Page 76 of A Reign of Roses
“I’ve been exactly where you are,” Kane swore, deadly calm. “I know how this goes, Hart. All of your men will die.”
Hart shrugged. “Perhaps, but is that not the risk each one of them signed up for?”
Oh, no.
Sometimes it surprised me how well Kane and I knew each other. We’d only met less than a year ago, and in that time gone with whiplash quickness from precarious allies to adversaries to friends, and now to something deeper, and much more profound than a couple. If I believed in such things, I would have called him my soulmate.
Which meant I knew what Hart’s blind focus on beating Lazarus would elicit in the man beside me. What his own demons—the men and women, thefamilyhe’d lost when afflicted by the same thing—would bring out in him.
Sure enough, Kane stood from the bed in an instant, his lighte rumbling. Sharp shadows of black and wisps of nightshade twined around his knuckles and wrists as he snarled, “You smug sack of shit.”
Valery crossed the room as quickly as I’d seen her move and placed herself in front of Hart and the sideboard. I sat up, my own warm lighte coursing down my veins and toward my fingertips in a wayI’d only ever associated with seeing someone who needed to be healed. Some corner of my mind wondered if I were to look down, if I, too, would see yellow rays of light wreath themselves around my palms.
“Are you really so eager to cash in the lives of those who have put their faith in you?”
“All right,” the rebel cautioned, still seated atop his sideboard. “All right. Easy, everyone. Kane, your point is taken.”
He might have been placating him, as I knew it was fear that filtered through Hart’s viridian eyes, but Kane surprised us both by breathing out evenly and running a hand through his hair. Silently, the dark talons and thorns around his forearms retreated into his tanned skin.
“So,” Hart tried, calmer but still guarded. “Where is this blade you need?”
Kane scratched his neck. Silence gobbled up the cabin.
My heart plummeted.
“You’re fucking with me.” Hart bit back a laugh. “Right?”
“Kane,” I breathed. “You left it there?”
“When I awoke,” Kane said, voice like gravel, “remade, he’d fled with it. I searched for him, and found you with that kingsguard…” A haunting, sorrowful expression contorted his face.
I fought the urge to scramble toward him and deposit myself into his arms. We had been apart for too long, and I wanted to hold him. Instead I said to Hart and Valery, “We may have one last card to play.”
Kane cocked his head in silent question.
“Amelia is in Solaris.”
His brows knit inward in sympathy. “Arwen…She isn’t—”
“I know. She told me everything. I still think we can work with her. All she wants is safety for her people. She knows us winning this war is the best outcome for Peridot.”
Kane was not having any of it. Cold fury burbled up where so much love had just occupied his silver eyes. “You want me to trustAmelia—”
“Anothergreatfuck,” interrupted Hart, who was examining his dirtied nails.
Once again Kane didn’t bat an eye. “After she betrayed us to side with Lazarus? After she had her own father killed? After she signed your fucking death sentence?”
“Sheesh,” Hart muttered. “What a bitch.”
“Bird,” Kane tried, softer this time. “I’m not trying to insult you. Your positivity is one of my favorite thingsaboutyou. But don’t you think it’s a little naive to believe that—”
“I saidwork with her. Nottrust her. Hart, do you think you can get word to Amelia somehow? To tell her that if she can find the blade and bring it back to Onyx, we swear to spare her life despite her betrayal?”
“Arwen—” Kane nearly raged.
“Wait,” Hart interrupted. “You don’t even have your alliance with Peridot anymore?”
“No,” I admitted.
