Page 86 of Realm of Wind and Vines
“Where are they?” I demand.
“Dining room,” he blurts out. Uncertainty shines on his entire face as he flicks his gaze up and down my body. “I can show you?—”
“No. I know where it is.”
He stares after me as I stride past him and start towards the dining room. Outside the windows, the final red and orange rays of sunlight have disappeared beyond the horizon. Darkness now blankets the heavens, and the glittering faelights have been turned on inside the castle to light the way.
That unending rage burns inside me as I stalk through the castle.
I’m going to kill the Icehearts. I’m going to kill every single one of them. Their entire clan. I will wipe them all from the face of this world and then burn every page in every history book that contains their names until it will be like they have never existed.
Reaching the door to Orion’s private dining room, I simply yank it open and storm inside.
Clothes rustle as every head snaps in my direction.
All six of them are there, but the table looks nothing like it usually does. There are no decorations. No fancy platters of extravagant food and no mass of different utensils. Only one plate and one knife and one fork in front of each person. Half ofthe plates are practically untouched, as if my friends have been poking at the food rather than eating it.
As usual, Orion is sitting in his grand chair at the head of the table. Alistair and Isera are seated next to each other on his right, while our three dragon shifters are sitting on the other side. Draven is now wearing a simple black shirt with his sleeves rolled up instead of his armor. There is no blood on his skin, and no pain on his face, so Haldia must have healed all of his wounds. He watches me with those conflicted eyes of his as I stalk up to the table. As if he both hates me and wants to comfort me at the same time.
But then his expression changes slightly when he takes in my appearance. Or rather, the look on my face.
In fact, all six of them are staring at me as if a demon has just stormed into the dining room, trailing fire and brimstone. To be fair, I feel like a demon. And fuck, it feels good.
“We need a new plan,” I declare.
“Uhm,” Galen begins, casting uncertain glances between me and the rest of them. “Are you… okay?”
“I’m fine. Like I said, we need a new plan.” Bracing my palms on the smooth tabletop, I lean forward and meet their eyes. “The dragon steel is a problem. As long as the Icehearts have access to that, we will never be able to hit them with everything we have. So we need to fix that by solving the root cause of the problem.”
“Lavendera,” Isera supplies.
I nod. “Yes.”
“So, we need to capture Lavendera and turn her against the Icehearts?” Lyra guesses.
“No. We need tokillLavendera.”
Everyone jerks back a little and stares at me as if they have never seen me before. Everyone except Draven, who is watching me with eyes I can no longer read. I meet his gaze with a hard stare.
“You’ve said it yourself,” I begin. “Multiple times. Lavendera won’t betray the Icehearts. So let’s not waste time trying.”
“But didn’t you say that she might have important information too?” Galen asks in a careful voice. As if I’m a vicious animal that he is trying to calm down.
“I don’t care,” I reply, shifting my hard stare to him. “She is the only one among them who can use dragon steel. She needs to die.”
“Are you sure you’ve thought this through?”
“Yes.”
“But what if we?—”
“I’m going to kill them.” I growl. Fire blazes in my eyes as I stare them all down. “Do you understand? I’m going to kill them all.”
“Look, Selena. I promise, we will get justice for your parents, but?—”
“I don’t wantjustice!” I snarl. “I wantrevenge!”
Galen draws back and stares at me as if he has no idea who I am anymore. Next to him, Lyra just looks like she’s worried about me. Draven continues watching me with those unreadable eyes while Orion actually raises his glass at me in approval. On the other side of the table, Isera holds my gaze and gives me a slow nod. Alistair tilts his head in a nod towards her, as if to say,what she said.
