Page 27 of A Dance With Fire
Clay cursed and his hand shot out to grab her arm. “Where the fuck are you going? Uric is waiting that way!”
She smiled at him and gently pried his fingers from her arm. “I know my destiny, Clay Valentino. Do you know yours?”
Clay tugged at his hair with impatience.
Ryker didn’t blame him. The seer was frustrating, infuriating. Yet she was hypnotizing just the same. Ryker knew how dangerous promises of the future were, what type of seduction they held. It was why they found themselves in this position in the first place. The promise of a better future for the Fae had been too tempting to pass up, at least Valerio thought so.
Ryker had yet to be convinced.
“We have to go.” A note of impatience slipped in Clay’s words. He rarely lost his temper or shouted, but he clenched his teeth as if he were on the verge of losing it.
“Would you like to know your future?”
Clay hissed out a breath. “No, I would like to leave before the emperor’s soldiers catch us. We’re on thin ice as is.”
“Ice? No, no ice is not your future. Ice is for Julius. Water for you.”
Ryker rolled his eyes and adjusted the Fire Dancer in his arms again. The close proximity to iron was starting to tire him.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve seen my future. I have seen my ears cut and mounted.”
Every single one of them stilled.
Because that was the signature of Emperor Laurel. He hunted down the Fae and those that weren’t tossed into camps suffered a fate worse than death. They were dismembered piece by fucking piece and stuffed like dolls to hang over his throne.
If she’d seen that in her future, then that meant the emperor would capture her.
They couldn’t let that happen.
Not just because she knew the location to their safe house, but because she knew their faces, their futures. Even the bravest of men could crack under torture.
“Then we have to leave so that it doesn’t happen to you.” Clay tried tugging her to him again, but she sidestepped away from his grasp.
“The future ahead has many pathways,” she said eerily. “Many paths, and I have seen them all. It does not matter which I take, my end shall be the same. My ears will be sheared and mounted. I will die with your secrets safe. But fear not; even after I am gone, I will help the Fae.” She started to walk away.
Valerio pushed his way past Clay and Ryker, his sharp jaw clenched tightly. “Where are you going?”
Her voice trailed behind her even as she walked away. “To buy you time. For I have seen the future and what comes of you if I do not do this. Death is unbecoming for a Seelie prince. Now go.”
Ryker grinded his teeth together and fought back the urge to clench his hands into fists. Not that he could with the Fire Dancer in his arms, but he wanted to step forward and stop this madness.
If they let her go, they would be no more barbaric than the humans. It was in their nature to protect one another, to save each other from the clutches of monsters. So to watch Davina walk away and buy them time killed him inside.
He wanted to hand the Fire Dancer off to Clay and run after her. Sacrifice himself instead. But he knew there was no other like him within their ranks. His prince needed him. And he couldn’t seem to move. He held the Fire Dancer, as if he could draw strength from her prone form. Strength he would need to live with the fact that he let one of his own walk to her death.
Instead, he felt a tugging pull of raw magic spark from his chest to hers, a sensation that had his hands curling against her form.
Valerio let out a slow breath. “We have to go. Let her sacrifice not be in vain.” He lifted the hood of his cloak and turned.
Clay followed.
But it was Ryker who stayed a moment longer than either of them. The steady breathing of the Fire Dancer’s chest pressed against his own.
Everything in the world had a price.
And the price of their lives, of the Fire Dancer’s life, had been Davina’s.
