Page 144 of Wings of Lies
He was right, but how the hell did we get Aspen to follow us? At my concerned face, Oliver took the lead, putting a knife in one hand and thrusting the other forward. “Get up, unless you want me to hit you again, princeling.”
“With your fucked up illusions?” Aspen snarled, wrists wrenching against the cuffs.
Oliver shrugged, wiping away the last of the blood dripping from his nose. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, princeling.”
Did he think the memory was fake? From the certainty I felt from him and the disgust curling his lip, I think he did.
“Aspen?” I tried again.
“I am not Aspen! I am the Prince of the Tenebrous Kingdom and the right hand to the queen. And when I remove these cuffs, you will be coming with me.”
“To the queen who murdered your mother?” I asked, needing to see if he was in there.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I took a step closer. “Marcus murdered your mother. The queen murdered your first love!”
“I willobey! They mean nothing to me!” he raged.
“They brainwashed you!” I yelled back, begging him to remember. I had the real Aspen back for a split second, and she was taking away the male I met in the woods, who gave me the courage to want more, who made me see there was more to life than hiding away in fear.
“How would you know, Lucille? You’re barely surviving in a world you know nothing about that will only use you up and spit out the useless pieces.”
My mouth dropped open. He had said other terrible things to me, and I knew this was the rune talking. It had to be. “Says the male being used. Let’s go, Oliver.”
Aspen’s glare darkened. The muscle in his jaw ticked as he gripped the hilt of his sword.
Oliver eyed the intricate metal. “I feel like I should confiscate that.”
“Even if you thought you could take it from me, it’s infused with blood magic.”
“Let’s go, Oliver,” I said, walking away as I clutched my sides.
Oliver pointed his dagger at Aspen. “Oh no, he’s walking in front. Lucy, you’ll stay by my side. We shouldn’t be far from the border, but let’s not dilly-dally.”
I agreed, clutching at my ribs.
“You okay?” Oliver asked.
I should be asking him that after he had to rewatch the memory of his mother’s murder.
Aspen walked in front of us and turned back to stare at me.
I ignored him. “The bounty hunter broke my ribs.”
Oliver frowned. But Aspen… He turned around and glared at the lifeless body like he’d like to set it on fire. For a moment, I thought he cared, until he spoke.
“No one damages the queen’s property.”
How could my mom do it?Watching Aspen right now, listening to him, and seeing how thoroughly a magical symbol controlled him, I didn’t understand. Sure, my mom pushed the positive on me, but how was that any better? We were both puppets. But I hoped I finally had learned my lesson. As for Aspen, I needed to figure out how to remove a rune. That’d be another question I asked the witch.
Oliver hip-bumped me, making me gasp. “Shit, sorry. I was just trying to get the glazed look out of your eyes. Do you want me to stab him?”
I snorted, blinking away the blur of pain. “Let’s not give him any opportunities to steal your weapon and use it against you. At least he can’t remove his sword cuffed.”
“True. Did you want to find a healer before Magda’s?” Oliver asked, following Aspen as he walked further ahead, never straying too far from us. Aspen would never leave thequeen’s property.
“I don’t think there’s much to be done about broken ribs. They’ll heal eventually.” I lowered my voice. “Hashesaid anything?”
