers when he made his way inside, but she kept hers on Amalise’s bloodshot ones.

Walking up to her friend, she gripped both her hands with her own.

Amalise stared straight into her eyes, and her chin dipped at whatever she saw there.

“I’m sending Amalise away.” Lessia continued holding Amalise’s blue gaze as she spoke, and her friend squared her shoulders.

“Very well. She may stay until after the vote closes, but after that, she is banished from Ellow forever.” Frayson clasped his hands over his stomach. “Let’s retire for today. The Fae delegation will be here tomorrow afternoon, and then this mess will finally be over.”

Without looking back, Lessia dragged Amalise with her up the stairs, heading straight for the doors and into the cold winter night.

Chapter

Sixty-Five

She could barely look at Amalise as they made their way back to the warehouse—the only home Lessia had known in the past thirteen years.

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