Page 47 of Samhain Savior
“Nathaniel, what did you do?”
Releasing a sob, Nathaniel’s face crumpled as he finally met my gaze, shoulders shaking with the force of his tears.
“They were going to hurt her.”
“Who?”
“The Order,” he wailed miserably. “They came. They wanted information about the Key, but I refused. My loyalty is to the Brotherhood, Archer. You know this. But—” he trailed off, looking once again at Persephone where she stood, crying by the door. “I couldn’t let them hurt her.”
“You’re the leak? You are the one who broke your vow as a Guardian and betrayed the Brotherhood?” He nodded pathetically, unable to speak the words out loud. “Nathaniel, why didn’t you reach out to me?” I snarled, my temper flaring. “I would have come. We would have protected you both.”
“I couldn’t leave my church!” he insisted, one hand going to his throat as if the very thought was abhorrent. “So I had to tell them. When you arrived, I had no choice but to tell them.”
“Tell them what, Nathaniel?”
He let out a breath, his shoulders deflating.
“I told them she was here.”
No one spoke. No one even breathed, as we all realized what Nathaniel had just done.
“You informed the order that I was here?” My voice was quiet, but it carried a threat just the same.
“No!” he insisted, his head shaking, face reddening at the accusation. “I left you out of it! I swear. Just the witch. I only told them about the witch.”
“How did you even know she was with us?” Corson asked. “You only just got here.”
Turning his head, Nathaniel looked at Percy, and she had the decency to appear ashamed.
“What?” Persephone asked acerbically, throwing a glare at Delilah, who had joined Vine and Mal in the kitchen.
Standing between the two massive demons, she looked fragile and small, almost like a child, with her too-large dress and wide, alarmed eyes in the face of Percy’s venom.
“She’s just a witch.”
“And what are you?” Delilah shot back, her hands once again cradling the pouch with the hedgehog inside. “Besides a burden on everyone around you?”
“I’m a woman who knows how the world works!” Percy stepped toward Delilah, her taller frame allowing her to loom over the witch menacingly. To her credit, Delilah didn’t flinch, lifting her chin to meet Percy face to face. “I’ve lived several lifetimes. Seen kingdoms and empiresrise and fall. You are an infant compared to me, to what I’ve seen and done. I’ve lived through half a dozen wars, seen friends age and die around me, and stood by my family through it all. Can you say the same?”
At those words, Delilah’s bravery seemed to falter, her brows pulling low as she hunched her shoulders defensively.
“When my family is threatened, I would do anything to protect them.” Turning back to me, Persephone shrugged. “Even hand over one useless witch.”
“And what were you promised for your treachery?” Mal asked, his rough voice sounding angrier than I’d ever heard it.
“Safety.” Percy moved to stand next to her uncle. “They promised they’d leave us and my uncle’s charge if they could take the witch and go. They never said a word about you or your brotherhood. They only said that a witch would come looking for the secrets of the Guardians. Frankly, I was shocked when you showed up with her.” Her face softened, and for a moment, Percy actually looked remorseful. “You weren’t supposed to be here, Archer.”
“But Iamhere, Persephone,” I snarled, feeling my shadows rise as I turned back to Nathaniel. “And your betrayal will not go unanswered.”
“I didn’t betray you!” he insisted, falling over himself in an attempt to justify his actions. “I had no idea you would be bringing the witch. They simply said to watch out for her and to inform them if she arrived looking for the Key.” His gaze shot to Corson, then Vine and Mal, trying to find one ally in a sea of disappointed looks and angry glares. “I didn’t betray theUmbra Fratrum. They said she was a threat. I was protecting the Key, I swear it.”
“You betrayed the Brotherhood. The binding contract between you and the Dark Lord himself. You took a sacred oath and you just pissed all over it.”
“They told me they would take the witch, that my oath would not be compromised. They were going to hurt my Persephone, Archer. It was the only way.”
“We’re going in circles,” Corson ground out, his hands flexing at his sides with unreleased anger. “They are both guilty. I know you have history with them, Archer, but the laws are clear; you wrote them yourself. Oathbreakers suffer the fates they have earned.”
“Fuck you, Corson,” Percy spat, and Delilah let out a soft gasp. “You’re always so high and mighty. You think I don’t know what you do when you think no one is looking? Nathaniel isn’t the only one breaking his oath around here.”
