Page 20 of Faerie Fate
But with him unconscious, the force of the bond slowly weakened enough for me to fight it. Gritting my teeth, I slapped my hand against Will’s and let him pull me free.
“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for everything.” He crushed me to his chest in a tight hug. “I never should have let him get in my head. I never should have promised you to him. I made a mistake.”
I clung to him and to the familiarity of the man who’d raised me after my parents died. Uncle Will hadn’t had to step up and take me in. He hadn’t had to give me everything I needed to notonly have a good life but a happy one. I had moderate rules at home, where it was just the two of us, and he’d helped me shift for the first time.
He’d stepped up to keep me safe and hidden, as a halfling. I had a place in his pack and a place in his law office.
“I love you, Tavi.”
He held me tight enough to push the air right back out of my lungs and we clung to each other. He smelled normal. He smelled…clean.
“You have to know I’ve always loved you.”
I didn’t answer at first. Then finally, I cleared my throat. “I love you too, Uncle Will.”
“I was drinking too much,” he explained, resting his chin on top of my head. “I had a problem. Kendrick knew, and he manipulated me. He got right in my head.”
“But you came for me.” My throat worked and the skin of my scar pulled tight.
He pulled back only long enough to take my face in his hands. To force me to look into features so like my own.
“You’re my niece. I’m always going to be there for you.Family, Tavi. I don’t want a world where women are slaves to men, and where men aren’t taught empathy and kindness like my mother wolf taught me,” he finished. “Now let’s get the fuck out of here before he wakes up.”
Will sent another kick flying toward Kendrick’s midsection before pulling me out of the pool of chains.
“What happened?” I asked breathlessly. “Since I ran away?”
“The shifters back home are at war.” Will tugged me past the door and only the slightest mental pull at the mate bond flared in reaction. “Kendrick’s followers are attacking the rest. Even the Alderidge pack has split down the middle. I’ve lost control.”
I gawked at him.“What?”
He drew us down the hallway and out of the classroom. My neck throbbed with the distance between me and Kendrick.
“That’s why we have to get you out of here, as far away and as fast as possible. You need to go where he can’t touch you. I fucked up, okay? I fucked up royally. I’m not going to let anything else happen to you, honey. It’s my job to protect you.”
I winced at the dead wolf in the hall. My eyes traced the corpse and Will stepped over it with a frown.
“I can protect myself,” I insisted.
“Not against him. He’s much more powerful than we ever thought. He has spies everywhere.” Will paced ahead, his fingers latched with mine. Then he stopped and grabbed my Faerie key from around my neck before I could react. “You run, Tavi, and you never stop running. I’ll be right behind you.”
Will held the key out in front of him and twisted, opening a portal.
“No! Stop! You can’t?—”
Horror dawned because I knew what he was going to do. I wasn’t fast enough. I screamed, reaching for him as he stepped through the doorway. Will couldn’t open a door and use it, not with my key; it would kill him.
And it did.
Chapter Six
Uncle Will didn’t know about the laws of fae magic, or the decrees King Tywin worked into the power around the keys. Will didn’t know that only the person who used the key could open the door without it killing them.
Tywin made it impossible to steal someone’s key and use it.
Will’s first step beyond the threshold stole the soul from behind his eyes. Life left him not in increments but all at once, alive and then not. I reached for him desperately, awful gut-wrenching grief tangling in my mouth.
Too late.
