Page 72 of Wrath of the Fae

Smoke… and gone.

Gone…

thirteen

IwatchthethreeDesert Demons converge on the pile of dead soldiers left in Cyrus’s wake. The specks slowly disappear in the flurry of living sand that devours them.

Everything Cyrus said is swirling in my mind. Every word. Every revelation. Every touch.

The truth of it all.

His eyes showed such murderous rage when he thought I was someone else wearing my face to torment him. It melted into agony when he felt my power and realised I was alive.

Reid wasn’t surprised to see me. More expectant.

But Cyrus was convinced I was gone and was shocked to see me standing before him.

The howling wind mixes with both his and Reid’s words. They’re all I hear.

It takes a while for me to realise that Tessa is shaking me.

‘We have to go!’ she insists. ‘We can’t stay here.’

‘They have my sister. They have my family.’

She snatches my chin and makes me look at her.

‘We’ll get them back. But not today. We have to go. Now!’

‘You came back for me.’

‘I said I wouldn’t leave you. Now don’t leave me, and let’s go home to make a plan. I promise you, we will get them back.’

I nod, and we take to the sky toward Midnight’s End.

We fly for as long as possible until our back muscles scream and burn. Then we walk through the woodland in silence.

The sun is setting. I’m thirsty, starving, and so exhausted I could curl up in a ball and sleep in moss and dirt.

‘Are we going to talk about any of this, or will we travel the rest of the way in silence?’ Tessa asks, stepping over a tree trunk and staggering over a rock.

‘Depends. Are you going to insult me or give me a hard time?’

‘I don’t plan on it.’ A few more steps. ‘But you did let them both stick their tongues down your throat before you knew they weren’t quite the evil monsters we thought.’

I glare at her.

‘I may be your niece, but I am older than you. Maybe I can help.’

‘You don’t want to help me, Tessa. You want to watch me boil alive so you can serve me as soup to someone you hate more than me.’

‘Maybe.’ She shrugs as she lets out a little giggle. ‘Only problem is the King is the only person I hate more than you. And he’s impossible to get close to. Let alone serve whore soup to, so what’s the point.’

I glare at her again.

‘Kidding,’ she tuts. ‘And I thought I was supposed to be the serious one.’

‘I don’t want to talk about them, okay? Not yet. I need to clear my head before I can trust myself to make a rational decision. All I can see is my sister and them in danger, and it takes all I have not to charge into The First Kingdom and drag them all out of there.’

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