Page 27 of Rose and Shadows
“I’ll be fine. Finding places of belonging is rarer than it should be.Thryneis a great fit for you, and your reactions and responses have made that clear. Embrace it.”
I gave her arm a squeeze and then I disappeared in a swirl of shadows.
6
~Velra~
I wasn’t even touching it, but I could feel it burning a hole even through its sheath as it rested inside a slit-pocket worked into the seam of my leather pants.
It wasn’t real.
That sensation was false.
I knew it logically.
But that wasn’t the only thing at play.
The weight of carrying that kind of weapon was twisting my perception, trying to mess with my head.
As if I’d let that happen.
I patted it in my pocket.
The weapon I’d taken from Sylas’ collection a little while ago.
Shortly after my brother had killed me with a very similar tool.
An iron dagger.
I’d been hiding it away with my magic since, prepared to call it forth at a moment’s notice.
When it was time.
And that time was now.
A rush of gold and white magic swirled around me as I passed through the invisible gateway only discernible because Cassius and Ketheron had spelled it to recognize my blood and magic as well. Technically, so I could enter whenever I liked. Although, Cassius hadn’t exactly intended for me to do that alone—to come face-to-face with Sorin alone.
None of my men wanted me doing that.
And that sort of thing was exactly why I hadn’t told them about this, why I hadn’t brought them in on my plan at this early stage.
Granted, my original plan had been to meet withThryne,ensure they were working on this Dark Fae involvement withPuritasand a whole lot of bad shit, and then I’d intended to question Sorin to gather intel on where the order for all of this was coming from and why.
The idea had been that I’d provideThrynewith resources and backup to help them forcibly revoke the order from the Dark Fae Realm itself to prevent further Dark Fae beings from going down that fucked-up. And then I’d loop my men in and we’d track those soldiers still out there and shut them down, ending Dark Fae involvement. Following that, it would be up toThryneto work on damage control and restoring the rep of Dark Fae beings.
But that meeting had come with complications that had altered that strategy.
My parents’ involvement shifted things. BecauseThrynewanted their location. And the way they wanted to go about it was the danger—the fact that they intended to go through Sorin. They would come for him. It would only be a matter of time before word of his perceived usefulness would spread too, and others would want him. And that came with the risk of him being liberated from this place. Him being out there again. A threat to me and to those I loved.
The hell I was going to allow that to happen.
And that was why I was here now—to stop his release from happening.
While I still could.
There was only one way to do that.
Hell.
