Page 120 of What did you do?

“I’m going in to get the heart and make sure they don’t hurt Mother,” Eli said with a somber look at the castle.

“I will come,” I said as I slipped from Mendax’s arms, only swaying a small amount.

“No,” the three men said in unison.

“You stay here, where it’s safer.” Eli struggled to swallow. “Walter will join me in case…in case something happens to me and you need your heart faster.”

“What about the marriage?” I blurted. “We should do it now.”

Eli smiled at me before straightening to his full height and looking at Mendax. “As soon as we get everything settled, you will be my wife.”

“Oh, okay, of course.” I nodded. “Come get me when you’re ready to let me attempt to get my heart. Please don’t die.”

Eli glanced between Mendax and I.

“One of us must die anyway…for the other two to live. My death would only make things easier for you,” he choked out.

I squeezed him so tightly I thought I might pass out. My face and fingers tingled with exertion, but I couldn’t pull away. “You will not die. Either one of you,” I said, pulling Walter into the hug. “Leave the heart if it is a question. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“She’s right. Who will I fight if the two of you don’t return?” Mendax said before slapping Walter on the back and slapping Eli’s cheek lightly. Eli straightened and moved toward Mendax until Walter stepped in the middle.

“I will return when I have your heart and the queen has been detained,” Eli said, taking my hand.

Wait for me,his eyes begged.

My hands looped around his tan neck. I pulled him down to me to press a kiss full of thank-yous and sorrys onto his lips. I tensed slightly when I felt Mendax’s eyes on me, but he didn’t stop me.

With a solemn nod, Walter and Eli left us at the edge of the forest, where we watched their forms grow smaller until they disappeared behind the crowd of Fallen.

“All right, let’s go,” Mendax said, pulling me into the cover of the surrounding woods. “There’s a portal in the forest just down the path if we cut through that field.”

I knew about the portal. It was the same one Eli had shown me by the floricorns’ pasture.

“What?” I pulled back slightly, still trying to keep my eyes on the castle’s entrance.

“It’s very likely that they have one off of their rooftop, same as ours, if you’d rather climb. I’m fairly certain that’show Saracen and my father kept their affair so secret,” he said nonchalantly as he pulled my body against his.

I hissed in pain as he touched the wound on my stomach. In return, he rolled his eyes like I was being dramatic.

“We can’t leave them. What if they need help? You don’t just leave people behind you care about,” I snapped.

“Walter will bring your heart to Unseelie, and I will have you to myself. They won’t need us here…most likely,” he whispered against my ear.

“I’m not leaving…yet. There’s a chance I’ll need to get my heart…and I’m not leaving until I know Eli and Walter are all right.” I stepped away from him and the camouflage of the deep forest to move back into the castle’s yard.

I wasn’t going anywhere until Saracen was taken care of.

Protectiveness flared inside of me for Walter. Standing a few feet in front of Mendax as we both faced the castle, I kept my head still but looked to my right as far as I could, to see him in my periphery.

His dark stare remained on me in an obsessive trance—not the castle where Walter was.

How could he just leave his friend like that?

“I have been through worse endeavors with both men. Walter’s Unseelie blood is nothing but piss and vinegar. It would take far more than this task to send him to Tartarus. I’ve come to respect and on the rarest of occasion find camaraderie with Aurelius. I do worry that he holds the key to your life, but Walter will be there.” He gripped my wrist tightly. “As you so frequently remind me, pet, I am and willalwaysbe the villain. My desires are purely selfish. Now let’s go cause some trouble and reclaim my throne before that little princess has the chance,” he purred with a smile.

I turned around, pulling my wrist free, and took another step toward the castle while I stared at the man in front of me.

“Do you only want me because of Eli’s interest in me? Is it because I’m Artemi?” I took another step toward the castle and away from him.

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