Page 55 of Wrath of the Fae

‘I don’t know. I hope so, for your peace of mind.’

‘Reid wouldn’t say much about her.’ I fill with that hideous grief again, and all of me slumps. ‘He left, Wolf. I shouldn’t care. I shouldn’t expect anything less, but he left me.’

He clears his throat and shifts in his chair.

‘What is it?’

‘Lucca asked me not to say anything because he doesn’t want to upset you.’

‘Tell me.’

‘We found the Fae who managed to leave here before the shield was put up,’ he tells me. ‘There were fifteen making their way along the road.’

‘You killed them?’

‘Didn’t need to. They were dead. Slaughtered.’ He raises his brow. ‘Butchered. One was still alive. Just about. Holding a burn on his side that had festered. His insides squirmed with maggots.’ He grimaces.

‘Why wouldn’t Lucca want me to know?’

‘Because when we questioned him, it became clear that they were headed to a camp of soldiers half a day away. The same soldiers who destroyed the village we went to a few days ago.

‘Reid’s soldiers?’

He gives a single nod. ‘They were on their way to tell them you were alive and that the Thirteenth Kingdom had been taken. They were seeking assistance in taking it back. They were looking for an army. And they would have found one if not for Reid.’ He watches me closely as I feel my insides run cold. ‘He intercepted them as he was on his way to the lake. To you. When he saw them on the road below, he landed and asked what had happened. The soldiers were so relieved to see him. They were hurt and needed food and drink. They thought he was their salvation. Instead, he slaughtered them so their message would die with them.’

‘Reid killed them?’ I whisper.

‘Yes. To stop the word from getting out about you. And to give us more time to secure this place. To get more survivors here. As far as we know, no one knows we’ve taken this place. Reid hasn’t told anyone.’

‘He’s helping us. But I don’t understand why he left.’

‘He passed through the shield unharmed. He killed them to protect you. And your sister is back at the First Kingdom. If he stayed with you, would Rhea and El be safe without him?’

‘I don’t know,’ I whisper.

‘Would you forgive him for staying with you if it hurt your sister?’ His eyes narrow on me. ‘Would he know that you would never forgive him if she were hurt because he left her there?’

‘Why wouldn’t Lucca tell me this? How could he keep that a secret when we swore no secrets?’

‘Because he’s consumed with pain and anger. He's a rejected Mate, My Lady. You must remember that. He was turned away by the woman he loves more than anything. He knows the pain of not having the Bond returned. Now all he has left is you. If you leave him for them, he’ll have nothing. And he knows how much that hurts. There is a reason everyone is wary of rejected Mates, and I am sure you were warned of it before you Bonded with Elias and Cyrus.’

‘I may have been warned,’ I scoff.

‘Misery loves company, My Lady. Do not let Lucca’s pain determine your path. You must choose to followyourheart and head. Not his. I think perhaps a conversation with Reid and Cyrus would be worth having. There is a reason for everything. None so much as a Bond between souls. The Fates would not have pushed you all together for nothing.’

‘I don’t know where they are,’ I reply quietly. ‘Or how to reach them.’

‘What if I could set up a meeting between you? If I could arrange-’

‘You’re so pathetic.’

I look up and see Tessa in the doorway.

She sways as she grips the bottle of Fae wine in her hand and leans against the doorway, avoiding eye contact with me.

‘You see him for one minute and already spread your legs for him? I thought I was supposed to be the desperate one.’ She glares at Wolf as he turns in his seat. ‘What are you looking at? Don’t you have some Valker grunts to train?’

Wolf turns back to me with a hitched brow.

---